In Keeper, director Osgood Perkins and writer Nick Lepard conjure a horror film that is as emotionally raw as it is atmospherically unsettling. Set in a remote cabin and anchored by a two-character dynamic, the film stars Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland as Liz and Malcolm—a couple whose romantic retreat spirals into psychological terror.
What begins as a quiet anniversary getaway soon fractures into a surreal confrontation with isolation, mistrust, and the uncanny. As Malcolm departs unexpectedly, Liz is left alone to face a sinister force tied to the cabin’s dark history, and perhaps to the emotional fault lines of their relationship itself.
Perkins, known for Longlegs and The Blackcoat’s Daughter, has long been drawn to horror that pulses beneath the surface—where dread is not just external but internal, where silence is weaponised, and where characters unravel in tandem with the world around them. Keeper emerged during a creative lull caused by industry strikes, when Perkins, eager to keep working, assembled a small team and crafted a film from scratch. “We did it for no money and no time,” he told Inverse, “and we just did it for the love of it, which turned out to be the best medicine”. That urgency and intimacy permeate the film’s DNA, making it feel both stripped-down and emotionally saturated.
Tatiana Maslany, celebrated for her transformative work in Orphan Black, brings a mercurial intensity to Liz. Her collaboration with Perkins—following their work on The Monkey—was marked by creative freedom and instinctual risk-taking. “All of the weird instincts and impulses I have are the stuff we’re making this film with,” Maslany said, describing the process as liberating. That sense of raw, intuitive performance is central to Keeper’s power. The film doesn’t rely on jump scares or gore; instead, it builds unease through emotional dissonance, fragmented memory, and the creeping suspicion that love itself may be haunted.
The title Keeper carries layered significance. On the surface, it refers to the romantic notion of finding “a keeper”—someone worth holding onto. But as the film unfolds, that phrase curdles. Is Liz being kept by Malcolm, by the cabin, or by something more metaphysical? The ambiguity is deliberate. The film toys with perspective, suggesting that either character could be the true villain—or the true victim. The cabin becomes a crucible for projection, possession, and revelation, where the boundaries between love and control, memory and manipulation, begin to blur.
In a genre often dominated by spectacle, Keeper stands out for its restraint and resonance.
It’s a horror film that doesn’t scream—it whispers, scratches, and waits. Its significance lies not just in its scares but in its emotional excavation. Perkins and Lepard have crafted a story where the real terror is intimacy itself: the fear of being truly seen, truly known, and perhaps, truly lost. In that sense, Keeper is not just a film—it’s a mirror held up to the quiet horrors we carry into love, and the ghosts we leave behind.
Osgood Perkins most recently wrote and directed The Monkey, adapted from the Stephen King short story of the same name. It premiered to critical acclaim and marked NEON’s second-highest opening of all time. Perkins’ previous film, Long Legs, was also released by NEON to rave reviews and earned an 86% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It grossed over $126 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing independent film of 2024, the most successful indie horror release of the past 25 years, and NEON’s top-performing title to date, surpassing Parasite and I, Tonya. His upcoming film Keeper, marks his third collaboration with NEON. Perkins made his directorial debut with The Blackcoat’s Daughter, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival to critical praise and was released by A24. He went on to direct Gretel & Hansel for MGM/Orion, and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, which premiered at Tl FF in 2016 and is now streaming as a Netflix original. In television, Perkins made his debut directing and writing a standalone episode of CBS All Access’s The Twilight Zone reboot. Supported by Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions, the episode allowed him to craft an original story within the anthology format-an uncommon opportunity that showcased his distinctive voice in genre storytelling.
Nick Lepard, the screenwriter behind Keeper (2025), is a Canadian artist and writer whose creative roots lie in visual storytelling and emotional abstraction. Born in 1983, Lepard first gained recognition as a painter, known for his expressive use of color, gesture, and scale. His transition into screenwriting brought that same physicality and intuition to narrative form. While Keeper marks a major cinematic collaboration with Osgood Perkins, Lepard’s background in contemporary art informs the film’s surreal and psychological tone. His writing explores the porous boundaries between perception and reality, often using sparse dialogue and evocative imagery to build tension. Lepard’s approach to horror is less about spectacle and more about emotional dissonance—how relationships, memory, and space can become sites of quiet terror. With Keeper, he crafts a narrative that is both intimate and metaphysical, inviting viewers to confront the ghosts that linger in love, silence, and solitude.
