Osgood Perkins made his debut as a feature director with 2015's The Blackcoat's Daughter. However, he didn't get to his third film until 2020's Gretel and Hansel.

After a four-year break, Perkins returned with 2024's Longlegs and has gone on a tear since then. 2025 brought two new flicks from Perkins, as he created The Monkey and the subject of this review, Keeper.

To mark their one-year anniversary as a couple, Liz (Tatiana Maslany) and Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland) embark on a getaway to a secluded cabin. Initially, this goes well.

However, the romantic occasion takes a negative turn when two uninvited "guests" arrive: Malcolm's grating cousin Darren (Birkett Turton) and Darren's European model girlfriend Minka (Eden Weiss). Odd events begin to manifest that make Liz question her relationship as well as reality.

I feel bewildered that anyone in real life ever actually spends time in remote cabins. Given that horror movies so relentlessly use them as the locations where Bad Things Happen, who would want to tempt fate?

Snark aside, this means Keeper starts at a minor deficit. The notion of "pleasant cabin vacations gone horribly awry" exists as such a genre trope that it leaves me wary of the project's potential.

However, Perkins' presence as director helps swing the pendulum back in the right direction. While I can find flaws in his other movies, they largely succeed.

I saw four Perkins features prior to Keeper, and that included everything he directed except 2016's I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. Though I thought all four came with inconsistencies, I still felt the positives easily outweighed the negatives.

Would this trend continue with Keeper? Unfortunately no, as this turns into a snoozer of a stab at a scary flick.

Though released after Monkey, Perkins shot Keeper in a lull in the former’s shoot caused by a writers strike. In his audio commentary, Perkins mentions that this means he and the cast/crew essentially made up Keeper as they went along.

Hoo boy does this seem obvious. While it still looks professional, Keeper feels so clumsy and uninspired that it really does come across as a film created on the fly.

I’m fine with a “slow burn” story, but this one just seems dull. It doesn’t build real tension so we find a narrative that drags and feels unsure where it wants to go.

Too much of Keeper can feel obvious as well. Character actions telegraph too many story beats and remove much mystery.

Perhaps to compensate for the loose structure of Keeper and its lack of real clarity, Perkins pours on trippy visuals and a few too many jump scares. These do nothing but accentuate the painful lack of substance at the film’s core.

After two slow acts, the Big Reveal in the third doesn’t prove remotely worth the wait. Again, this feels like an example of the movie’s “made up as they went along” nature, for the tale simply fails to connect in a smooth and natural manner.

All of this adds up to an erratic and disjointed horror flick with little new to say and a plodding method of delivery. Given Perkins’ talents, Keeper becomes a real disappointment.

Keeper appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became an appealing presentation.

Only a few slightly soft interiors popped up through the film, as overall delineation worked well. Even with those occasional anomalies, the majority of the flick appeared accurate.

Neither shimmering nor jaggies marred the image, and I witnessed no edge haloes. Source flaws remained absent.

Much of Keeper went with a standard palette of amber/orange and blue/teal. Predictable as those tints may seem, the disc replicated them well.

A fairly atmospheric affair, the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack lacked a ton of zing. However, it provided music from all the channels and let the effects fill the spectrum.

A few violent scenes used the soundscape to the most impactful degree. These moments created a satisfying sense of place and setting.

Audio quality worked well. Speech was concise and natural, while music boasted fine range and vivacity.

Effects gave us accurate, dynamic elements without distortion. Though not a tremendously ambitious track, the movie’s mix seemed pretty solid.

The disc provides an audio commentary from director Osgood Perkins. He delivers a running, screen-specific discussion of the project’s roots and loose shooting structure, sets and locations, cast and performances, music, and various effects.

At times, Perkins gives us some good notes about the production. However, he can go quiet a little too often and seems a little disinterested in the discussion, factors that make this a spotty track.

The disc opens with ads for No Other Choice and The Secret Agent. We also locate both teaser and theatrical trailers for Keeper.

All good things come to an end, and Osgood Perkins’ winning streak of appealing movies concludes with the lackluster Keeper. Although it displays a few signs of life, it seems disjointed and surprisingly tedious. The Blu-ray boasts solid picture and audio along with a commentary. Hopefully Perkins will get back on track with his next film, but Keeper just doesn’t work.

Note that this Blu-ray only comes paired with the movie’s 4K UHD version. Neon chose not to release a solo Blu-ray for Keeper.

This means Blu-ray fans without 4K UHD players will need to buy this package to get the movie’s BD.