Film Review: KEEPER (2025): Horror Movie Director Osgood Perkins is Back in Fine Form with This Spooky Tale
Keeper Review
Keeper (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Osgood Perkins, written by Nick Lepard and starring Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland, Claire Friesen, Christin Park, Erin Boyes, Tess Degenstein, Birkett Turton, Eden Weiss, Glen Gordon, Logan Pierce, Erin Tipple, Evelyn Burke and Ella Wejr.
Keeper marks the return of the genuine promise that filmmaker Osgood Perkins had on display in his recent horror movie hit, Longlegs. Keeper is a tale of terror that starts off with some screams and then slows down a bit to carefully shape its creepy story. This film features a lead performance by Tatiana Maslany that is relatable and helps make the movie feel like a frightening cautionary tale even though it ultimately turns out to be a supernatural movie.
Maslany plays Liz, a woman who has recently become involved with a seemingly nice professional man named Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland). When they travel to a hideaway home in the middle of nowhere to spend some quality time together, Malcolm is called back to work which leaves Liz by herself in the house by the woods. Liz meets some freaky apparitions in the home, including a woman who wears a plastic bag over her head.
When Malcolm’s cousin, Darren (Birkett Turton), shows up at the house where Liz is waiting for Malcolm to return, he pulls an axe out right after offering a drink to her. Liz locks herself in the bathroom and mysterious things start to occur as signified by the noises that are heard by the audience as odd occurrences start to take place off-screen.
Of course, this movie is more suspenseful if you don’t know what’s to come. Perhaps, I’ve said too much in regard to the plot because the beauty of the picture, for me, was not knowing which cards Perkins had up his sleeve at given intervals in the film. Perkins could have gone a couple of different ways with the script he has at his helm here. Fortunately, the film is anything but predictable in terms of the way it unfolds.
Maslany creates a character who, initially, has faith in her new boyfriend, Malcolm. She slowly starts to find a level of creepiness that makes her want to get the hell out of Dodge ASAP. Is she safer locking herself in the bathroom or dealing with the twisted characters (real or ghostly) accordingly? Sutherland is appropriately on-point and viewers will wonder if his character is genuine. One could suspect that he’s lying to Liz or that he has less than noble intentions for her. Though the movie hints that he’s a psycho from the outset, there’s no guarantee of that when the strange noises around the house start taking flight.
Perkins builds tension like a true pro. The movie hints at some possibilities when it shows several women in dire situations, but nothing can prepare viewers for the last 20 minutes of the movie which are among the most frightening scenes ever presented. If you’re not scared, you’ll definitely by grossed out by some of the effects and makeup which make for some ghastly images that are borderline unforgettable.
There are a few minor problems here to note, however. Perkins has so many different ideas here that some of them don’t always work. It seems some scenes are a bit underdeveloped when looking back at them in retrospect after knowing the film’s terrifying ending. This movie leaves some questions unanswered which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, more closure in regard to what was going on with the cousins would have been appreciated. True, the movie shows them doing evil things as young men, but what about the more recent stuff they were up to? This new film takes some shortcuts by explaining things rather than showing them all on-screen.
Still, Keeper is a very serviceable fright fest that ranks as Perkins’ most successful movie to date. There are no really big stars, but there is plenty of unrelenting tension formed that is kept watchable by Maslany’s very well-layered performance. One can feel her discomfort with the events surrounding her and the film will make one think about what one would do if confronted by the dire situations the movie proposes. Luckily, some of them are supernatural so could never really happen.
Osgood Perkins came on the scene pretty quickly after smaller projects with the box-office hit, Longlegs. That Nicolas Cage movie made a ton of money, and some people thought Perkins may not be able to keep his potential up to snuff with his following projects. The Monkey wasn’t, artistically speaking, the “best” horror movie so Perkins suffered a slight sophomore slump with that picture. Keeper proves the director still knows what to do to get under the viewer’s skin and that the third time is the charm. That’s why you’ll want to check out his latest film as soon as you get the opportunity.
Rating: 7.5/10
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