Osgood Perkins’ “Keeper” begins with a great, bone-chilling sequence: a montage of women, all existing at different moments in time, on a date with an unseen man that is about to go very badly.
The clothes and hairstyles suggest different eras, but these vignettes all end the same. A blood-freezing close-up of each woman, their faces caked in blood, screaming.
It is mercifully the most visceral shock here, as Perkins’ follow-up to his blockbuster “Longlegs” and this year’s hilarious, underrated “The Monkey” isn’t gory but generously dishes out the shocks.
The promotional items promise a “dark trip,” which is an understatement. “Keeper” is 100 percent proof nightmare fuel.
We meet Liz (Tatiana Maslany) and Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland) during a romantic getaway in an isolated cabin in the woods. The lovebirds are enjoying their time together when a knock at the door announces the arrival of Malcolm’s loathsome cousin Darren (Birkett Turton) and his weird girlfriend Minka (Eden Weiss).
In addition to the obnoxious Darren is, the other disruptive element is a chocolate cake, which is overly emphasized by Malcolm. Like everything else about this weekend in the woods, the chocolate cake is yet another thing that initially seems like a good idea but comes across like a red flag.
Perkins’ terrifying, surreal love story is centered by excellent performances from Maslany and Sutherland. Unlike most protagonists, Liz is aware of potential danger but is taking a calculated risk because she’s in love and, really, there’s no way she could fully sense the danger she’s in.
Sutherland, whose voice is in the same authoritatively low register as his father, the late Donald Sutherland, keeps us guessing as Malcolm. His chemistry with Maslany is so persuasive that I frequently forgot I was watching a horror film.
Moreso than prior Perkins films, “Keeper” is a love story. Turton, playing Cousin Darren, vividly creates Perkins’ most hateful character (yes, even moreso than Nicolas Cage’s Longlegs).
On a superficial level, the isolated setting and even the appearance of the lead female character bear a resemblance to Danny and Michael Philippou’s awful “Bring Her Back” from earlier in the year, which was derailed by the second act.
Perkins’ film, which builds steadily and sticks the landing, is closer to the works of David Lynch (particularly the most jolting moments from “Twin Peaks”) than “Companion” or “Oh, Hi!,” the other rom-coms-gone-bad from earlier in the year.
The story becomes a commentary on how a good relationship can seem like a prison sentence if the goal is to control and contain your partner (the title can also be written as “keep her”).
Of all of Perkins’ works, this one is closest to his “Gretel & Hansel” (2020), but not in the ways one expects. Yes, this can be interpreted as another be-careful-who-you-encounter-in-the-woods thriller. However, Perkins loves his characters, and his narratives feel driven by life’s unexpected detours and not by Screenwriting 101.
Perkins leaves the metaphors and personal parallels up to the viewer, never over-explaining the themes on hand. As a writer/director who creates an environment of fear and places people we understand and root for at the center of the threat, Perkins is among the best and smartest filmmakers working in this genre.
There are very few other contemporary masters of horror making film art at this level (Mike Flanagan is a close second).
“Keeper” is Perkins’ strongest and strangest work yet. Arriving the same year as “”Wolf Man,” “Sinners,” “Companion,” “Weapons,” “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” Final Destination: Bloodlines,” “Good Boy” and “Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein,” Perkins has made a film that, like the other standout genre films of 2025, surpasses expectations, is a filmmaking tour de force and, at its most unforgettable moments, profoundly scary and unsettling.
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I was able to shrug off the remake of “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” and I’ve already forgotten the capable but underwhelming “Black Phone 2,” but the third act of “Keeper” is still doing somersaults in my psyche, taunting me when I just want to get some sleep.
We’re still a few weeks away from “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” but I’m calling it: this is the best horror film of 2025.
Four Stars