The opposite of an oxymoron, the relationship-horror genre continues to blossom. Just a few months after Together welded Alison Brie to Dave Franco with mixed results, director Osgood Perkins and writer Nick Lepard deliver Keeper, a visceral reminder that we simply cannot let our collective guard down and allow hipsters to ever know love. It is also a reminder that Tatiana Maslany should (A) be in everything, (B) makes everything better, and (C) is better at everything than everybody.
Maslany plays Liz, an artist who agrees to go with her doctor boyfriend, Malcom (Rossif Sutherland), to his cabin in the woods. This is one of those cabins in the woods where only good things happen. Kidding! There is no such thing. Nature rightfully hates us and wants us all dead. It becomes immediately obvious that is particularly true for this particular cabin, as Liz finds herself in increasingly upsetting situations. Said situations involve dead women showing up to scare the bejeepers out of her.
Keeper doesn’t sport a densely packed plot, in that you can probably guess what’s up from the opening montage and general premise. The specifics are fairly fun but the film’s charm lies in its creepy creatures and in its crumbling couple. Several scenes of sparse dialogue and loaded implications feature some reminders of how impossibly good at this acting thing Maslany is. One unacknowledged tear does the work most performers scream to achieve. Sutherland is doing something like a Vincent D’Onofrio impression and sports a haircut that looks like listening to someone brag about their vinyl collection. His character also has a large vinyl collection.
The problem isn’t that Keeper isn’t good. It is. It’s that it isn’t even Perkins’ best movie this year. He deserves kudos for being this prolific at such high quality, but this one feels like a minor work. It’s not as wildly upsetting as Longlegs or as cheeky as The Monkey. But it’s also not slow-burn perfection like The Blackcoat’s Daughter or I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. You want to put Maslany in a house virtually by herself and watch her go mad, you can take as much time as you want, but you shouldn’t obsessively take the camera away from her and point it toward atmospheric shots of streams and trees. Point the recording device in her direction and back away slowly.
Despite being a bit too sleepily distracted, Keeper has the ghostly goods. The ghouls that pop out of the woodwork before finally seeing the spotlight steal the show, as much as anything can steal the show from Tatiana Maslany. Their tragedy makes the whole thing a grim fairy tale without much of a message, beyond a condemnation of masculine selfishness and savagery, which is always fair game. Ultimately, if this is now Perkins’ floor as a director, how lucky horror is to have him.
Grade = B
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Zachary Lee at RogerEbert.com says, “While Keeper is not short on visual style or atmospheric tension, ultimately, it’s a tedious genre exercise undone by an undercooked narrative and its allergy to mystery.”
Shelagh Rowan-Legg at Screen Anarchy says, “Horror boasts a wide range in its fandom, but arguably, if you’re not already a Perkins fan, then baring Maslany’s stellar performance, this is not the film of his with which to begin. But if you’re already a fan, love a slow-build of terror, a terrific heroine who is caught between her instinct and her love, monsters in the shadows and an old curse, Keeper will satisfy that itch.”
Meagan Navarro at Bloody Disgusting says “Like the turbulent brook bubbling alongside Malcolm’s family cabin, and Perkins’ films in general, Keeper is a film meant to wash over you and carry you along its wholly original and dreamy current.”