As horror directors go, Osgood Perkins has been worth paying attention to, even if he doesn’t always hit it out of the park. I’ve also noticed a couple of common threads among his films. One, he generally favors slow-burning, atmospheric horror (his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Monkey being an amusing exception). And two, his best ones tend to have screenplays he had a hand in writing.
He didn’t write Keeper, and while it’s plenty stylish and full of creepy, surreal imagery, I can’t help but wonder if Perkins felt much ownership with this one…at least in terms of the story.
To celebrate a year together, Malcolm (Rossi Sutherland) and Liz (Tatiana Maslany) go to his remote cabin for the weekend. Well, not completely remote…Malcom’s obnoxious cousin, Darren (Kett Turton), lives next door. More ominously, some kind of malevolent presence dwells in the forest, and eventually the cabin, with a particular interest in Liz. Concurrently, Liz begins experiencing dreams and/or hallucinations, but what they actually mean - as well as the nature of the spirit? demon? monster? - is revealed gradually…maybe too gradually.
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| "Damn auto-correct." |
A strong protagonist helps a bit. Liz is likable, sympathetic and well played by Maslany. Conversely, however, both Malcolm and Darren are clumsily conceived. Without giving too much away, how they ultimately figure into the climax is hampered by heavy-handed foreshadowing. One of them actually disappears from the story altogether with no real explanation. And personally speaking, I found Sutherland’s performance kind of irritating.
I dunno…after Perkins’ one-two punch of Longlegs and The Monkey, maybe my expectations were too high, but I found this one disappointing. Technically well made, Keeper’s trippy aesthetic keeps things interesting for awhile, but it's eventually undone by a slow pace and a story that runs out of gas too soon.
EXTRA KIBBLES
AUDIO COMMENTARY - By director Osgood Perkins
TRAILER & TEASER
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