Once I sat down to look at Keeper, I truthfully didn’t know precisely what I used to be getting into. I’d seen the trailers, but it surely barely hinted at something past a pair heading right into a cabin the place creepy issues begin to occur.
I often love moving into blind, particularly with horror, as a result of that sense of discovery is a part of the enjoyable. With this one, although, the shock wasn’t pleasure. It was confusion and disappointment. I saved ready for that second the place every part clicks or takes off, and it simply by no means got here.
I’ve all the time appreciated Osgood Perkins and the uneasy environment he tends to convey to his movies. He has a knack for crafting unsettling visuals and eerie quiet moments. Right here, these touches are nonetheless current, however they really feel scattered.
There are flashes of one thing cool or creative, and I might see glimmers of concepts involving monstrous or ghostly ideas, however none of it grows into something actually that fascinating or significant. As a substitute of pulling me into its world, Keeper saved me at arm’s size, drifting via scenes that didn’t really feel related.
What made the expertise even more durable was the pacing. I like a gradual burn story, however this was gradual in a means that drained any stress the film was attempting to construct. It’s superbly shot and the forged commits, however the film’s rhythm is so sluggish that even the nice performances have bother discovering momentum.
More often than not I felt like I used to be watching a set of unusual and grotesque photographs attempting to kind a narrative relatively than an precise narrative.
I might inform Perkins needed the thriller to really feel slippery and deliberately incomplete, however that strategy solely works when the items a minimum of kind a form. Right here, the creepy weirdness sits on high of a plot that’s barely there.
What annoyed me most is that the film hints at themes involving unhealthy relationships and emotional decay, but it surely by no means says something fascinating about them. With a setup this easy and contained, you’d assume it could lean into these concepts.
As a substitute, Keeper gives acquainted turns with out including something new, and by the point it tries to land its message, I wasn’t invested. All of it feels undercooked, just like the story by no means moved previous its early brainstorming part.
As issues moved towards the top, I saved forming theories hoping the film had some trick up its sleeve. When the reality lastly surfaced, I discovered myself wishing I hadn’t bothered. It’s not that the ending is stunning. It’s that when the playing cards are on the desk, the entire expertise feels empty. The thriller behind the thriller doesn’t convey readability, solely one other layer of frustration.
Regardless of Perkins’ atmospheric contact and the forged doing what they will, Keeper drifts alongside with none actual chemistry, readability, or emotional punch. It’s not scary, it’s not thematically wealthy, and it by no means turns into the wild or gripping horror journey I hoped it could be.
As a substitute, it performs like a classy however meandering experiment that by no means finds focus. I walked away wishing the movie had given me one thing to carry onto and revel in.
