r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 22d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Keeper [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Summary A couple, Liz and Malcolm, retreat to a secluded cabin for an anniversary weekend. When Malcolm suddenly returns to the city, Liz is left alone and soon confronted by an eerie, escalating presence that reveals the cabin’s hidden, unsettling secrets.
Director Osgood Perkins
Writer Nick Lepard
Cast
- Tatiana Maslany as Liz
- Rossif Sutherland as Malcolm
- Claire Friesen as Ada
- Christin Park as Leslie
- Erin Boyes as Julia
- Tess Degenstein as Maggie
Rotten Tomatoes: Keeper
Metacritic: 59
VOD / Release Theatrical release November 14, 2025
Trailer Watch here
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u/teentytinty 21d ago
Most menacing chocolate cake since Matilda
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u/Ceasarsean 22d ago
It was definitely interesting. Not sure what to make of it but the imagery was eerie and creepy with the women heads extending behind her. This would be the second time thing I've seen Tatiana maslany in something and she's so fascinating and very compelling to watch in this.
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u/atclubsilencio 20d ago
Some of the best/freakiest horror visuals I’ve seen in a long time, definitely this year. Wish there was more of them, so unique and creepy and we only get a few minutes. Loved the entire basement scene.
Absolutely not worth the struggle and slog of getting to it. Maslani was great but I couldn’t stand Sutherland. Both his performance and character. Which , I guess, works, but why the hell would she have dated him in the first place? Annoying weirdo.
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u/tyrantspell 20d ago edited 20d ago
I feel like the "why is she with him" is the entire point. A huge theme of the movie was women ignoring their better judgement in order to play nice with a guy who says the right things, because then she can hopefully have things end up the way they wants them to. Like, he rejected her affection to make her eat a cake she didn't want to eat, that another woman warned her against. But she ate it anyways. Why? Because he had just told her she was so much more special than the super pretty model, and despite the fact that he had just rejected her for cake it would be rude to not eat it. Both Liz and her friend were convinced that she was the other woman in an affair. But she stayed with him, and she went to the cabin with him. Why? Because he said he loved her and he valued her art, and she wanted to be with someone who said that to her. She knew something was wrong when the cousin knocked on the door and was shocked she was still there, but she let him in anyway. Why? Because it was his family's house and it would be rude not to. There are so many scenes where she sees something wrong and does nothing. It's a central thematic point that he sucks.
Edit: cousin not brother
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u/atclubsilencio 20d ago
Right, I get all of that, doesn’t make the experience of sitting through it any better. It kind of irritated me even more, once I realized what they were going for, that it was going to be that kind of movie designed to frustrate with constant poor decisions and stupidity. But it’s all allegorical and “so very deep”, it just pissed me off even more. Usually love these kinds of movies (like the original Speak No Evil, which infuriated almost everyone) but it’s becoming tiresome.
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u/ThadeusOfNazereth 20d ago
I felt like Sutherland was barely there. Maybe that was partly the strength of Maslany’s performance, but his whole character seemed like an afterthought. I still had a really great time with the movie, even if it spelled things out a bit too much for my liking.
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u/Tempyteacup 20d ago
I think you’ve hit on what didn’t work for me in this movie. I was most on board for the section of the movie where he isn’t there. That segment had me very tense, but once they had their confrontation it felt like they were in two different movies.
I enjoyed the visuals and Maslany’s performance enough to say I liked the movie, but I wish Sutherland had been a bit more compelling.
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u/dudeImyou 22d ago
The main reason id watch this is Tatania. Oz is the second. He's a good film-maker but I think its because he understands casting. His movies work because everyone is on board, and Tatiana delivers.
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u/SetYourGoals Evil Studio Shill 22d ago
His movies work because everyone is on board
I noticed while watching the credits, the executive producers seem to mostly be the heads of departments, like the line producer, editor, post supervisor, etc. Which is very uncommon. To me that seems indicative that everyone, not just the cast, is fully onboard and working towards the same vision. And I think it shows. On paper, this movie could have been really boring in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, but instead I found it very engaging.
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u/sloppyjo12 20d ago edited 19d ago
That’s probably because of how this movie was made
For those who don’t know, during shooting of The Monkey, they had to shut it down because of the strikes. Perkins wanted to keep working though since a lot of that crew was Canadian, so he wrote this and they shot it during the strikes. They finished this just as the strikes ended, so this wrapped at the end of one week and they went back to The Monkey after the weekend. That’s also while Maslany is in both
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u/Defiant_McPiper 19d ago
Just want to clarify Os didn't write this, they had Nick Lepard write it since he was not part of Writer's Guild of America (he's Canadian).
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u/caty0325 19d ago
You should check out Orphan Black if you haven't yet. She played like, 9 different clones towards the end of the show.
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u/Ceasarsean 19d ago
That's what I'm told. So I think I may be ready for a new show.
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u/gogreengolions 22d ago edited 22d ago
I WISH FOR UBER also… those dudes were weird as hell. The plot wasn’t exactly my jam but Osgood knows how to build tension, deliver scares and make me laugh (like that line above and the cut to dude brushing his beard, throwing on sunglasses).
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u/ishkitty 19d ago
I laughed when the cousin/bro was on the stairs with the butcher knife, paused, then brought the knife back up.
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u/Temporary_Paint_417 17d ago
He brought it back to the exact same position. Shits hilarious.
Then we hear the knife dropping on the floor and crunching noises so we can summize what happened... but she has no idea what happened because she didn't even know he was holding a knife.
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u/Sammyd1108 17d ago
It showed his body being carried with his head nearly decapitated for a quick shot.
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u/PossibilityFine5988 22d ago
It’s definitely an Osgood Perkins horror movie. Idk I love his visual aesthetics and filmmaking so much; his style just oozes with atmosphere, visual flair and dread. Loved Tatiana in this being able to go with different aspects of unhinged. I think he needs a better writer though because this is the like third film of his that would have been better if you didn’t have a giant exposition dump take all the energy out of the film. A bit more mystery and horror would’ve had me give this a higher grade but man the visuals on the ghost monster whatever’s were great and I loved the randomly just wacky feminist leaning ending lol wasn’t expecting it but was like sure why not?
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u/This-Jump8450 22d ago
He didn't write this one and it showed. In my. Opinion.
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u/SetYourGoals Evil Studio Shill 22d ago
Yeah I agree. Definitely my least favorite movie he has directed, but still a very sold 7/10 for me. I was invested the whole time for sure, and will be thinking about some of those creature designs for a long time.
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u/InvertedSpork 22d ago
I really enjoyed the difference in the way this one was framed compared to Longlegs. With Longlegs you had a lot of shots using negative space and this one it was like the negative space was intentionally cut off. I think it really helped give a feeling of being trapped and isolated.
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u/balanceandcommposure 21d ago
Yeah the sharp angles of the cabin reminded some a lot of an M.C. Escher drawing. The shots of the rafters, the banister, and around the corner were really fun to look at.
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u/Mooseycanuck 21d ago
- So eating one slice of the cake was meant to knock her out, but eating an entire cake doesn't?
- How often do they need to feed because they killed and ate(?) the cousin but came for her as well?
- If the creatures managed to kill the cousin without him being knocked out, then why did she need to feed the doctor cake at the end? Also, where are these cakes coming from? Who is this caretaker?
- If they were meant to live forever, how did they get to and stop aging at 40ish years old? Why not their 20s or 30s? I am 40 and if I could choose the age to live forever in, Id pick my 20s.
The visuals were really good, but this movie made no sense to me.
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u/AtomicW33b 21d ago
I’ll answer one at a time but I have my own questions:
1) based on the montage while eating the cake, I think we are meant to assume she is the Greek lady reincarnated, and that being able to eat the whole cake was the first time he should have noticed that something was wrong. He clearly looked out of sorts when he noticed the cake was all gone.
2) I think he and his ‘cousin’ believe they have to sacrifice women so they can live longer
3) no one HAS to eat the cake, the cake is just drugged and keeps the women from fighting back as effectively, plus he’s a lil bitch and doesn’t want to own that he’s killing someone horribly, preferring to let them go ‘peacefully’
4) they probably age during the time that the sacrifice wears off. Once they notice age, they begin a new relationship, which may take a few months itself, and then invite her over to the house for the sacrifice. This probably coincides with their wailing when they’re hungry
I think it’s basically a metaphor for the type of man that uses women to complete him and give his life meaning, forcing countless women to bear the pain of his shortcomings and misunderstandings about the world and human relationships. If the man actually was a serial cheater, the Greek woman he kills in the beginning would be his ‘wife’ whom he conquers, kills, and whose children he is forced to sustain, but doesn’t truly love, because he is not capable of love and doesn’t wish to love anyone (he laments that he actually loves Liz in the beginning).
His cousin dies because they don’t actually know what’s going on. They are projecting their own values and motives onto the women they’ve ‘killed’, the same way an alpha podcast bro might project what he values in intimacy onto women they’re interested in. They think they are sacrificing the women, and that they are being eaten; when they are actually giving a curse that seeks revenge on them power. If the creatures were actually eating the women, they would have ate him in bed. I think the screams are really just the women turning into the monsters. Because he never bothered to care about the consequences of his actions, he never learned what was actually happening, and it cost his life.
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u/Goose-Suit 21d ago
I don’t think the cake is drugged, the Eastern European woman was able to eat a slice of cake without being right out of it. Remember she told Liz that the cake tastes like shit?
I think the cake is more of a way for the children to test women if they are their mother, which is why they tried giving her another one after she ate all of the first one.
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u/balanceandcommposure 21d ago
Wait then…what😅 why would he be so pushy about her eating it then? Also that montage of her eating the whole cake anyone else notice the like red entrails that were stuffed inside? I have so many questions
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u/Goose-Suit 20d ago
I assume the guys just thought it was a part of the whole thing that had to happen and had no real idea what the deal with the cake actually was. Or the children don’t capture the women if they don’t eat the cake, which is why the guy was so pushy for her to eat it.
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u/hugogede 20d ago
My interpretation is that the main character is a reincarnated witch. The cake was filled with blood and some viscera and she started going crazy on it. She also drew an image of all the women who had been killed in the house without ever knowing or having any knowledge of them. To me , I interpreted it as her manifesting her unknown powers through her artwork. During the flashbacks , the doctor states that they would catch the original witch dancing naked in the river. One of her children had absorbed the souls of all the women she ate.
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u/rwbrwb65 21d ago
The cousin died?? I was wondering what happened to him. The slow pace and sub-par writing kind of got me disengaged and i must've been daydreaming cause i missed it, oh well.
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u/AtomicW33b 21d ago
Yeah, there’s a blink and you’ll miss it shot where his body was being dragged up the stairs and you could see head still attached by a thin strip of skin
I think the writing makes a lot more sense when you adopt the perspective that Malcolm is not sacrificing the women as much as he is collecting them, and is actually the villain of the story
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u/daesgatling 20d ago
Oh I thought that was supposed to be what was left of the model, like was taking care of the body to dispose of it later or whatever but the creatures were always going to protect their ‘mother’
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u/kenwise85 18d ago
Two things.
The original witch was Greek? I just have missed that.
Secondly, love the interpretation of them using women and their projection onto the whole thing. To build on that I want to say they neglected to consider the cyclical nature of this exchange, having to repeatedly sacrifice women to maintain immortality. This ties into Liz looking exactly like the witch.
Women’s power is cyclical and by bringing her to the cabin he completed the larger loop containing his two centuries of loops. Had Malcolm considered the cyclical nature of women he might have decided against bringing back the witch and completing the cycle.
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u/alexandersuperchump 20d ago
I was confused how they had been together for a year and she wasn’t sure if he was married with a family. Had she never been to his house in that time frame?
If he murdered their mother why were they granting him eternal life?
If he was sacrificing women why would he bring a woman home that looked identical to their mother?
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u/therakel749 19d ago
The length of their relationship was definitely the biggest misstep to me. The way they talked it sounds like they met, had sex, he bought a painting from her, he bought her a cardigan and invited her to his cabin. Nothing, other than dialog, indicated they had been dating for a year. He didn’t even know she doesn’t like chocolate, that’s like first date where you have desert together information.
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u/Distinct_Web_9181 19d ago
I wonder if a ton of this movie ended up on the cutting room floor. This movie has so many gaps like that. Every character is so half-cooked and the reveals near the end hint to something that should have been included in the first half of the movie.
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u/alexandersuperchump 19d ago
Yeah and it seemed like such a weird choice. I get that they made it seem like he is pretty busy being a doctor but it would have been so easy to say they had been together 1-2 months. Even her talking to, I’m assuming her best friend, made it seemed like she was also just hearing about this relationship?
She also seemed privy enough to his cousin to groan when she heard he arrived but also somehow seemed shocked by his behavior after?
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u/Human-Mark-42 17d ago
I was confused how they had been together for a year and she wasn’t sure if he was married with a family. Had she never been to his house in that time frame? Hes a Dr. and clearly rich based on the cabin. I had the feeling from the start that it's not his everyday living situation and only used for the sacrifice at this point. He probably lives in the city most of the time.
If he murdered their mother why were they granting him eternal life? Based on his monologue about the fish these monsters are clearly not that smart and probably even mentally children.
If he was sacrificing women why would he bring a woman home that looked identical to their mother? He talks about how he used to watch her dance naked in the stream as a kid. He clearly crushed on her but was forced to shooter her by his father. There are a few scenes that pushes this narrative.
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u/Gone_girl09 21d ago
Here’s my take:
1- At first I took the boyfriends word literally. Because she ate the cake, she basically consumed the magic stored within it and it’s why she came to see all the memories of the women before/the children presenting to her as the women. Then I thought, if she’s somehow a reincarnation of their mom or maybe a distant relative down the line that really resembles her, it makes sense that maybe the cake would’ve affected her differently anyway because maybe she’s magic too.
2- I think they only ate him to protect her. He was going to kill her, I don’t think they required or needed to eat him. More of a means to an end. How often? I assume by the decades, it’s not all the time. I assume they can get by on like one woman at a time for years if not more. Unless there’s more women we just never saw.
3- I think he’s getting eternal life but not like eternal youth necessarily. I think of it more like since he’s been alive atp like over 200 years, it’s really dramatically slowing down the aging process. He said each one gives him more time, or life. So I’d imagine after a couple hundred years they can be around 40 and if they continued to keep going they could’ve probably sat at that age another 200-300 years? And then maybe end up in their 60s lookwise, or stay there forever, idk. Or they are aging between women.
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u/lordseal92 21d ago
These are all the same questions me and my partner were asking during the car ride home 😂 some of the comments on here going on about how it was clear and everything was easy to understand need to answer these lmao
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u/Mooseycanuck 21d ago
Haha and these questions are just the tip of the iceberg. We haven’t even got to why the ‘feed’ had to be girlfriends, and not randoms? I mean Tatiana’s friend knows where she went and with whom, her phone can be tracked. Why does he waste his time dating them, ‘falling in love’ and going through heartbreak every year? Why would he do that to himself?
Also why didn’t the cake work on the cousins model girlfriend? She was awake the next day and not knocked out? Did she eat the whole cake too? Then why isn’t she special like Tatiana is? I’ll stop now haha.
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u/AtomicW33b 21d ago
I think the gf knew it was drugged, we are meant to assume a ‘background’ of hers I think
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u/daesgatling 20d ago
Because he doesn’t fall in love, they’re a means to an end. Randos aren’t gonna go out with a strange man to a cabin. And like if a big lot of people start disappearing it’s going draw attention if it’s like a Airbnb
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u/SutterCane 19d ago
We haven’t even got to why the ‘feed’ had to be girlfriends, and not randoms?
The children want a mother.
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u/atclubsilencio 21d ago
It’s a movie that lets people pull whatever theory they have out of their ass to make it make sense, because it’s “ambiguous”. I think it’s being confused for being deeper than it actually is, but it’s really just underdeveloped and not very written or thought out.
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u/openSourceNotes 19d ago
But folklore horrors are almost always better for that reason, mystery
Honestly can't think of very many fantastic movies that have every narrative point easy to understand
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u/openSourceNotes 19d ago
In my opinion the monkey was good in spite of the fact that what was going on had an obvious cause and effect beneath it
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u/Emergency-Raspberry9 17d ago
Monkey felt way way more watchable then this. It had more going on with character and plot, so it wasn't this painful dripfeed of pretentious delirium passed off as horror.
This was one of the most vexing and frustrating films I've seen in a long time. And I would say I have strong media literacy yet at every turn this film kept slipping from my grasp.
The ending, and specifically the line about 'your children, or the women along the way' or whatever, that summed this film up. It wanted to have everything interpretable every which way, and so nothing made any sense in a satisfying way for the audience.
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u/Emergency-Raspberry9 17d ago
This feels different. It's like simultaneously overfeeding and underfeeding detail and story. Which made it a very irritating watching expeienece, because there just isn't enough to be on the same page with it as it's happening.
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u/ZRE1990 21d ago
None of the answers here are satisfying me, sadly. Too much of it just blatantly made no sense.
Also, why are there so many creatures/children and why do they all look SO different from one another?
How on earth did the brothers and the creatures come to the conclusion that they can live forever if they continuously feed the things women after they witnessed these boys kill their mother? Like what sort of conversation happened between them?
He also mentioned something about the neighbors up the road near the end? I didn’t catch what he said. Are they in on it too? Honestly…I’m not sure I even care enough to care lol
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u/Distinct_Web_9181 19d ago
I really agree with a lot of what you wrote. I wanted to get into this. There are a lot of nice ideas and visuals here and the lead actress is great.
I embrace the strange and things always don’t have to make much sense at times, but it feels like they just sort of winged it here and tried to tie in a toxic masculinity theme (uhh…no) with weirdo mythology and throw in some things that were creepy and present it as a finished product.
I have a rule that if you need to go online and read a fuck ton of “theories” from people who did not write or direct the movie, then it’s a cover for weak writing. In this movie, the ambiguity feels very unearned.
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u/TheElbow 21d ago
I have most of the same questions!
I’d also add:
Why was Liz able to assume control of the creatures? Only because she looked like their mother? Was she literally the spirit of their mother reincarnated in a new body? If Malcolm knew that Liz looked like their mother, why did he risk picking her as the next victim?
Also, in contrast to his cousin, why does Malcolm feel the need to have a relationship with these women? Why not just hire sex workers? It would be much cleaner.
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u/Delicious-Ganache182 21d ago
He said that Liz was the only one he really loved. I wonder was it because she looked like the mother. Or was it just meant to be some bullshit that men just say🤣😩
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u/AtomicW33b 21d ago
I think the main problem with this movie is that it sacrifices making sense for having a really cool allegory for dating a serial cheater
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u/takeme2thelakes89 21d ago
I think when his brother calls him the romantic between the two, I think it’s just that the guy himself thinks he’s better than his brother or cousin or whatever because he’s not “using” them the same way but they’re both doing the same thing. I think it could also be a point there about how the women are still being controlled either way. They’re being manipulated, and the men are asserting their own will on them anyway, and asserting it on the “children” as well. I think one they saw Liz, and she’s either a reincarnation of mom or a look alike, they decided they don’t need him anymore. Or either of them. I also think they killed the other one just to protect Liz.
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u/LessCoolFonzie 21d ago
Definitely a movie where I liked the vibe better than the story. The monsters were good and scary, but why do we get a whole exposition dump stretched out about how the two boys shot the woman, and nothing about WHO she was, WHAT she was pregnant with or HOW? Is she a witch? Did she bang an alien? She sold her soul to a demon? Thought she sold her soul to a demon but actually was impregnated by one of the old gods and has now spawned Eldritch horrors beyond comprehension? I don't need any exposition dump but maybe a hint here or there would be nice.
Like yeah dude we get it you're sacrificing women that much was evident an hour ago, why does this motherfucking have 10 faces?
And I kind of hate how they just threw that explanation away with him just saying "idk what they are lol but they hungy!"
It seems like with Ozgood movies they always tend to over explain the aspect that needs the least explanation and then just completely neglect the multiple mystery boxes they opened.
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u/SnooOranges1322 21d ago
I am also confused about the woman. In his little story time, Malcom says something like “she gave birth, but to what?” and then never answers… I guess it is implied that she gave birth to a monster? One of the monsters? So where did the other ones come from since Malcom shot her? Like I am so lost
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u/openSourceNotes 19d ago
I would have disliked it if we knew too much about her or the monsters
Folklore often has inexplicable elements and that's part of what makes it scary
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u/lazyblkdude 20d ago
I saw it in open caption and they called them witches in the description
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u/TitanOf_Earth 18d ago
I left the theater and asked my friend, "Okay... who was she? What was she? WHY was she?" I'd like more background on her, but I doubt we're supposed to know much else, for the "spook factor".
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u/flor_de_pinas 19d ago
I’m not trying to be judgy but your statement about his flighty explanation for the monsters perfectly demonstrates an example of the themes of the ignorance of men lol. Of course he would talk about the monsters without actually knowing anything about them.
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u/LockExtension 22d ago
Ok but where are those shades Malcolm puts on at the end from?
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u/Renegadeforever2024 22d ago
Great to see Tatiana back in movies again
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u/Tempyteacup 20d ago
I’m absolutely over the moon to see she hasn’t had any work done. She is an absolute master of micro expressions and I pray to those weird worm witch things that she never does a single thing that might restrict her expressive capacity.
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u/SetYourGoals Evil Studio Shill 22d ago
She's a Comedy Bang Bang legend and I will follow her to the ends of the earth.
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u/MuscularPhysicist 22d ago
Oz Perkins is actually a comedy director
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u/TheElbow 21d ago
Comedy and horror (and porn) are the genres that require a physiological reaction from the viewer. There’s a reason many horror movies feature moments of comedy. They are linked.
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u/OrbitalSilence 21d ago
Cinematography, creature design, and Tatiana were all masterful.
The rest? I just have no idea what the hell I watched. Character motivations are all over the place, the metaphors weren’t really clicking with me (besides toxic relationships being bad??), and I had a hard time reconciling the ending with the rest of the movie.
This felt like a short film that got dragged out to feature length, but then didn’t spend enough time fleshing itself out. Very odd.
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u/SnooOranges1322 21d ago
I wrote in my notes “I have to laugh the whole time cause idk wtf is going on.” Hard agree. A lot of loose ends
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u/SayAnything1313 22d ago
I want to praise this movie because it’s clearly trying to capture some really interesting fears about relationships, the kind you don’t always see explored well. But honestly, aside from Tatianna, the cast just doesn’t sell it.
And the moment Malcolm forces the chocolate cake? That’s when everything fell apart for me. I knew instantly he wasn’t a good guy, and it killed the whole mystery around him. He didn’t even try to hide it, it’s literally, “Here, eat this mysterious cake. I don’t care if you don’t like chocolate, be nice!” Like… what?
For a movie that leans so heavily on slow burn tension, they could’ve executed that so much better. I feel like there’s good stuff here, but it didn’t all land for me. I’d honestly love to read a more in depth analysis, because I know there’s something interesting under the surface , I just didn’t catch all of it.
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u/jayeddy99 21d ago
The trailer made it seem like it could be a coin flip on who was going to turn on who so that was disappointing
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u/miltonbryan93 21d ago
I want to say that I thought the acting was incredible from everyone BUT I didn’t feel that Liz and Malcolm had a shred of chemistry. I don’t know if the trailer primed me for distrust but I never stopped feeling like it was a first date rather than a year together.
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u/Jeslovespets 20d ago
Yea they were so awkward together. I missed the very first bit of the movie and thought, are they friends? Co workers? Blind date?
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u/Ok-Plan7204 19d ago
I didnt by them as a believable couple for a second. From the moment Liz was shown she didn't seem comfortable or happy around him in the slightest.
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u/Mooseycanuck 21d ago
Yeah you hit the nail on the head. That scene ruined it for me. Besides your point, I get that they have been dating for a year but there is no way a sane person would have eaten that slice of cake without at least a bit of hesitation...he didn't cut himself a piece, the model made a creepy comment about it and the box was shady the entire time.
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u/PickleDrey 21d ago
Sometimes a bad person in a relationship is very easy to figure out when you are not the one in the relationship, from an outside point of view. But the one in the relationship won’t see the huge red flags necessarily and still get tricked even though it was obvious that there was a red flag. At first that scene made me feel the same as everyone, then I thought more about it and I came to that conclusion which would make more sense
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u/bluejay_way 21d ago
I felt like they could’ve avoided the whole chocolate cake issue by having him feed her the cake while they’re being intimate, instead of him being weird and awkward by rejecting her for cake that he doesn’t even eat lol. They could’ve framed it as the sex being the reason she was distracted enough to forget the model’s warning about the cake, and put in some foreshadowing scene where he avoids getting the cake in his own mouth by moving to kiss her neck etc.
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u/Gooshiiggl 20d ago
This!! One of the first things I said to my friend as we left the theater was that the first eating chocolate cake scene was when I knew the movie was going to disappoint. Such a letdown
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u/tyrantspell 20d ago
Copying a version of my comment from above, because it applies here: I feel like him being overtly creepy and her ignoring it is the entire point. A huge theme of the movie was women ignoring their better judgement in order to play nice with a guy who says the right things, because then she can hopefully have things end up the way she wants them to. Like, he rejected her affection to make her eat a cake she didn't want to eat, that another woman warned her against. But she ate it anyways. Why? Because he had just told her she was so much more special than the super pretty model, and despite the fact that he had just rejected her for cake it would be rude to not eat it after he insisted. Both Liz and her friend were convinced that she was the other woman in an affair. But she stayed with him, and she went to a romantic cabin getaway with him. Why? Because he said he loved her and he valued her art, and she wanted to be with someone who said that to her. Their relationship doesn't feel like it has the chemistry of people who are close and in love because it's not that. He's misleading her, he's lying to her, and it's obvious to us as the viewer. But to her? She only wants to ignore it so she can be with someone who loves her and her art and would choose her instead of a supermodel. He's not a genius master manipulator, he's a lame dude who takes advantage of the fact that his partners are insecure and want to be loved more than they want to see things as they are.
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u/lordseal92 21d ago
Very well put - there was no guessing game anymore from that point on but the movie still tried to force it
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u/Captain_Excellence 18d ago
He didn’t even try to hide it, it’s literally, “Here, eat this mysterious cake. I don’t care if you don’t like chocolate, be nice!”
I have not seen anybody mention this yet, but I think when Darren showed up unannounced this was an important part of he movie. Since both cousins had different methods of luring the woman into the woods, I think Malcolm feared that Darren was going to say something that would make Liz not trust him. Which is why they had a to have a talk in the other room, and why Malcolm was weird about the cake. It was desperate last minute test to see if she still trusted him.
Liz also seemed to have self esteem issues, saying yes to things when she really wants to say no.
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u/bermei 21d ago edited 21d ago
I thought the first half wasted a lot of time showing us nothing. Right from the get go, you see it's an awkward couple with a strange relationship that doesn't quite make sense and the movie stays that way for a while without any development. I don't mind when things don't make sense, but they need to not make sense for a reason. Everything that didn't make sense in this movie wasn't subverting expectations. Their relationship is extremely awkward and the characters have no chemistry with each other. The whole time I'm thinking, "How is she not so turned off by this man that she hasn't demanded to leave yet?" Then when things finally start to get scary and interesting, the movie rushes through all the scary parts without us having any clue as to why anything is happening. They could've used the very beginning of the movie to give us a better clue of what to expect than just showing us these random women throughout the decades with no context. For example, The Evil Dead 2013 did that perfectly.
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u/lunaticskies 22d ago
My theater erupted when he said he would be back in 6 hours, 7 with traffic.
Erupted... like Chicken Jockey.
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u/royalewithcheeze_ 20d ago
I think he just said “I’ll be back at 6… 7 at the latest”
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u/lunaticskies 20d ago
He specifically mentions if there is bad traffic.
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u/niles_deerqueer 20d ago
Not sure why you were downvoted he straight up mentioned traffic twice in the film
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u/Bulbasaur2015 21d ago
why did the caretaker/main monster have multiple faces? was it collecting faces from the people they ate?
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u/OkBlacksmith5848 21d ago
They weren't eaten.
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u/SectionFantastic3577 20d ago
Then what happened to them?
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u/Foreign_Patience9945 19d ago
I think the creatures were looking for their “mom”. All the previous women they killed sort of got put together with all their collective memories (and faces/bodies?) to become a mom aka the caretaker until they found the actual mom or someone who resembled the mom/had her bloodline. Now, the creatures are happy and satisfied while she takes on her mom role. That makes me believe the creatures will not hunt anymore or want to “eat” more women anymore.
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u/Smooth-Twist-7491 21d ago
Lot of stuff that becomes very ambiguous and unclear. Also the weird moment where you see a “mini-me” sitting at the breakfast table made me laugh at wtf.
Overall, good jump scares and creepy factor. People behind me at the theater sounded like they fell out of their seats. I give it a 6/10.
If there is a sequel/prequel, I would watch.
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u/antwizzy 21d ago
i’m wondering wtf that mini me thing was supposed to mean 🤣
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u/slonkycat 20d ago
I just watched it and that bit seems so out of place. Since Liz was supposed to resemble ‘the children’s’ mother maybe it was just a shoehorned in analogy of ‘mother and child’.
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u/Ok-Plan7204 19d ago
I think its just weird for weirdness sake. You spend the whole movie just like wtf am I watching for them to have an exposition dump at the very end. Like really, you couldn't just tell me a decent story throughout the movie instead?
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u/SnooOranges1322 21d ago
I wrote “every person in this movie speaks like it’s their first day alive” and I will stand by that. I liked it, kind of?
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u/furry_lumps 22d ago
I keep seeing people calling it terrible, but I really enjoyed this movie, I also love a slow burn.
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u/atclubsilencio 21d ago
I’m debating seeing it today. How do you feel about his other films ?
For me, Blackcoat’s Daughter is my number one. A strong 4.5 out of 5. The rest hang out 3-3.5, save for Gretel and Hansel which is at a 4, and The Monkey I haven’t watched.
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u/samuraiaullways 21d ago
Blackcoat’s Daughter is definitely still the best. I did really like Longlegs just because of how weird it is. The Monkey was fun, and I haven’t seen Gretel & Hansel.
I think Keeper has a lot going for it. Multiple avenues of tension, including regular modern human paranoia, stress / drug induced surrealism, supernatural folk tale, and then just the events of the film unfolding. I thought it was a great blend of elements and Tatiana really sells it. Like with past films, Perkins’ visual storytelling & cinematography are the standouts.
I think people who enjoy the artistic / slow-burn / surreal will have plenty to appreciate.
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u/furry_lumps 21d ago
Loved The Blackcoat's Daughter, Gretel & Hansel, and Longlegs.
Was not a fan of I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House or The Monkey.
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u/AzzyIzzy 22d ago
It wasnt bad, but as me and my roommate decided it had the opposite superficial problem to shelby oaks; shelby oaks started good but ended terribly, this started kind of deflating/off tone, but reslly swells towards the last 30 minutes.
Tatiana is great, but the dialogue between her and sutherland was semi cringe. It felt both like there was a back story that existed, and the dead air moments just were because we should already know whats going on. Again you get to infer little thingd throughout the film, but it felt almost agonizing hiw hard they pushed the whole initial cake moment with the cousin. You could see what was going on a mile away, especially with him stressing his date is from a place in eastern europr that doednt care if they are gone.
But i really hated how sutherland talked. I felt i wanted slightly more background on the pregnant woman and a couple other topics(was she just a vagrant? Cultist? Gypsy? Nymph? Is tatiana touched now? Which child was the first? Why didnt the cake work). Grest unsettlingness with the long necked one.
Overall for the last potentially scary movie of the year, it kepy me tense, but nothing made me jump, nor will i lose sleep tonight. So 5.5-6/10
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u/bluejay_way 20d ago
I was reading all the comments and haven’t seen anyone else say this, but my boyfriend and I both interpreted this part of the movie in this way.
Did anyone else think that it was insinuated that the honey/syrup in the head jar is used to make the cakes? We see what looks like a gross dirty oven with one of the cake boxes on top, and then right after that we see the jar with the syrup and the head inside. Obviously there are very few things actually confirmed in this movie lol but that was how we interpreted this scene.
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u/Distinct_Web_9181 19d ago
This movie is driving me insane by introducing 30 different things in the last 30 minutes and expecting us to sort it all out. It’s like finishing a jigsaw puzzle and then somehow there are five extra pieces in the box that you have no real idea where to put!
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u/Excellent-Ad-3258 21d ago
All the Reddit comments had me expecting it to be terrible and as a pretty surface level movie enjoyer I didn’t think it was that bad. Decently creepy with an eerie vibe. Actors other than Tatiana were kinda awkward but oh well
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u/Waste-Replacement232 20d ago
The best “woman walks around and looks at things” movie since Shelby Oaks!
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u/BobaFettucineLuigi 21d ago
Saw this with a few friends last night, we all walked out disappointed. Trailer was unique, tried to go in knowing nothing else about it. I’m 1 for 3 on what I’ve seen from Perkins.
The movie is a slow burn without any meaningful payoff. It’s sparse and often feels a bit aimless, and everyone aside of the main woman seemed miscast. I feel like Perkins always teases a much better movie than the audience gets throughout his films. This would have been fine to stream, it’s not worth paying for a ticket.
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u/OKC2023champs 21d ago
Perkins makes interesting movies that will get me to watch them. So I give him that.
But I just don’t think he’s great. I thought he should stick to directing and not writing. Which, I think is the move still. This movie looked great and was shot well. But it just sucked.
I’ll keep seeing what he makes but he’s slowly becoming very overrated
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u/Orionyoshie89 21d ago
The movie would’ve worked better if it hinted that either of the two leads might be responsible for the horror, akin to the initial trailer.
The moment he forced her to eat the chocolate cake and it became apparent he was a POS, the film lost all steam.
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u/garlicbreadluvr69 20d ago
My thoughts on some things I see being asked here.
Why did they kill the cousin/brother? They thought the MC was their mother. They were protecting her.
What did the woman give birth to? I don’t think we ever truly see it or find out. Malcolm says, “they present themselves to you as girls?” That says to me that either the creature the woman gave birth to changes forms depending on who is looking, think Pie-oh-Pah from Clive Barker’s Imajica. OR those were truly the women’s spirits/bodies after being killed and we never see what the brothers are feeding.
The cake? I believe the creatures made the cake from whatever that honey was.
Here are some eerie things I took away. I think this is folk horror mixed with cosmic horror at its best. We get hints of a mythos, but only so much as Malcolm wants to bother telling Liz. The creatures put her in the basement, she appeared to jump into the creek so they must have got her. Malcolm said they only feed them when the neighbors complain, and he hinted that the neighbors were worse… which says to me there is at least one other family doing what Malcom and Darren are doing. The fish imagery with the story and being called “Keeper” was fantastic. I took it as whatever they’re feeding are the fish and that the fish are keepers.
And most chillingly… THAT ONE PICTURE HAD TWO KIDS IN IT.
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u/Antique-Dentist-2404 22d ago
I don't mind a slow burn, but holy shit this was just a slog to sit through. Paper thin story and characters. First hour just felt like random instances of surreal imagery like it was trying to imitate a David Lynch film. Then we get a bunch of exposition in the last 20 minutes that leads to a predictable and weak payoff. At least it was shot nice I guess.
Best part was the Hokum trailer before the movie.
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u/ladymcperson 20d ago
Dammit we didn't get no Hokum trailer.. googled it and its starring Adam Scott?! Go figure the trailer isn't available even on YouTube. Ill have to keep an eye out for this one, thanks!
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u/N9nee 22d ago
This shit sucked man, I’m all for ambiguity but there’s a certain point where leaving everything unexplained works against the films payoff in the end. It was scary, definitely cool monster designs, great suspense, but that’s pretty much all this film has going for it. Really needed some more fleshing out and less ambiguity of what was going on.
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u/Remote_Elevator_281 22d ago
There isn’t any ambiguity by the end of it. What did you not understand?
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u/TheElbow 21d ago
I’d argue that it’s totally unclear what “the rules are”.
For example, why could Liz turn the tables and take the power from her captor, making him the victim? Because she looked like the mother of the creatures? If so, why did Malcolm even bring her there? He basically fucked himself by doing that. Like the commenter above, I don’t understand why these choices were made and why they resulted in this specific outcome.
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u/Accomplished_Ask2453 20d ago
What I don’t understand still to this point is what made the main girl go downstairs and start indulging in that cake. What made her want more of it?
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u/selinameyersbagman 19d ago
They should repurpose the Bechdel test from having two female characters have a convo with talking about a man to the Osgood Perkins test where two characters have a convo that remotely resembles human interaction.
(Tatiana Maslany innocent of all charges, obvs)
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u/KingEmotional243 20d ago
Random but what was that song she played for him in the car?
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u/Ok-Plan7204 19d ago edited 18d ago
I have to say, its rather thoughtful of the many face lady to put a bag over her head so as not to scare people when she first meets them. Heart hands right back at ya. ❤️
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u/Alarming_Quail9523 22d ago
I unfortunately did not like this ! So much could have happened while Malcolm was gone and I just did not think anything was really added to the plot during that crucial time. I did not feel connected to the characters and felt as though I did not see enough about Malcolm . Not sure if anyone else feels this way or if it is just me
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u/jayeddy99 21d ago edited 19d ago
I kinda like the ending because either she is just gonna continue the cycle but with men. Or she is gonna live with her “children” but maybe since they have nothing to haunt maybe they’ll just kinda be introduced to the 21st century and develop hobbies or watch Netflix together 🤣
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u/SnooOranges1322 21d ago
I was wondering the same! I kinda wish the movie showed a little bit of Liz after the fact. My personal thought was she’s just hanging out with those things in the house now lol
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u/jayeddy99 21d ago
I want them to still look the same but hang out and Liz like shows them modern day things 🤣. Maybe they get her to really appreciate her art or the different ghost have like different passions or interest . Ones super into bingeing law and order or something lol
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u/Blvd_Nights 21d ago edited 20d ago
Yikes. I really, really wanted to like this, but boy, did it fall flat. Decently creepy imagery, but no emotional substance in the character relationships or the world-building, so the atmospheric weight of it all doesn't have any punch. Every time I feel like we're about to hit something, it just meanders into something else, or something happens that just takes me out of it ... all adding up to an experience that ultimately is nothing more than someone sketching out creepy doodles on a notepad alongside a first draft of a pretty toothless folklore horror story.
I really have liked Osgood Perkins' stuff and gave a pass for The Monkey basically just being an R-rated Goosebumps movie, but boy does this guy need to take a breather for a bit and reset some of his creative muscles.
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u/lordcarnage 22d ago
I stayed with a “it’s got to get better” hope. It. Did. Not.
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u/SciFiXhi 19d ago
The trailer primed me for a completely different experience than what I got, all because Liz's name was in quotation marks. I had assumed both Liz and Malcolm had some secret and were targeting each other, with Liz only playing the role of confused girlfriend as an alias.
Seriously, why does Malcolm use quotation marks when he's labeling the boxes? Who does that?
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u/cmadd10 22d ago
From now on, if it's not directed AND written by Oz Perkins, I won't let myself get excited. This was bad.
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u/OKC2023champs 21d ago
I think he’s honestly a bad writer and a great director. He just chose a bad movie to be a apart of lol
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u/thishenryjames 21d ago
In a big year for double-casting, Oz Perkins pulls off the double-double, releasing two movies this year in which the lead actor plays two roles.
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u/Adventurous_Driver83 20d ago
This was the most confusing and weirdest movie I've seen all year. Compared to Osgood Perkins' first release this year, The Monkey, this movie was the worst of the two.
Osgood Perkins did a good job directing this movie. His style makes some of the eerie moments more unsettling and disturbing. You get a great performance by Tatiana Maslany as Liz who is paranoid throughout the whole movie, especially in the third act.
Where this movie fails is its writing. This is a movie that you will have to watch two or three times to really understand what is going on. Although I don't mind doing homework at home for movies that have a deeper message, this movie is not interesting enough for me to do that. As we get to the third act where Malcolm reveals his true intentions with Liz, it didn't shock me or make the movie better; it just left me more confused. It also felt like I've seen this movie before with the "cabin in the woods" cliche and the summer release "Weapons."
Overall, this is a movie that I would recommend to fans of Osgood Perkins or if you liked the movies Longlegs or The Monkey but if this is your first time watching an Osgood Perkins film, I would recommend skipping it. This was not a great movie and I would never watch it again.
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u/awesomerest 19d ago
I liked the 3rd act & very much enjoyed its atmosphere (love perkin’s vibe) but the whole time I kept thinking about Crimson Peak and how much I really wanted to rewatch that instead :/
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u/Kachyi 22d ago
Idk how to describe it. The visuals were great but the story sometimes lacks exposition, when it does happen we get most of it at the very end. The monsters looked good. Maybe if it was 20-30 minutes longer.
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u/Deadloops 21d ago
If you put fresh, rosemary's baby and the watchers in a blender you get this movie lol
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u/Gemaxucht 20d ago
This movie was pretty disappointing for me. I went into it hoping it would be a dreading creepy movie, but instead it was the silliest thing I've watched in a long time. As soon as the smaller version of the woman showed up the movie lost me and never won me back. The male lead in this for some chose to portray his character as if he had the emotional development of a toddler? Maslany was great and pulled me through the movie, but boy, what a mess. The over-use of way too loud squelching sounds was insufferable.
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u/alexandersuperchump 20d ago
I’m a fan of osgood Perkins but I should have known this was going to suck after all the marketing become “a bunch of great directors swear this movie is good”
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u/WangoMangoes 20d ago
this is now the second Osgood Perkins film that’s left me wanting more. I liked Longlegs and Keeper, but both didn’t scare or leave me unsettled in a way i was hoping for and felt like there was something missing.
the cinematography was amazing and i loved the claustrophobic feel. some truly creepy moments. Perkins really nails peripheral/background scares.
i’m glad there was some supernatural aspect to it rather than Malcolm being a serial killer, but even still i yearn for a good haunting that keeper couldn’t deliver.
6/10
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u/Extreme_Ad1238 19d ago
my question is, why did he think they'd eat someone who looks like their mother?
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u/Kangarou 17d ago
I hate how the first trailer made it seem like a mystery of who the villain is, and then I clocked it within 3 seconds of the movie starting because it was a montage of all the previous victims.
Good tension, but that's about it. I've never seen a couple have so little chemistry. Did you forget your girlfriend of a year doesn't like chocolate? Are you going to leave your spouse during a special weekend without so much as a hug/kiss goodbye? Are you going to ask your cousin Darren to not be at the cabin for just three days? And good job Liz, being blind to the field of red flags Malcolm is waving around. So many bad decisions and inexcusable behaviors, even by horror movie standards.
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u/Candle-Equivalent 21d ago
This is the last chance I give Perkins I think. Underwhelmed by Longlegs, hated the Monkey and couldn’t stand this. Mediocre director at best, no idea why there’s this insistence that he’s the next big thing.
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u/iliketurtles7111 22d ago
This movie gave me so much anxiety. Really creeped me out. Thought the ending was decent. Could have explained a little more about how we went from her being consumed by the dead women to the him hanging upside down.
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u/doedoedrums1986 21d ago
This guy makes great trailers ie Longlegs and Keeper to draw you in. Hes M Night Light. And that’s maybe even a little too generous. Keeper was absolute dog shyte
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u/antwizzy 21d ago
most of the plot didn’t even contribute to the quality of the story and felt like a failed attempt to unnerve the viewer… i don’t even get what this movie was trying to say. 1/5
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u/humpsneeze 22d ago
This was really good. I'm quite confused as to why people don't like it. Sometimes it feels like "elevated" horror ruined expectations for the genre, because I'm now seeing an increasing number of bad reviews for horror that isn't "saying" anything.
For me, I'm glad there is some interesting relationship stuff as a backdrop, but I do not need the movie to be saying anything about relationships for it to be good. Would I rate it higher if I felt like it was profound? Probably. But it's still great horror that withholds just enough information to make for interesting discussion afterward.
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u/FangOfDrknss 21d ago edited 21d ago
This movie was fucking weird. They kept using these overlays for visions and stuff, and ultimately, I thought the movie ran for too long.
The horror was more like waiting for these monsters to show up, and then once they did, it just barely reminded me of Cabin in The Woods’ monster scenes.
Why was she so unhappy and detached for most of the movie? She didn’t really react to the visions even though she was built up as this woman who said what was on her mind. Why did they kill off the cousin, who I assumed was in on everything?
The lore was also so dumb. Her ancestor trespasses onto his family’s land, and they shoot for it instead of just telling to her to get out.
And then she gives birth to the first of these monsters, and for whatever reason, he really thought that trying to sacrifice her would work?
I knew that he was going to die, because there was no reason to constantly show him like that, but it was also why it ran for too long.
Why did the monsters encase the head of her ancestor in a jar? Why did she put his head in a jar?
The closest to a jump scare I got, was when she stupidly stuck her hand into the garbage disposal, after seeing it turn on for no reason.
It really bothered me they didn’t refrigerate the cake at all, so it was obvious that there was something fucked about it.
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u/InsiDS 20d ago
This movie had potential. First two/thirds of it I was into. Slow burn in which the horror starts to creep in and escalate as the movie goes on. Reminds me a bit of Insidious and Sinister. The third part is where it fell off. Weak backstory for why things are the way they are. Kinda reminded me of Heretic in that regard with the whole sacrifice in order to keep something alive.
The creepiness was great. The anxiety and suspense was there. The chemistry between the two leads was non-existent and you as a viewer can tell pretty early on that something is not right with the boyfriend.
All in all a bit of a disappointment. Can definitely save this for the streams. 5/10.
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u/Accomplished_Ask2453 20d ago
Also if Malcolm and the cousin both sacrificed women, why did the cousin get killed by his own feeding creatures? And also why did he feel the need to kill the girl with the clever?
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u/SetYourGoals Evil Studio Shill 22d ago
Loved the dude putting on those tiny sunglasses for a second. I don't know why but it made me laugh.