Keeper

Osgood Perkins has created a genre universe that horror fans can’t deny. He’s brought us several feature films, including I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, and the buzzy Longlegs and The Monkey; and now he’s rounding out his horror library with the deliciously weird Keeper.

Liz (Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black, The Monkey) and Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland, Plan B, Murder in a Small Town) have been dating for a year, and to celebrate, they head up to Malcolm’s family cottage in the woods. Liz is smitten with her handsome doctor beau, and romance and solitude are on the menu. But Malcolm’s cousin Darren (Birkett Turton, Family Law, iZombie) shows up unannounced with his model girlfriend Minka (Eden Weiss), who seems a bit more than tipsy, disrupting their quiet time together. There’s also a mysterious chocolate cake for dessert and an ailing patient that forces Malcolm to abandon their getaway, leaving Liz alone in the gorgeous, secluded cabin. Liz is also dealing with some disturbing dreams, sleepwalking and an uneasy feeling, especially when Darren shows up, surprised to see her there alone. Her discomfort around Darren escalates, but little does she know that the creepy vibes are just the tip of the iceberg, and her life is about to change forever.

I think we’ve learned from The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Longlegs that Perkins likes to go for broke when it comes to stories with indirect narratives. Usually, I’d be screaming, “Pick a lane!” for anyone else, but here, I enjoyed the creepy avenues Perkins takes us down. He brings up some interesting themes, like a commentary on modern dating, misogyny through the ages, what we want to believe when we’re in love, and the predatory nature of men.

Some moments showcase how a toxic relationship starts, complete with gaslighting and no-so-subtle clues that make you question what you’re seeing, putting you right beside Liz as the mystery unfolds. In many of his films, Perkins creates interesting women characters with untapped power, who navigate a seemingly normal life in an almost blindfolded, somnolent way, only to discover that there has been a sinister world around them all along.  I don’t think this means the characters are foolish, but he grasps the societal pressures put upon women to deny their intuition for the sake of archaic versions of love.

I also hereby claim Keeper as a Canadian film since it was shot in Vancouver with a Canadian crew. It’s something I would have absolutely programmed, and I love the always fantastic Maslany, who is captivating as you watch her try to figure out this strange weekend getaway. We all knew she had the acting chops with Orphan Black, and she reminds us here why she’s made for genre. Rossif Sutherland, as the handsome teddy bear of a love interest, is always welcome in anything I watch. A giant, sweet-faced doctor who wears his heart on his sleeve? Most single women would shout, “Yes, please!”, and that’s the charm he infuses into this character so well.

Cinematographer Jeremy Cox, who has worked with Perkins on Longlegs and The Monkey, shows us how to use vast landscapes to convey claustrophobia and makes the dolly zoom feel new. The score by Edo Van Breemen is brilliantly creepy, and the creature effects by Werner Pretorius are insane, full stop. Fun fact: my grandmother used to sing the Peggy Lee song “I Don’t Want to Play in Your Yard,” heard in the film. It freaked me out when I was a kid, and now.

Don’t look for explanations in this horrific romance gone wrong. You have to accept it on its very strange terms, but I got the lore, I got the themes, and I loved the whole imperfect package. There’s also a touch of Lynchian weirdness and Japanese horror blended well to create a bizarre folk horror tale that any Perkins fan needs to see.

Keeper is the kind of film I want from Osgood Perkins: weird, original and a part of a horror universe he’s slowly but surely building.

Look for it on demand and make it the hit it should have been in theatres.