Keeper, the dark new nightmare from filmmaker Osgood Perkins, is out this week, the seventh film under the director’s belt since his feature debut released in 2017. Perkins isn’t slowing down either; he’s already in production on The Young People, the fourth film with NEON due next year. In anticipation, NEON has curated an Osgood […]
Keeper, the dark new nightmare from filmmaker Osgood Perkins, is out this week, the seventh film under the director’s belt since his feature debut released in 2017.
Perkins isn’t slowing down either; he’s already in production on The Young People, the fourth film with NEON due next year. In anticipation, NEON has curated an Osgood Perkins triple feature hitting theaters tomorrow night, ahead of Keeper’s arrival. If there are no showings near you or the cozy comfort of your couch is simply too irresistible, we have good news.
All five Perkins-directed horror movies are now available to stream. Here’s where to watch.
Perkins’ feature directorial debut follows Kat (Kiernan Shipka), a quiet freshman at a boarding school who has nightmares of her parents’ death. Kat’s nightmares soon give way to strange behavior, and eventually, her loneliness makes her a perfect target for evil. It’s as moody and atmospheric as its wintry setting, an early precursor forLonglegs’style of icy horror. What makes this such a standout film, though, is its unique approach to possession horror and its meditative examination of the aftermath. What happens to the victim after the demon has been expelled? Perkins’ answer is both chilling and heartbreaking.
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House – Netflix
Perkins slows down pacing even further for his sophomore effort, a no frills ghost story centered around a retired horror writer suffering from dementia, one whose most popular novel has come back to haunt her. There are ghosts here, but not always of the dead kind; the film also doubles as Perkins’ own attempts at connecting with his dead father, Anthony Perkins. The director opts for slow-burn dread over scares, and a melancholic look at lost time. Whereas The Blackcoat’s Daughter retooled possession horror, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House toys with the concept of a ghost.
Gretel & Hansel – Pluto TV, Prime Video, Roku Channel, Tubi
The horror filmmaker shifts gears dramatically with a visually lush reconfiguration of a classic Grimm fairy tale, though no less moody than previous efforts. Think unparalleled production design with impressive sound design and score to match, but with its story told in an unconventional and sometimes enigmatic way. Sophia Lillis stars as Gretel, the elder sister tasked with protecting her brother from Alice Krige’s mesmerizing Witch, eager to gobble them up. It’s a coming-of-rage sort of fairy tale that operates on mood over narrative.
Longlegs – Disney+, Hulu, Kanopy
Longlegs plays it close to the vest as it follows young FBI recruit Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), whose uncanny sense of intuition draws the attention of the tenured Agent Carter (Blair Underwood). Harker is so naturally gifted that Carter pulls the agent into his ongoing investigation of serial killer Longlegs (an unrecognizable Nicolas Cage), a demented figure so elusive that the trail to catch him has gone cold. Perkins injects a true crime story with putrid Satanism, packing Harker’s quest with foreboding atmosphere and chilling background scares. But it’s deeply personal, with Perkins drawing from his own upbringing when it comes to the central relationship between Harker and her mother (Alicia Witt).
The Monkey – Disney+, Hulu, Kanopy
This adaptation of Stephen King’s short story uses its source material as a loose framework for a Final Destination-style, gory comedy romp filled with a nonstop onslaught of over-the-top, Rube Goldberg-like elaborate deaths. All of it is a comical, carnage-fueled reminder of the film’s core thesis: Death comes for us all, and it’s quite silly to presume you can stop it. It follows twins Hal and Bill Shelburne, played by Christian Convery (Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein) as kids and Theo James(“Castlevania”) as adults, as they discover dad’s strange wind-up monkey and its unique connection with death. Perkins weaves a raucous cautionary tale that smashes subtlety with a sledgehammer, leaving a gloriously splatstick trail of bodies in its wake.
