The Reel Review
Liz and Malcolm plan a weekend getaway at Malcolm’s family cabin to mark their one-year anniversary of dating, but the weekend goes awry when Liz starts to notice something is very amiss with the situation. Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland star in this psychological folk horror/mystery.
Keeper is a shockingly dull, boring movie. The only things director Osgood Perkins (Longlegs, The Monkey) gets right are the gorgeous cinematography, some terrifying-looking creatures in the final act and an effective score, which all combined, sets a surreal, spooky mood. The problem is the infuriatingly threadbare story from Nick Lepard (Dangerous Animals). It makes absolutely no sense.
Maslany does her best to give her character dimension, but the hour and a half slog feels more like a torturous three-hour marathon, lumbering along at such a sluggish pace that the big spooky ending, where Perkins suddenly remembers that this is supposed to be a horror film, will be missed by most viewers who will have long ago turned off this awful movie. This Keeper is not a keeper.
REEL FACTS
• Osgood Perkins (son of the late Anthony Perkins) intended his film to be a critique of “disgusting maleness,” exploring themes of patriarchy, misogyny and toxic masculinity.
• Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) also appeared in Osgood Perkins’ 2025 horror/thriller The Monkey.
• Rossif Sutherland (Murder in a Small Town, Orphan: First Kill, River) is the son of the late actor Donald Sutherland.
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