November 14, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Osgood Perkins
Culture Representation: Taking place in 2023, in an unnamed part of Canada, the horror film “Keeper” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one Asian person and one Latina) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A medical doctor and a painter artist, who have been dating each other for one year, take a getaway trip to the doctor’s family cabin in a remote wooded area, where the woman in the relationship has terrifying experiences.
Culture Audience: “Keeper” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Osgood Perkins, and people who don’t mind watching vague horror movies that rush through a muddled plot reveal.
“Keeper” is a series of creepy and grotesque images in search of a coherent plot. Most of this mopey “cabin in the woods” horror flick is a boring waiting game for the biggest scares to happen. Although some of the visual imagery is unique, it’s not enough to make “Keeper” a genuinely interesting film because the story ideas are too underdeveloped.
Directed by Osgood Perkins and written by Nick Lepard, “Keeper” had the potential to be a terrifying mystery with fascinating characters. Instead, the characters are merely vague sketches of personalities with drab dialogue. And although horror movies often rely on having characters who make stupid decisions, the protagonist shows an astounding lack of common sense that’s all in service of the movie’s flimsy reason from why the protagonist is “stuck” in the woods.
“Keeper” is yet another horror movie about deadly things happening to people who are in an isolated wooded area. “Keeper” takes place in an unnamed part of Canada. The movie was actually filmed in Vancouver.
“Keeper” begins by showing a montage of four women in different time periods. Louise (played by Claire Friesen) is in 1788. Julia (played by Erin Boyes) is in 1956. Francis (played by Gina Vultaggio) is in 1978. Leslie (played by Christin Park) is in 1983. It’s the first indication that the horror in the story has been happening for centuries.
Each woman is seen with various expressions on their faces in these scenarios: (1) looking at a love interest for the first time: (2) being in a romantic relationship with this love interest; and (3) feeling disillusioned and disgusted by this love interest. No words are spoken in these montage scenes, and the person they are looking at is not seen on camera.
“Keeper” than fast-forwards to November 2023. Medical doctor Malcolm Westbridge (played by Rossif Sutherland) is taking his painter artist girlfriend Liz (played by Tatiana Maslany) to a remote wooded area where his family has owned a cabin and guest house for years. Liz is a city dweller who’s uncomfortable with being in rural environments. However, she has accompanied Malcolm on this trip because she wants to please him.
This will be the first time that Liz is going to this family property. It’s mentioned early on in the movie that Malcolm and Liz have been dating each other for a year. It’s actually the month of their one-year anniversary. Later, in a conversation between Malcolm and Liz, it’s revealed that the couple met when Malcolm bought one of Liz’s paintings.
Before going to the cabin, Liz is seen talking on the phone with her best friend Maggie (played by Tess Degenstein), who expresses surprise that “subway rat” Liz would want to be in this remote area for any length of time. Liz considers herself open-minded enough to try new things. She also thinks this could be a romantic getaway trip.
Malcolm and Liz are affectionate with each other, but there’s some underlying tension between them. One of the first things that they see when they arrive in the cabin is a cake box on the front porch. Malcolm explains that the cake was left as a gift by the property’s female caretaker, who likes to give this cake as a “tradition.”
The first third of “Keeper” consists of monotonous conversations between Malcolm and Liz, who feels increasingly uncomfortable because she’s been having strange visions and dreams. An eerie scene in the movie shows Liz taking a warm bath and something unseen draws a heart on the steam-misted window behind her. There are also indications that a strange creature with very long arms is lurking in the woods can can sneak into the house.
Malcolm and Liz get an unexpected visit from Malcolm’s younger cousin Darren (played by Birkett Turton), a sleazy and sexist jerk who stays in the guest house when he comes to visit. Malcolm was not expecting Darren to be there, but since it’s family-owned property, Darren feels entitled to show up whenever he feels like it. Malcolm and Darren give the impression that they don’t like each other very much.
Darren is accompanied by an Eastern European model named Minka (played by Eden Weiss), who doesn’t speak much English and is only there to be Darren’s most recent trophy girlfriend. Darren is sure to announce to everyone that Minka is a party girl who likes molly (slang for Ecstasy), and he’s the one in control of the relationship because he pays for everything that she enjoys with him. Minka seems to be aware and consenting of this transactional relationship.
The chocolate cake that was in the cake box is on the kitchen counter. One of the few things that Minka says in English is when she nods toward the cake and tells Liz that the cake “tastes like shit.” It’s at this point that you know Liz is going to eat that cake.
And sure enough, after Darren and Minka have left, Malcolm persuades a reluctant Liz to eat a piece of the cake. Liz doesn’t want to eat the cake at first because she tells Malcolm that she doesn’t like chocolate. However, he convinces her to eat some cake by manipulating her into thinking that if she does it, it will prove that she’s loyal to him. As soon as Liz eats the cake, you know things are going to get worse for her.
A day or two later, Malcolm says he has to temporarily leave the cabin because of a work-related emergency. He tells Liz that an elderly patient named Mrs. Portnoy is coming out of a medically induced coma, and he needs to be there when Mrs. Portnoy regains consciousness. Malcolm leaves in the car that he and Liz took to get to the cabin, so Liz is now stuck with no transportation. You can easily predict that when Liz is alone in the house, there will be more jump scares and unexplained sightings.
One of the things that will alienate viewers from Liz is that when she has conversations, she has a smug and sarcastic attitude where she seems to think she’s the smartest person in the room. However, Liz isn’t as intelligent as she thinks she is because when things get to be too uncomfortable and frightening for Liz at the cabin, she only calls Maggie to give her a ride out of this place, as if Maggie is the only person who could possibly give her a ride. Hasn’t Liz heard of car services? Apparently, the filmmakers of “Keeper” expect viewers to forget car services exist.
“Keeper” then lumbers along until the last third of the movie, which is a parade of memorable but ultimately shallow imagery of certain beings that look like they would fit right in at an amusement park’s haunted house attraction. And just like a haunted house attraction, the jump scares in “Keeper” are fleeting. The movie’s visually striking cinematography (by Jeremy Cox) and effectively spooky music score (by Edo Van Breemen) are two of the few assets for “Keeper.”
The performances in the movie are serviceable, with Maslany as the only cast member who’s required to show a myriad of emotions. Maslany is certainly skilled at being a “scream queen,” but her Liz character just isn’t very believable with all of Liz’s lapses in logic. And it’s too easy to figure out very early in the story who the chief villain is.
In a story already filled with plot holes, the ending of “Keeper” seems cobbled together, like a screenplay that wasn’t completely finished before a deadline. “Keeper” also missed huge opportunities to tell more about Louise, Julia, Francis and Leslie. The movie couldn’t even make the protagonist a well-rounded character. And that’s why it’s not surprising that everyone else in “Keeper” is also just an empty vessel in a very flawed horror movie that has more style than substance.
Neon released “Keeper” in U.S. cinemas on November 14, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on December 9, 2025.
