Keeper (2025), Dir Osgood Perkins, NEON, 3☆☆☆. Review: Matthew Alicoon.

Keeper (2025), Dir Osgood Perkins, NEON,

3☆☆☆. Review: Matthew Alicoon.

“A rich exploration of manipulation and never entrapment, never staying in focus”

3☆☆☆. Review: Matthew Alicoon

Keeper follows a couple’s trip to spend their 1 year anniversary weekend in a secluded cabin in the woods, where strange occurrences begin to take place at the property. The property harbours a deep dark secret at its core.

Keeper feels at its most lucrative position when it narrows its focus to Tatiana Maslany’s character Liz leaving her alone within the frame, entrapped within the stillness of the house. These passages generate the most discomforting tension showing Osgood Perkins operating on a confidence where he makes the smallest sensory detail feel so charged. For example, a presence high in the frame is crafted with a meticulous restraint that feels visually arresting. What lingers beneath Keeper’s moments is the implications of emotional and psychological abuse, explored with a subtlety that never felt forced – such as the lack of absence from the husband Malcom (Rossif Sutherland). Nick Lepard’s screenplay introduces striking visual motifs through food representing the essence of being slowly diminished. Lepard’s writing hints at a richer thematic tapestry the film occasionally grasps but can never fully commit too. The husband’s absence is narratively intriguing, but his presence when required lacks the authoritative stance needed to truly articulate the power imbalances.

Tatiana Maslany is mesmerising as Liz. Her performance anchors the film with an illuming feel of paranoia which felt palpable. We see Liz’s charm, vulnerability and dread throughout and Maslany brilliantly never overstates the emotional beats. The film is told largely through Liz’s perspective and she brings an intimacy to the role that elevates the quitter moments.  

As with Osgood Perkins’ previous work of Longlegs and The Monkey, the point of division for you will potentially be the twist. Osgood Perkins is a visually distinctive director who is attuned to atmospheric tension and is capable of crafting an ominous dread to his work. Osgood Perkins’ films can sometimes obscure the ideas that make them compelling, burying the thematic core that anchors their impact. With Keeper, the film pivots towards a revelation that feels like it had prioritised shock value over narrative and statement value. The cult element involved with Keeper feels imposed rather than earned, diverting the narrative away from what could have been a different film. Despite, the missteps Jeremy Cox’s cinematography sustains a visually intrinsic quality throughout, with lingering imagery.

I cannot help but feel in the end, Keeper’s solid and striking tone gets too weighted down by the twist that turned the film into something it did not need to be. The film is visually accomplished and anchored by a sublime central performance by Tatiana Maslany. The disruptions of the film sadly feel that way rather than enriching the thematic core.

Cast

Tatiana Maslany as Liz

Rossif Sutherland as Dr. Malcolm Westbridge

Glen Gordon as Teenage Malcolm

Birkett Turton as Darren Westbridge

Logan Pierce as Teenage Darren

Eden Weiss as Minka

Tess Degenstein as Baghead and Maggie

Erin Boyes as Julia

Claire Friesen as Louise

Christin Park as Leslie

Gina Vultaggio as Francis

Crew

Director – Osgood Perkins

Screenwriter – Nick Lepard

Producers – Chris Ferguson & Jesse Savath

Cinematographer – Jeremy Cox

Editors – Graham Fortin & Greg Ng

Music – Brian Tyler