Keeper is the third consecutive films I’ve seen from Osgood Perkins, and everyone essentially a horror movie, at least in part.
Longlegs, with Nicolas Cage as a serial killer, didn’t wholly work for me, but I much more enjoyed The Monkey, earlier this year, where you were at risk of dying horribly and in a very gory fashion, if you chanced upon a toy of a monkey bashing its cymbals together. I could certainly go for a sequel to that, and it starred Theo James, who I think could well be the next James Bond.
In fact, Keeper had a brief teaser shown at the end of the credits for that last film, but if I had scant idea of what was going on in that, the feeling continues, here.
As we’re introduced to Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland) and Liz (Tatiana Maslany, who’s popping up in most of Perkins’ films), we learn he’s been in many relationships before this film begins, but now, it’s time their 1st Anniversary weekend, and they’ve gone on holiday to his family’s log cabin in the woods. Yes, the woods. Weird stuff always happens when a horror movie is set in the woods…
Their initial dinner is interrupted when Malcolm’s irritating and overbearing cousin, Darren (Birkett Turton), turns up with his embarrassed date, Minka (Eden Von Weiss), but once they’re gone and the couple start getting amorous, Malcolm he interrupts with chocolate cake… and she’s not impressed, because she doesn’t like chocolate. Hang on… Who doesn’t LOVE chocolate?!
Yet, she eats rather more than her fair share, and weird shit starts happening…
What follows contains some things I’ve not seen before in a horror movie, but go with it, and it’s great entertainment, even if what was probably meant to be scary often made me laugh, instead.
Overall, Keeper is better than Longlegs, but The Monkey just pips it. Still, while I would watch this film again, I’d give it a while, as it’s very slow to get going before it reveals its hand.
It’s also interesting that Osgood Perkins keeps using different aspect ratios for his films. No idea why. This one is a straight 1.85:1, Longlegs is 2.39:1, but The Monkey is 2.00:1, which boils my piss because it’s an aspect ratio frequently used in modern TV shows which fits NO cinema screens! And when they’re shown on a 2.39:1 screen, which is the most common, you end up with black bars both top & bottom AND at the sides, and it looks crap. Just stick to one of the two main ratios, so your film looks decent at the cinema where it’s meant to have the biggest impact.
NOTE: There’s no mid- nor post-credits scenes, not even a teaser for Perkins’ 2026 movie, The Young People.
Keeper is in cinemas now, and is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 98 minutes
Release date: November 14th 2025
Studio: NEON
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 7/10
Director: Osgood Perkins
Producers: Chris Ferguson, Jesse Savath
Screenplay: Nick Lepard
Music: Edo Van Breemen
Cast:
Liz: Tatiana Maslany
Malcolm: Rossif Sutherland
Louise: Claire Friesen
Leslie: Christin Park
Minka: Eden Von Weiss
Julia: Erin Boyes
Darren: Birkett Turton
Baghead: Tess Degenstein
Francis: Gina Vultaggio
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.