‘Keeper’ Ending Explained: What’s Up With Those Monsters in the Creepy Cabin in Osgood Perkins’ Latest Horror?

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Osgood Perkins‘ “Keeper,” now playing in theaters.

Director Osgood Perkins has given us not one, but two twisted horror movies this year that are vastly different but equally chilling: “The Monkey,” a gory Stephen King adaptation that dropped in February, and “Keeper,” a haunted cabin thriller releasing in theaters this weekend.

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Much like Perkins’ past horror movies “Longlegs” and “The Blackcoat’s Daughter,” there’s more going on in “Keeper” than just a couple camping out in a creepy cabin in the woods. The nature getaway soon takes a terrifying turn for Liz (Tatiana Maslany) and and her boyfriend Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland), as Liz begins seeing visions of undead spirits and Malcolm’s true intentions are revealed.

Near the end of “Keeper,” it’s revealed that Malcolm isn’t actually a hard-working doctor, he’s really an immortal manipulator who lures women to his cabin to sacrifice them in order to prolong his life. In a flashback 200 years ago, a young Malcolm and his cousin capture a mysterious pregnant woman who was trespassing on their land. She turns out to be some kind of witch who gives birth to a horde of monsters. In the years that follow, the creatures grant Malcolm and his cousin eternal life in exchange for the lives of women they bring to the cabin for them to feast on. That explains why Liz sees the visions of undead ghouls roaming the property, like a woman with a bloody bag over her head, a long-necked spirit and a white-faced monster spewing gunk from its mouth.

But Liz doesn’t succumb to Malcolm’s evil plans for her. After revealing his true intentions, he locks her in the basement, where the monsters actually embrace Liz and don’t tear her apart. In a twist, the pregnant woman 200 years earlier looked exactly like Liz, so the creatures view her as their mother. The monster with the bag over her head reveals her creepy face, which has multiple eyes and mouths, and calls herself Liz’s child.

When Malcolm wakes up the next morning, he suddenly has aged decades overnight. Liz, with the power of her spooky brood behind her, flips the script and captures him. She ties him upside-down and hangs him by his feet from a tree to dunk his head into a pot of honey. In the final shot, we see Liz’s face, which has the same jet-black eyes as her newfound monster children. In the end, it wasn’t the grotesque ghouls causing harm, it was actually the people inside the cabin.