David Bridges
Key Highlights
- Release Schedule: Oz Perkins has rapidly delivered multiple films in recent years, including Longlegs and The Monkey.
- Production Insights: Perkins’ work on Keeper showcases confidence from both the director and its backing studio, Neon.
- Teaser Trailer: The latest teaser for Keeper offers a clearer glimpse into its narrative compared to Longlegs.
- Character Dynamics: The film explores complex relationships, particularly between characters played by Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland.
Some filmmakers take a long time between projects. Others are more rapid-fire. In the time since Oz Perkins popped up in Jordan Peele’s last film, 2022’s Nope, playing a small role as a movie director, he released Longlegs (the highest-grossing indie film of 2024) as well as this year’s The Monkey—and in a few months, Keeper will hit theaters too. Peele has the sports horror film Him, which he produced, coming out soon, but his next directorial effort won’t arrive until October 2026.
Different creators have different methods, budgets, and so forth, of course, and Perkins’ prolific output speaks to a confidence both behind the camera and from the studio—in Keeper‘s case, Neon—that’s backing up the project. The latest teaser trailer for Keeper gives us a greater glimpse at what to expect in a way that Longlegs‘ deliberately enigmatic marketing did not… but we’re still not exactly sure what the hell is going on, surely as Perkins intends.
“A dark trip” from Perkins indeed. We get two points of view using identical dialogue and mostly different visuals, showing characters played by Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland (yes, Donald Sutherland’s son) seemingly in a relationship that begins to fracture. Only her name, “Liz,” has quotes around it; he’s just Malcolm, and that detail alone opens up all sorts of questions about why that might be.
Both perspectives begin with a sweet moment between the two, then the images and music spiral into terror. But who or what is the source of all the fright? What exactly is going on in that isolated cabin? Who are the other women we see fleetingly? And what definition of “keeper” is most relevant here… since it’s looking like the term as it’s used to describe romantic compatibility goes out the window early on?
We’ll find out more as Keeper‘s arrival date looms nearer. Directed by Perkins and written by Nick Lepard, it hits theaters November 14.
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Daniel Mercer
