Keeper (2025) Review: Tatiana Maslany Shines in a Visually Haunting but Uneven Horror Tale

⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)

Keeper

Directed by Osgood Perkins

Written by Nick Lepard

Starring Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland

Release Date November 14th, 2025

A Cynic in Love… and Then in Terror

Tatiana Maslany stars as Liz, a sharp-tongued New Yorker shocked to find herself celebrating a one-year anniversary with her boyfriend, Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland). She’s not the commitment type and she definitely isn’t the “cabin-in-the-woods vacation” type, yet she agrees to spend a week alone with Malcolm in a remote upscale cabin—no TV, no distractions, just time to test the strength of their relationship.

From minute one, something feels off. Liz gets a strange feeling from a boxed cake left by the home’s unseen caretaker—a dirty package with a smeared heart on top. Before she can process the weirdness, they’re interrupted by Malcolm’s annoying cousin Darren (Burkitt Turton) and his one-night stand, Minka (Eden Weiss), who barely speaks but still finds the breath to warn Liz: don’t eat the cake.

Naturally, Liz eats the cake.

Hallucinations, Nightmares, and Monsters with Too Many Faces

The cake—possibly laced with human fingers Liz hopes she imagined—sets off a series of escalating hallucinations. She dreams of women being tortured. She sees strange figures lurking in corners. A woman with a plastic bag over her head haunts her vision.

And then Malcolm announces he has to return to the city for a medical emergency, leaving Liz alone with her spiraling imagination. His cousin drops by, behaving oddly, then disappearing and leaving behind clues that push Liz even further toward madness.

This middle stretch is where Keeper hits its stride. Osgood Perkins has always had a gift for monsters—see Nicolas Cage’s unforgettable creature in Longlegs—and Keeper serves up creatures that lodge themselves into your nightmares. There are beings with faces frozen in a permanent scream, creatures with multiple faces, and twisted necks extending like serpents around corners and up staircases.

Visually, the film is a feast of dread.

A Strong Visual Style Held Back by an Underwritten Story

What Keeper has in visual imagination, it lacks in narrative weight. Nick Lepard’s script feels thin, especially in the final act, which rushes toward a reveal that doesn’t land with the impact it needs. There’s a twist about who Malcolm really is and the true identity of Liz’s tormentors, but the film moves through these revelations so fast that the audience never gets a moment to absorb them.

Worse still, the central relationship never quite convinces. The awkward chemistry between Maslany and Sutherland is intentional—this is a new couple, unsure and teetering—but it still doesn’t feel believable. Tatiana Maslany brings humor, warmth, and a lived-in quirkiness to Liz; Rossif Sutherland’s Malcolm is so flat and energy-free that he never seems like someone Liz would choose to build a life with. His performance is distant to the point of distraction, and not in a way that serves the story.

Final Thoughts: A Beautifully Rendered Horror Film that Needed More Time to Breathe

Keeper is at its best when it lets its monsters loose, and Osgood Perkins continues to prove he’s one of horror’s most intriguing visual stylists. Maslany carries the emotional weight of the film with ease, but the rushed finale and underdeveloped relationship keep Keeper from reaching its full potential.

There’s a great movie lurking in here—its neck just doesn’t stretch quite far enough.

⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)

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You can hear me going into even more depth on Keeper on the newest I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Tags

Horror Movies, Keeper 2025 Review, Osgood Perkins, Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland, 2025 Horror Films, Movie Reviews, Psychological Horror, Monster Movies, Film Criticism