The Scream Queen

Osgood Perkins has become an inescapable force within horror; after Longlegs cemented him as a viral hit, Perkins feels like he is everywhere (even if he has only directed a further 2 films since its release). Despite gaining critical acclaim and an astounding amount of buzz around anything he touches, his films have proven to be rather marmite. Longlegs was an undeniably stylish cult hit, however had some serious flaws regarding its third act twist. Meanwhile, The Monkey tried to replicate Final Destination-esque kills but with the tone of a screwball comedy, working for some but not for others. With each film, Perkins continues to dabble in elements of surrealism that set his films apart from your typical bargain bin genre finds. The culmination of such comes in the form of his newest foray, Keeper, a film with a trailer so long it could have been a feature in and of itself. However, despite having to suffer through it every time you visited the cinema, it impressively managed to keep the film a somewhat mystery. Keeper may in fact be the most ambiguous film of the year; and after seeing the film, I can confirm that it is – unfortunately, I don’t mean that as a compliment.

Keeper begins with a trope that the horror genre cannot seem to escape; the brutalisation of women. Many women. Each one staring doe-eyedly into the camera, as if seducing us, the hidden presence behind the camera. However, this is no romance, and quickly each one of them appears in a blood-soaked montage of torturous screams, before cutting away to the present. These women seemingly haunt the narrative, appearing as breathy condensation on windows and in scribbled drawings by protagonist Liz, portrayed in an elevated performance by Tatiana Maslany. However, their stories are never fully fleshed out, and by the end of the film, feel forgotten about altogether. Perkins’ message is both simple (abusive male patriarchy strikes again) and yet head-scratchingly confusing. By the end of the film, I walked out with far more questions than I entered with – thus, ultimately becoming a tedious anti-climax that will leave you wondering ‘what?’.

Most of the 99 minute runtime is a slog. It starts out intriguingly enough, and there is plenty of creeping camera work that alludes to the fact that Liz is constantly being watched. However, after Liz devours the chocolate (?) cake, the eerie pacing just becomes flat out boring. Occasionally heads start to float out from paintings and miniature versions of people start to pop up (don’t ask), but these moments of strangeness are frustrating if nothing else. Although the film picks up a bit by the time the third act rolls around, by that point, it had lost me. The creature reveal was great, even if the overuse of CGI cheapened the effect. Of course, the film has a classic girlboss-except-not-really ending, where Liz prevails over Malcolm, but has unfortunately been possessed to become the new ‘keeper’ (think Midsommar).

Final Verdict:

Osgood Perkins once again takes us on a trippy journey down a winding road that leads nowhere. Keeper is a forced fever dream which cannot even be saved by a great performance from lead Tatiana Maslany. With a 99 minute runtime that feels more like 3 hours, Perkins’ latest foray into horror attempts to further establish him as a master of creating haunting, psychological dreamscapes; and although his visuals are evocatively uncanny, Keeper is let down by nightmarishly confusing writing from Nick Lepard. More marmite than any of his previous entries, Perkins’ Keeper will undoubtably prove to be one of the most divisive films of the year. Alas, like marmite, this one just wasn’t to my taste.