Osgood Perkins (Longlegs, The Monkey) is dropping another one. The teaser trailer for his new horror film Keeper has arrived, and while it keeps its cards close, the mood is thick with dread. Watch the trailer above and read on for what we know so far.
There’s no plot explained in the teaser, no setup, no context. Just a sequence of various women — seemingly from different eras — reacting to the camera. Their expressions shift: joy gives way to concern, to discomfort. Eventually, they’re screaming, faces soaked in blood. And then, as the screen cuts to black, a quiet voice says: “This place isn’t right for me.”
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Written by Nick Lepard (Dangerous Animals), Keeper stars Tatiana Maslany (The Monkey, Orphan Black) as Liz and Rossif Sutherland (Three Pines) as Malcolm, a couple heading to a secluded cabin to celebrate their anniversary. Malcolm abruptly leaves, returning to the city — and Liz is left alone, soon to discover she’s in presence of an unspeakable evil.
“I was able to get Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland to kind of do a grown-up, kind of relationship horror that takes place in, more or less, one location,” Perkins told IndieWire. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful movie. And Tatiana Maslany, who’s obviously in The Monkey, is just the greatest. She’s so infinite. I’m so lucky to have her.”
This marks the third Perkins film to be released by U.S. distributor NEON in just over a year, following Longlegs and The Monkey. He recently signed a first-look deal with the distributor — their first-ever with a filmmaker. Keeper also comes from his new production label, Phobos, launched with producer Chris Ferguson.
NEON’s marketing for the film has leaned abstract so far. In May, they dropped a looping video — titled It Has No End — on YouTube, showing Maslany sketching obsessively in a notepad, occasionally interrupted by a scream and flashes of bloodied imagery.
Their official press release for Keeper‘s teaser trailer also included the following four-line poem:
You can’t holler down our rain barrel,
You can’t climb our apple tree,
I don’t wanna play in your yard,
If you can’t be good to me.
Keeper, also starring Birkett Turton, Erin Boyes, Tess Degenstein, Claire Friesen, Christin Park, and Logan Pierce, will be released in U.S. cinemas on October 24. An Australian release date is yet to be announced.
