SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Osgood Perkins’ “Keeper,” now in theaters.
Director Osgood Perkins has given us not one, but two twisted horror films this year, very different but equally frightening: “The Monkey,” a bloody Stephen King adaptation released in February, and “Keeper,” a haunted cabin thriller that hits theaters this weekend.
Much like Perkins’ previous horror films, “Longlegs” and “The Blackcoat’s Daughter,” there’s a lot more going on in “Keeper” than just a couple camping in a spooky cabin in the woods. The wilderness escapade soon takes a terrifying turn for Liz (Tatiana Maslany) and her boyfriend Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland), as Liz begins to have visions of undead spirits and Malcolm’s true intentions are revealed.
Towards the end of “Keeper”, it is revealed that Malcolm is not actually a diligent doctor, but rather an immortal manipulator who lures women to his cabin to sacrifice them in order to prolong his life. In a flashback to 200 years ago, a young Malcolm and his cousin capture a mysterious pregnant woman trespassing on their land. She turns out to be some kind of witch who gives birth to a horde of monsters. In the years that follow, the creatures grant Malcolm and his cousin eternal life in exchange for the lives of the women they bring to the cabin for them to feast on. This explains why Liz has visions of undead ghouls roaming the property, such as a woman with a bloody sack on her head, a long-necked spirit, and a white-faced monster spewing filth from its mouth.
But Liz doesn’t succumb to Malcolm’s evil plans for her. After revealing his true intentions, he locks her in the basement, where the monsters kiss Liz and don’t tear her apart. On the other hand, the pregnant woman 200 years earlier looked exactly like Liz, so the creatures consider her their mother. The monster with the bag on its head reveals its scary face, which has several eyes and mouths, and calls itself Liz’s Child.
When Malcolm wakes up the next morning, he has suddenly aged decades overnight. Liz, with the power of her creepy offspring behind her, flips the script and captures him. She ties him upside down and hangs him by his feet from a tree to dip his head in a pot of honey. In the final shot, we see Liz’s face, who has the same jet black eyes as her new monster children. In the end, it wasn’t the grotesque ghouls who caused the harm, but the people inside the cabin.
