Review: Osgood Perkins’ KEEPER is a Haunted, Yet Underdeveloped, Nightmare

Ah, yes. The Osgood "Oz" Perkins, who built his brand on festering gloom and speculative dread, returns in Keeper. Romance blossoms not into happily ever afters, but supernatural distress and a mysterious vacation home turned impromptu prison. Haunted imagery lurks in the background à la Mike Flanagan, while Nick Lepard’s scripted narrative finds itself wedged between Fresh and Men. It's despicable, having plenty to say about gender dynamics and stranger danger in relationships, yet overdoses on honey-drenched folkloric delirium. Perkins loses control of a freak show third act that does nothing to quell mounting questions about the film's in-universe mechanics.

Tatiana Maslany stars as the unlucky-in-love Liz, who's hoping to finally bag her Prince Charming. That'd be Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland), a successful doctor who whisks Liz away for a weekend getaway at one of his family's isolated cabins. Liz's bestie jokes that she's turning into someone different, hiding her crude sketchbook tattoos under beige cardigans while sipping red wine like a domesticated queen. But, for Malcolm, she's willing to explore the confines of what she presumes is a healthy relationship—until she realizes why she's been summoned into the mountains, away from civilization.

It's hardly a spoiler to say Keeper quickly turns into a cat-and-mouse thriller, as hints drop early and often. The way the camera lingers on an ominously packaged chocolate cake, or Sutherland's buttoned-up, nice guy portrayal of a soft-spoken partner who's just a smidge too sweet. Cinematographer Jeremy Cox matches Perkins' visual language as the camera pensively pans around, reveling in Liz's discomfort and letting paranoia breathe. The twist is not Liz's predicament, but how bonkers bananas cuckoo villainy will become. Lepard's screenplay begins with fundamental date-fright blueprints, but its backend spirals into a fearless brand of madness that sets rulebooks ablaze … at what cost?

Keeper has this The Haunting of Hill House quality about its ghastly terrors, or how Cox's lens nervously fixates on shadowy architectural angles where evils might appear … for a while. Then Liz learns the truth about her predicament, and storytelling begins slipping through Perkins’ fingers. Malcolm's motivations, witchy influences, and demonic suggestions recontextualize events that now come with more questions. The "whys" and "hows" mount as Perkins barrels full-force into sequences involving magnificently designed ghouls who make their presence emphatically known, which stirs confliction. Some expertly chilling shots shine under Perkins' long-to-simmer pacing, relishing fear injected at an IV-drip trickle, but rad as hell imagery doesn't excuse the unforthcoming nature of reveals to come and overall continuity.

That's the problem. Keeper is effectively chilling in memorable ways—beautifully grim in snapshots—but the entire package is sloppily fastened. Maslany and Sutherland are excellent in their parts as their interactions evolve from fondness to speculation and beyond, neither at fault. Maslany especially devours Liz's sporadic emotional swings, playing everything from a subtly tripping girlie to the final girl type begging for her life. Sutherland boasts this soothing "wolf in sheep's clothing" quality that lets his transformation sting more, but still, certain performance bits lose their impact as Perkins struggles to contain the film's increasingly nebulous horrors.

Gendered warfare gets the Oz Perkins treatment in Keeper, a tangy tonic of nightmarish, lovesick conjurings with divisive appeal. It's formidable and frustrating in equal measure, but never poorly acted. Tatiana Maslany might be the beacon of hope that guides you through what can feel like a disjointed parade of horrible events, which is certainly understandable. That said, Perkins' penchant for hazier, float-away-like-a-balloon concepts becomes a derogatory descriptor here. Choice scare tactics challenge The Bent-Neck Lady for ghostly dominance, if only as flashes of brilliance that can't overcome a runaway climax that buzzes with the wrong kind of intrigue. It’s intriguing until it’s not, letting an undercooked and underconceptualized dessert taint the whole meal.

Movie Score: 2.5 / 5