Viewers at London preview screenings of Osgood Perkins’ latest comedy horror The Monkey have been given a treat if they stay through the end credits. Not a traditional post-credit stinger, callback or gag, or even a setup for a sequel. Instead they’ve been treated to a teaser trailer for Perkins’ next horror film, Keeper. If you want to go in cold to that one, stop reading here!
The trailer consists of four or five distinct sequences, each showing a woman looking into the camera, seemingly gazing at a romantic interest. Each one utters a variation on “I don’t think this is right for me,” before an abrupt cut to a final scene that shows them all drenched in blood, screaming. After that, the title card – Keeper – appears.
The tone feels significantly different from the goofy gory fun of The Monkey, instead aligning more closely with the bleak dread of Perkins’ earlier horrors Longlegs, The Blackcoat’s Daughter or I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House.
Keeper stars The Monkey alumnus Tatiana Maslany as Liz, a woman who is left alone in a secluded cabin for the weekend when her partner Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland) has to return to the city unexpectedly for work. Unbeknownst to Liz, the cabin contains an unspeakable evil – but don’t they all.
It remains to be seen if the teaser will play with The Monkey on general release, either before or after the film – but in any case The Monkey is in cinemas from Friday. while Keeper is due out on October 3 – no doubt eyeing a Halloween run.
Whitlock&Pope 