MOVIE REVIEW: KEEPER

 

A wife becomes isolated in a secluded cabin and has to fend off an unspeakable evil.

Director: Osgood Perkins

Cast: Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland, Claire Friesen, Christin Park, Erin Boyes, Tess Degenstein, Birkett Turton, Eden Weiss, Eden Weiss

Release Date: November 14, 2025

Genre: Horror

Rated R for some violent content/gore, language, and some sexual references.

Runtime: 1h 39m

Review:

Osgood Perkins’ latest, Keeper, is a slow burn, more experimental approach than his recent films, which isn’t going to be for everybody but for those looking for steady dose of folk horror and fans of Tatiana Maslany will find a perfect showcase here.  Perkin’s visual style makes the self-confined, claustrophic setting unsettling from the start and rarely letting up before the central reveal occurs.  He provides plenty of visual foreshadowing that makes more sense once the full scope of the story is unleashed with a cornucopia of horrific images and well places sounds.   The well-worn trope of the cabin in the woods immediately illicit the feeling that something’s off about this romantic getaway between burgeoning lovers.  Rossif Sutherland and Tatiana Maslany make for a fascinating onscreen couple as their understated early interactions give way larger displays of their relationship fraying at the seams.  Sutherland brings an unsettling undercurrent to his overly kind and empathetic Malcolm who feels off almost as soon as he appears onscreen.  This film, however, belongs to the incredibly talented Tatiana Maslany whose character is put through the emotional ringer during the course of the film.  Maslany is a study in subtly as her character is slowly revealed to be emotionally rundown but hopeful when we meet her.  As things get progressively stranger and more off kilter, she brings the kind of energy required to carry the film single handedly. She is more than game for everything thrown at her although the story starts to fall apart in the final act with the final reveal coming off as undercooked.  The conclusion feels overly rushed which keeps it from delivering a truly satisfying conclusion since you’re left with more questions than answers before Keeper's abrupt rather ending.

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: THE MONKEY

 

When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree, forcing the estranged siblings to confront the cursed toy.

Director: Osgood Perkins

Cast: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy

Release Date: February 21, 2025

Genre: Horror

Rated R for strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout and some sexual references.

Runtime: 1h 38m

Review:

The Monkey is a devilishly dark, horror comedy that delivers a gory collection of kills that never gels into an entirely cohesive film.  Osgood Perkins' adaptation of Stephen King's short story takes the most basic parts of that story to create an anarchic tale of death and destruction that only expands in scope as the story goes on.  Perkins takes a gleeful approach to each kill with each one taking full advantage of gooey blood and gore to a cartoonish degree.  There's nihilistic undercurrent that pervades throughout the film's runtime that might be off putting to some as Perkins offers no clear answers to what's happening or why.  It’s a demented joyride that leans into the silliness of the haunted toy conceit paired with the kind of adolescent trauma that peppered early era King.  It’s a different approach for Perkins, especially after last year's Longlegs was far more self-serious than this blissfully, bleak jaunt.  Theo James is tasked with carrying the lion's share of the load here in dual roles.  James delivers a fun, tongue-in-cheek performance that puts his level of commitment to the material on display, especially once his twin character takes center stage.  He's clearly open to anything that Perkins throws at him as he and his characters roll with the increasingly outrageous splatter fest thrown onscreen.  He shares the majority of his screentime with Colin O'Brien who plays Petey, his estranged son, with both sharing some solid chemistry together.  Tatiana Maslany is given painfully little screentime in flashback as the twin’s single mother.  Maslany manages to leave an impression in her limited screentime which leaves you wishing Perkins had made better use of her and the character as opposed to all the extended voiceovers from James.   It might have given the story and central character a better-defined emotional core which would have made some of the reveals more impactful.  There's plenty to enjoy, especially if you enjoy gratuitously gory deaths, The Monkey feels a bit too emotionally untethered to leave the kind of impact intended.   

B-