A Twisted Take on Weapons’ Innovative Storytelling

The new trailer for Osgood Perkins’ latest horror movie Keeper cleverly adapted one of the cleverest ideas from the recent horror blockbuster that took the box office by storm. The mysterious upcoming psychological horror stars Tatiana Maslany (The Monkey) and Rossif Sutherland (Orphan: First Kill) as a couple that discovers the sinister history behind their secluded getaway cabin on an anniversary trip.

Keeper has followed in the footsteps of Osgood Perkins 2024 surprise horror hit Longlegs in revealing very little about the movie’s plot via teaser and trailer releases. A burgeoning trend in horror is to maintain narrative secrecy until audiences are in the theater, as was also the case with Zach Cregger’s latest horror smash hit, Weapons.

However, the latest trailer for Keeper borrows a different tactic from Weapons that maintains the mystery. In fact, it might actually create more questions than it answers, and certainly increases the intrigue sparked by the movie’s eerie first teaser. Despite only being two minutes long, the newest Keeper trailer uses a storytelling device straight out of Weapons to great effect.

Keeper’s Trailer Puts A Twist On Weapons’ Same Events, Different Perspectives Tactic

A defining characteristic of the box office juggernaut Weapons was its fractured narrative: a similar time frame and certain events in the small town of Maybrook were retold from the perspective of six different characters. Naturally, there are some inconsistencies between the perspectives, as characters perceive minor elements of events differently.

The Keeper trailer adopts the concept of telling the same story from differing perspectives, but takes it a step further. In the trailer, we see what is presented as a similar time frame and similar unraveling of horrors from the perspective of Maslany’s character, Liz, complete with her inner monologue. Then, we are presented with Malcolm’s (Sutherland) inner monologue, which is identical in script but backed with completely different visual horrors.

What this does right from the beginning is establish that Keeper follows two completely unreliable narrators. We don’t know whose version of the story that unfolds exclusively via staggered images is the “correct” version, and the heavy implication is that neither of them are. In Weapons, we see peculiar, albeit realistic, occurrences from different perspectives, whereas the Keeper trailer implies that neither perspective is based in reality.

It’s too early to say for certain whether the shifting perspective device will occur during the movie itself, as was the case with Weapons, or if it’s just a mechanism for the trailer. Even if Keeper doesn’t utilize the variable storytelling tactics throughout the movie, its use in the first full trailer is the perfect way to build intrigue and mystery for what looks like a haunting psychological horror tale.