In the often-cursed landscape of modern horror cinema, where toxic romance frequently provides the narrative fuel, director Osgood Perkins plants a new and deeply unsettling flag with his latest feature, Keeper. Following a prolific run that includes the serial-killer freakout Longlegs, Perkins takes audiences on a dark journey to a secluded cabin, crafting an effectively eerie and visually inventive nightmare.
A Weekend Away Turns Sinister
The film centres on Liz, played with compelling directness by Tatiana Maslany, and her partner Malcolm, portrayed by Rossif Sutherland. The couple, who have been together for roughly a year, embark on a weekend getaway to a family-owned cabin in the woods. Early scenes establish a sense of cautious optimism; their awkwardness is complementary, and their interactions lack the glaring red flags typical of the doomed-couple genre. Liz possesses a wary, deadpan humour, while Malcolm's slightly slurred accent and mentions of a 'creepy cousin' living nearby hint at peculiarities without immediate alarm.
Rather than relying on overt micro-aggressions or heavy-handed backstory, Perkins masterfully introduces discord through his shot composition. Faces are often partially obscured or framed from odd angles, with disconcerting headroom establishing a persistent pattern of disorientation. This visual unease escalates as Liz begins to hear faint noises through the house's vents. In one intensely memorable sequence, a relaxing bath becomes a transcendent, almost psychedelic experience, with a superimposition of the nearby river rushing around her. "I feel like I took mushrooms," she confesses to a friend during a phone call, a statement she pointedly avoids confirming or denying.
A Dreamlike Jumble of Horrors
For a significant portion of its runtime, Keeper – a title referencing Liz's supposed role as the 'keeper' in Malcolm's life – maintains a dreamlike ambiguity. Is it a ghost story, a slasher film, or merely a profoundly bad trip? Perkins, a specialist in horror, expertly keeps the audience guessing. The film's most chilling early moments exist just out of focus or in the periphery of the eye, a technique amplified by the elusive, spoiler-averse marketing campaign that preceded it.
This eclecticism might lead some viewers to suspect a shell game, a clever disguise for a relatively simple core story. Yet, Keeper distinguishes itself by prioritising its visceral, immediate effect on the audience over crafting a heavy-handed modern relationship parable. While many contemporary horror films are cleverly written toward a theme, they can feel starved for original imagery and genuine mystery. Keeper is rich with both, pushing its uncanny elements to the brink without collapsing into self-indulgent abstraction.
A Grounding Lead Performance
Central to the film's success is the powerfully grounded performance from Tatiana Maslany. She avoids the typical virtuoso display of a woman unravelling, instead portraying Liz with a relatable directness; this is not a character who ignores the strange events unfolding around her. Maslany layers her performance with subtle, unguarded moments – a cynical flick of the eyes, the tenuousness of a polite smile, the familiar irritation in her voice during phone calls. This approach makes Liz feel complete and authentic, even without a skeletal key to a traumatic past.
In the end, Keeper may not be as narratively ambitious as some other horror standard-bearers, but its tight, fable-like confines feel satisfying and correct. The film's tidiness drives its themes home with a potency that more overt messaging often lacks. It suggests that perhaps it takes a neatly constructed horror story to truly encapsulate the messy, terrifying business of relationships. Keeper is out in cinemas across the UK on 14 November.
