| Keeper | |
|---|---|
| Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Osgood Perkins |
| Written by | Nick Lepard |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Jeremy Cox |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Edo Van Breemen |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Neon |
Release date |
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Running time | 99 minutes [2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million [3] |
| Box office | $5 million [4] |
Keeper is a 2025 American folk horror [5] film directed by Osgood Perkins and written by Nick Lepard. The film stars Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland, Birkett Turton, and Eden Weiss. Maslany and Sutherland are also two of the film's executive and co-executive producers, respectively. The film follows a couple spending their anniversary weekend at a secluded cabin in the woods, where strange things begin occurring and the cabin's dark secrets are revealed. [6]
Keeper was released in the United States on November 14, 2025 by Neon, and received mixed reviews from critics.
For their one-year anniversary, Malcolm, a doctor, takes his girlfriend, Liz, a painter, on a weekend trip to a secluded cabin in the countryside. Upon arrival, Liz finds a boxed cake in the cabin, which Malcolm claims is a gift from the caretaker. At dinner, the two are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Malcolm's obnoxious cousin, Darren, and Darren's European model girlfriend, Minka, whom Darren claims doesn't speak any English. As Malcolm is scolding Darren, Minka, in English, warns Liz that the cake tastes awful. Despite this, Liz later eats a slice of it at Malcolm's insistence.
Liz becomes haunted by strange visions of screaming, bloodied women and a pregnant woman who looks identical to her. In the middle of the night, she is inexplicably drawn to the cake and devours it in one sitting, despite finding severed bloody fingers inside it. In the morning, Minka is attacked by an unseen force while walking alone in the woods.
Malcolm claims he needs to return to the city to take care of a patient, but promises he will be back that evening. While alone in the house, Liz calls her friend, Maggie, who offers to collect Liz and insists that Malcolm is probably married and cheating with her, much to Liz's annoyance. Strange creatures begin to appear in the house and follow Liz. She encounters a ghostly apparition of Minka and a strange woman wearing a plastic bag over her head. Darren arrives and demands to be let inside despite Liz's reservations. She hides in the bathroom as he retrieves a meat cleaver from the kitchen and wanders around the house carrying it before being killed by unseen forces. Becoming increasingly disturbed by the unusual occurrences around her, Liz calls Maggie and implores her to come get her, but cannot get a good cell phone connection. When Malcolm returns, a distraught Liz says she wants to go home, but he manages to calm her down and convinces her to share a drink before they leave.
Increasingly suspicious of Malcolm's behavior, Liz locks herself in the bathroom and finds an old photograph of Malcolm with what appears to be his wife and daughters. Malcolm opens the door, telling Liz that the lock doesn't actually work, and Liz furiously confronts him for his apparent infidelity before demanding to be taken home. Malcolm then reveals that 200 years ago, as adolescents, he and Darren encountered a pregnant woman—the one from Liz's visions—trespassing on their property, and shot her in the leg before locking her in a pigpen. There, she gave birth to the strange creatures that have been appearing around Liz. Darren and Malcolm fatally shot the woman in the head and have spent the last 200 years luring women to the premises to feed to the creatures, who have granted the men a longer lifespan in exchange; the screaming women in Liz's visions are their past victims. He also explains that the cake was drugged and had intended to knock Liz out.
Malcolm locks Liz in the basement after she tries to escape. She is surrounded by the spirits, including the woman with the bag over her head, who removes the bag to reveal a face with multiple eyes, noses and mouths. In lieu of attacking her, the creatures embrace Liz due to her resemblance to their mother, whose disembodied head they have preserved in a jar of honey. Liz both laughs hysterically and screams in horror as they surround her. Meanwhile, Malcolm begins to age rapidly before being attacked by one of the creatures. The following morning, an elderly Malcolm finds that he is suspended upside-down from a tree. Liz, her eyes now completely black like those of the creatures, approaches him and forcibly feeds him some of the drugged cake. He pleads to be freed and promises that he genuinely loves her, but Liz coldly accuses him of lying before drowning him by dunking his head into a jar of honey and walking away.
In May 2024, Keeper was announced as a film for sale at the Cannes Film Market, with Osgood Perkins directing from a screenplay written by Nick Lepard. Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland were attached to star in the film, and Chris Ferguson and Jesse Savath were producing for Oddfellows. [7] Keeper marks the third collaboration between Neon and Perkins after Longlegs and The Monkey . In July 2024, Perkins revealed that both Keeper and The Monkey had wrapped production, [8] with principal photography for the former having taken place in Vancouver. [9] Jeremy Cox serves as the cinematographer, [10] while Edo Van Breemen composed the score. [11]
The film was shot in its entirety while work on The Monkey was held up due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. Several of The Monkey's cast and crew in Canada were trying to find ways to keep working, so Perkins and Ferguson found a Canadian writer who was not part of the Writers Guild of America to write the script. They also hired Canadian actors who could waive their SAG-AFTRA status in order to film. [9]
At the 2024 Cannes Film Market, distribution rights were sold to Neon in United States and Elevation Pictures in Canada. Neon also purchased the worldwide rights as it expanded into international distribution sales. [12] The film was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on November 14, 2025. [13] [14] The film was released a day prior in Australia, where it was co-distributed by Rialto Distribution. [15] It was originally scheduled to be released on October 3, 2025. [16]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 49% of 79 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "More a collection of unsettling moments than an altogether cohesive story, Keeper is too half-baked to have much staying power despite a committed turn from Tatiana Maslany." [17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [18] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale. [19]