Keeper: A Dull, Unsatisfying Mess of Cliches (4K/Blu-ray)

The Film:

Writer/director Osgood Perkins has had something of a questionable career thus far, delivering a collection of middling-to-sub-par horror films that are typically forgettable and have a number of issues to them, including such works as "Longlegs," "The Blackcoat's Daughter," "I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House," and most recently, "The Monkey." For his next feature, "Keeper," he has opted to fill only the director's chair and leave writing duties to Nick Lepard, whose only other writing credit has been the mildly-received "Dangerous Animals." Could this finally be the one that puts a win in Perkins' filmography, or will it merely be another disappointment to add to the list?

The film focuses on Liz (Tatiana Maslany) and her doctor boyfriend Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland), a couple who are celebrating their one-year anniversary by taking a weekend trip to a secluded cabin. Later that night, they are interrupted by Malcolm's cousin Darren (Birkett Turton) and his girlfriend Minka (Eden Weiss), the latter of which tries to warn Liz about a cake that had been left as a gift by the caretaker. However, after some insistence from Malcolm, she eventually eats a slice. As their stay continues, Liz begins to have terrifying visions, which only seem to get worse when Malcolm has to return to the city to see a patient, leaving her all alone. Is everything she's seeing truly just in her head, or could there actually be a malevolent force out to get her?

Right as the film starts, the audience is immediately given cause for concern with its fairly generic set-up that has a couple going out to a cabin in the middle of nowhere, where, naturally, strange things begin to happen all around Liz in the form of visions & other frightening sightings. Obviously, this wouldn't be quite enough to condemn the film, as there is a possibility that a strong writer could do something pretty interesting with such a premise, turning the overused cliches on their heads and surprising the audience with something we haven't seen before (think "The Cabin in the Woods," where Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard took a standard approach and gave us something completely new, resulting in one of the best horror films of the century thus far).

However, it becomes evident rather early on that, sadly, Nick Lepard is not a strong screenwriter and doesn't have much of a clue as to what to do with this set-up. This results in a film that, even for its somewhat brief 90-minute runtime, drags on far too long as it gets bogged down with trying to scare the audience with the peculiar sightings that Liz is suffering through. He does eventually try to throw together a bizarre folklore-ish explanation in the final act, but by then it's just far too late, causing the film to simply fall apart and the audience to merely roll their eyes as he fails to bring it all together.

What we're left with is a completely forgettable attempt at a horror outing that not only needed a lot more originality, but also a much stronger plot to keep the audience interested. Wasting over half the film getting to the point certainly didn't do it any favors, with the cliched premise only making things worse. We can only hope that Lepard learned a few things from this experience, including the fact that getting more feedback on your script can be quite a good thing, while Perkins will hopefully be a little more discerning in the future in regards to what scripts he wants to put his directorial efforts into. In the end, "Keeper" is a pretty big miss for both of them, one that will ultimately leave horror fans unsatisfied, and perhaps more than a little curious as to how it got all the way through production without anyone noticing its many shortcomings.

Video/Audio:

This edition of "Keeper" comes with the film on both 4K (2160p, UHD) and Blu-ray (1080p, HD) in 1.85:1 transfers of outstanding quality, featuring a picture that stays perfectly sharp & clear even in the darkest of scenes. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio tracks are fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, NEON has done a great job in both departments for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

Feature Commentary with Director Osgood Perkins

Conclusion:

Osgood Perkins' "Keeper" is a rather big miss for him and screenwriter Nick Lepard, who fails to do anything even remotely intriguing with the overly-familiar set-up, leading to a desperate wrap-up in the third act that has the film completely falling apart, ultimately leaving horror fans with an unsatisfying & curiously dull experience that's simply unable to overcome its plethora of cliches.

Score: 2/5

Now available on 4K/Blu-ray.

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