The Keeper (2004) User Reviews

Don't listen to the critics - a decent little film

[Craig_McPherson · 6/10 · 5 July 2005]

It's truly odd how individuals who can't seem to master simple grammar and syntax will unabashedly critique a movie as if they have the cinematic genius of Roman Polanski.

If you fall into the category of viewer who thinks a film just isn't gosh darn entertaining unless things are "blown up real good", then by all means, give this one a pass. However if you don't spend your day breathing through your mouth and admiring your unibrow, then you will probably find this film to be the entertainment it aims to be.

If there's one type of role Dennis Hopper has down, it's that of a restrained nut job. And in this movie he gets to sink his teeth into the meaty role of a supreme nut job by playing a twisted small town sheriff who thinks he can convince a woman to fall in love with him by abducting her and locking her in a cell in his basement.

Heavily dialog driven, Hopper at times carries this film on his back with his highly compelling performance. Asia Argento, the daughter of Italian horror director Dario, is easy on the eyes and does a perfectly capable job in the role of the captive. Veteran Canadian actress Helen Shaver, surfaces as an equally unhinged groupie to Hopper's character, and her scenes with him eerily evoke fleeting similarities to that of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, Canada's infamous serial killer couple.

The film is capably directed by Paul Lynch, who has made a career out of directing Canadian-filmed US television shows, something which isn't a leap considering that this film was shot in British Columbia.

Overall it's a pretty decent and entertaining little movie. It will hold you to the end and not leave you feeling ripped off. As for some of the other reviewers of this film, well, let's just say it's probably time that they changed the batteries in their singing wall-mounted fish and sat down to some more engaging entertainment.

Another Predictable Rip-off of William Wyler's "The Collector"

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 30 September 2006]

In Redwood County, the dancer Gina (Asia Argento) is attacked and her boyfriend is killed by a maniac in a motel. Gina is attended by Sergeant Burns (Lochlyn Munro) and Lieutenant Krebs (Dennis Hopper) insists in giving a lift to her when she leaves the hospital. However, he kidnaps Gina and arrests her in a cell in the basement of his isolated house. The deranged policeman has a serious trauma from his childhood with dancers of night-clubs and establishes rules and punctuations for Gina while she is imprisoned. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Krebs is stalked by a local, Ruthie (Helen Shaver), who has a crush on him and wants to promote his amateurish puppet show with the character Deputy Rock, his alter-ego. Sgt. Burns is trying to find a clue where the missing Gina may be.

"The Keeper" is another predictable rip-off of William Wyler's "The Collector". This time, the captor is a deranged lieutenant and the captive is a dancer. The story entertains, but Dennis Hopper is too old and fat for the lead character. The heavy make-up on his face is highlighted in the image of the DVD. It is ridiculous the scene where a young dancer that is keeping her shape working-out in her cell is chased by an old fat man that is able to catch her. Today is a rainy day in Rio de Janeiro, and this movie was a reasonable choice for a boring afternoon. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Obsessão" ("Obsession")

Weak story saved by superb acting

[vitachiel · 6/10 · 23 October 2007]

This is a tough one to vote for. There are many flaws: the story is very thin, the psychology of childhood sufferings that create a personality like Hopper's is so basal it's embarrassing, the cheap coincidences (like the heli flying around while Gina escapes for the first time and the colleague driving his car to the right place while the kidnapping is at its deadly conclusion). And the editing, what an awful job they did...

The good thing about this movie is the acting. Hopper always maintains a fair level, no matter how crappy a movie is. But the real star is Argento, she alone makes you wanna watch the developments unfold. Her portrayal of a caged being that is frustrated, adapting and always on the watch is very fascinating and makes you (well, me) take for granted all aforementioned weaknesses.

Not THAT bad

[lazarillo · 28 March 2005]

The beginning of this movie really annoyed me. Asia Argento performs in a strip club, takes a shower, and nearly gets raped, all without actually having a nude scene! Don't get me wrong--even low-budget potboilers like this don't necessarily need nude scenes to be good, but it's annoying when a movie relentlessly teases the viewer with the promise of nudity but doesn't deliver (besides, it's not like Argento exactly has the pristine image of that other stripper-who-doesn't-strip, Natalie Portman--she's done nude scenes in movies directed by her FATHER, and supposedly had unsimulated sex on screen in her own directorial effort "Scarlet Diva").

After the beginning though this movie wasn't THAT bad. For once, we have a movie with a believable stalker in Dennis Hopper. It's really stupid how in Hollywood movies stalkers always seem to be young, beautiful women (Erica Christensen, Rebecca DeMornay, Alicia Silverstone, ad infinitum), the people who in real life are much more likely to be the ones being stalked. And Hopper's performance as "Deputy Rock" is uncharacteristically subdued and psychologically nuanced. He isn't primarily interested in Argento for sex (although that element is there), but keeps her in a cage in what he views as an effort to protect her. He really is the straight-arrow cop he appears to be, just to a completely psychotic extent. I also liked Lochlyn Munro as the good guy cop and Helen Shaver as the woman producing an anti-drug show with Deputy Rock (who turns out to be just as crazy as he is). Which brings us back to Argento, who is probably the weakest link here, but she's certainly not awful. It's refreshing, for instance, that while she eventually fights back, she doesn't completely turn into the butt-kicking babe dispatching the villain with a stupid one-liner (a stereotype every bit as annoying as the old-fashioned "damsel in distress"--and even more unrealistic). Her character obviously feels morally compromised as a stripper and rape victim even before she's taken prisoner, and she has to overcome this as well as her captor. Argento can believably play a morally compromised character better than most big-name American actresses, so she's well suited for the role at least (even if she never does get around to actually taking her clothes off).

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

[Uinat · 1/10 · 18 June 2004]

Long ago there was a time there was a movie industry called Hollywood that made bunch of movies to entertain audience who gave money to see those features, which was later used to make more movies. Unfortunately, the same movie industry got sick of making funny movies and felt the need to tell us something smart and educational that we supposedly don't know already. Well, here comes the big surprise… 90% of the so-called 'smart' movies are pure CRAP! Anyway, The Keeper is about a sheriff Krebs or whatever his name is who kidnaps a striper Gina (Asia Argento) after some rape attempt, and tries to teach her the righteous path! Acting sucks, movie is too slow and emotionless. Dialogs are pointless and so childish you'll laugh at them only not to cry. Don't waste your gray cells to foresee the ending. Everything will go as it should along the well-pawned path of movie clichés. No surprises here. My advice is don't waste your money on this film. It ain't even worth of its stars Hopper and Argento. Hopper had his ups and downs on a career chart, Argento too, but this insults their acting capabilities as much as viewer's intelligence. This movie ain't a thriller it's a killer. You'll die of boredom before the end credits start to roll. Should be banned at any cost no matter what. If someone you know asks you to see this film, he's either suicidal or a loony. Don't insult your intelligence by watching this 'suspenseful' piece of dirt… My rating? Goddamn awful - 1/10

The Keeper wont keep you entertained

[Barclayandrew · 4/10 · 31 August 2005]

The only reason to watch this badly written movie would be if you were a fan of either Helen Shaver (a great actress) or the legendary Dennis Hopper. If you desire to see these two together in a film, choose 'The Ostetrman Weekend', which is by far the better film. The basic story line is the prisoner wanting to escape the jailer. (similer to the much better 'Misery')

Without going into too much detail so as not to spoil the plot (well, what plot there is), lets just say this is best avoided. There are millions of films out there to spend 90 minutes on, don't make it this one.

This movie might be "OK" entertainment if you have nothing else to do (or watch)

[scobbah · 4/10 · 14 August 2005]

The Keeper is a story about a young dancer who gets abducted and imprisoned by a corrupt police officer, who's assistant desperately tries to solve the case of the dancer. The plot is quite OK here, but nothing special or surprising. The acting by Dennis Hopper is great, and he really blends the movie with his insane character (officer Krebs). I suppose what didn't made this movie "do it" for me was the poor development here. It all starts out cool, but the further the plot develops the worse it gets. In the end, it feels like everyone and everything has just freaked out and what is left to digest is nothing. 4/10 because of the performance by Hopper and this movie might be "OK" entertainment if you have nothing else to do (or watch).

Dennis Hopper is never predictable

[bangquackadoodle · 2/10 · 31 March 2006]

This movie, co-starring Helen Shaver and Asia Argento, is in keeping with the oddness expected of Dennis Hopper. His motivation to do a movie like this one is questionable and I would be the first to wonder how much he was paid or whether this was him doing someone a favor for a friend or... I think you can get the picture. Lo-budget film, poor plot, crummy lines for the co-stars all contribute to the mystery of Hopper without saying much for anyone else in the film. I believe it to be the former of the assumptions; they paid Dennis well for this one. It takes place in a small town. The lake region where it was filmed contains stunningly beautiful scenes. The home where most of the movie takes place is itself is a stereotypical classic. The prison like cage dwelling of the costar, Asia Argento is classic too.

There is an interesting amount of testosterone mixed in as well that contributes to some excitement during a puppet scene performed by Hopper toward the end. Shaver's role could have been better defined and Argento could have come across with more emotion, but her acting was good considering the role she played as a kidnapped stripper. Hopper as the psychotic sheriff is not at his best, but Hopper's best, in my opinion, cannot be defined which may help explain why I rented the film in the first place. I gave it a 2 because it is no Titanic or Capote, but given the genre, I could have rated it higher.

Keeping Asia

[vintage_duke · 4/10 · 14 November 2004]

So here's an example of a movie that's easy to dislike, since it shamelessly rips off "Lady in a cage" and "The Collector", was done on a shoe-string budget with five to six cameras running during one scene and it has Lochlyn Munro in it. It's got all the creative looks of your typical movie-of-the-week and Asia Argento may be one of the prettiest faces, but her acting abilities are zip to zero. Nevertheless I have seen much worse. The Keeper is done fairly tongue-in-cheek with quite a wry, witty sense of humor and Helen Shaver is in fine form giving a performance so hammy she 's entering Vincent-Price-terrain. And Hopper doing his Hopper-routine is always more entertaining than watching any of those lame-assed method actors. O.K. for the price of an overnight rental, but you won't write home about it. 4/10

Not that bad at all!

[stefankoenen · 7/10 · 2 April 2005]

The reason for buying this DVD was that Dennis Hopper plays a lead role in the movie. Dennis Hopper is the kind of actor that can make a poor scenario work. One of the best parts he ever did was in True Romance, by Quentin Tarentino. The 10 minutes of his appearance in that movie are classic! The Keeper has some exciting parts that make up for the poor way (I think) in which the plot unravels... Why is deputy Burns sitting at a computer for hours with the same material on it??? The Keeper is an easy to watch movie and therefore simple entertainment. Because of the good acting by Dennis Hopper and Asia Argento I give this movie a 7-, although next time I want to see Dennis in a 10+ movie again!

THE KEEPER (Paul Lynch, 2004) **

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 3 June 2010]

This Canadian 'maniac cop'-type thriller inaugurates a lengthy series of movies that I plan to watch throughout this month in tribute to its hell-raising star, the late Dennis Hopper. His co-star here is the equally notorious Italian starlet Asia Argento who, portraying a stripper that instills dubiously redemptive tendencies in Hopper, shows that she still has trouble in shedding her heavy accent which needs to be excused by making her an émigré. The presence of these two (who appeared together again a year later in George A. Romero's LAND OF THE DEAD) would have been enough to entice me to watch this modest effort somewhere along the line but, thankfully, the screenplay adds a few interesting touches to the overly-familiar COLLECTOR scenario.

In fact, Hopper has a sideline in puppeteering which he exploits by touring schools in an anti-drug campaign (which, knowing Hopper's highly-publicized drug-fueled antics of the past, makes for the ultimate irony); to further complicate matters, one of the teachers (Helen Shaver) has a big crush on him and wants to manage his 'career' and turn him into a household word!; Hopper's junior partner starts getting in too deep into Argento's disappearance and, inevitably, getting on Hopper's nerves; and, finally, an escaped serial killer who has been hunting down Argento's 'colleagues'.

Unfortunately, director Paul Lynch's (of the original PROM NIGHT fame) thoroughly uninspired handling deadens most of the impact that these subplots might have had and it is left to the two lead actors – but mostly Hopper (whose mania is predictably explained as being caused by a religious-fanatic-of-a-cop dad), since Argento's predicament limits her movements (although she still gets to do a pole dance over the opening credits sequence and have a couple of gratuitous showers along the way!) – to keep non-discriminating viewers watching.

A Good Thriller

[MagicStarfire · 9/10 · 12 January 2007]

When I saw the plot outline for this film, plus the fact Dennis Hopper was in it, I had a feeling it was a film I would enjoy-- and it definitely was.

Dennis Hopper plays a demented cop in this film-- the type of role that he does so well.

The story begins with an exotic dancer named Gina (Asia Argento) and her worthless boyfriend. The two of them run into some heavy trouble at the motel where they're staying, but that is just the beginning of Gina's problems.

Lt. Krebs (Dennis Hopper) has some rather quirky ideas about what's best for Gina, and once she crosses his path, he implements them.

The characters in this film were interesting, the script was well written, and everyone in the cast did a bang up job. The plot had plenty of twists, yet remained clear and easy to follow-- something I can't say about very many films that I see these days. It kept me guessing, and it also got me involved with the characters-- wanting to know more about them and caring what happened to them.

I highly recommend this film for anyone who likes psychological suspense thrillers.

9 Stars

Not as bad as these people are making out

[sarah-282 · 6/10 · 2 March 2005]

Whilst this film may not be the best I have ever seen it is FAR from the worst.

The acting is not bad at all. There is nothing wrong with the plot. I think it is worth a watch and doesn't deserve some of the comments here.

Asia Argento is gorgeous as always and Dennis Hopper plays the cop just right.

If you want to see a really bad move watch "Def by Temptation"!!!

The Keeper is actually an OK movie. It might not win any Oscars but it is certainly no turkey.

Ouch

[PyroSikTh · 1/10 · 23 May 2009]

I don't dislike many films, but this is one of them. Admittedly I came in about half an hour into it and left long before the end, but I don't think I could stomach any more.

I won't bore you with the plot that's outlined in several other comments and in the plot summary itself, but it's an interesting concept. Unfortunately, it isn't pulled off. This film could easily have made the viewers wonder about good and bad. This seemingly good man doing a job to benefit the community etc. has keeps a young stripper locked up in his basement.

I love my slow-moving, dialogue driven films, but only when they have something to draw me in, be it the acting, dialogue itself or a well-deserving theme. However this has none. Dennis Hopper was a big disappointment with no emotion or conviction in his character. There was no clear difference between his character in the basement and his character out in public. Possibly a good thing, but not when the acting is so unenthusiastic and effortless. Asia's character was completely unbelievable, and I don't really blame her for this. I put this down to the awful script and bad directing. For the portion of this film I saw, she feebly and clumsily tried to escape and failed miserably, again, with no effort or conviction. After that, she seemed happy to be kept in the secret prison. Okay, possibly as a sort of two-faced reaction, except without the slightest hint of the face of hatred and desperation.

I also noticed a considerable lack of mis-en-scene. The only thing I can point out and call mis-en-scene would be the constant feel of claustrophobia, even when out of the basement. Other than that, colours and lighting were always fairly bright and jolly, hardly the kind of emotions you want to give off. Also, on the note of lighting, the basement was hardly believable as a basement, because it had so much light. There seemed to be no shadows in this cramped, underground, usually dark room.

If you want a decent thriller, watch something else...anything else.

Not a Keeper

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

Keeper, The (2004)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Lifeless thriller about a deranged cop (Dennis Hopper) who kidnaps a stripper (Asia Argento) and holds her hostage so that he can teach her how to be good. You'd think having Hopper play a nut and Argento a stripper that some magic would surface but that's not the case as this thriller lacks any suspense and instead enters the "so bad it's mildly entertaining" level. The badness of the screenplay and dialogue allows for plenty of unintentional laughs. Both Hopper and Argento are good in their roles but I really wish the screenplay had done more with their talents. The direction is pretty bad so this here is for fans of the actors only.

Almost a Comedy

[eam-33714 · 2/10 · 23 April 2020]

This movie is so bad, it's almost a parody. But uh, the same screams and phrases are repeated over and over like recorded and replayed throughout. The acting, oh man. The main girl is probably the best actor in the film. Scenes shot terribly... many mistakes. It's so bad!! Even the ending.

You don't have enough points to watch this film

[paipe-54540 · 1/10 · 15 January 2022]

This movies has to be the most stupid one I ever watched. The lines are ridiculous( that becomes painfully obvious when you hear Hopper telling a story about Mr. Rat), the whole movie is just basically Argento yelling for help help and about Hopper's handpuppet making a career for himself. Yes I wrote handpuppet you didn't misread. I mean yes there are a lot of bad movies out there but this one had a pretty straightforward plot so it's nothing but amazing how in earth they managed to fail this badly. If you want to laugh and cry at the same time maybe watch this but in any other case, maybe don't.

worst film ever

[STATIC0123456789 · 1/10 · 1 December 2004]

i cant believe i paid £3.50 to hire this film from a video shop. If i bought the DVD i would have demanded my money back!

this is the worst film i have ever seen and would never recommend it to anyone, the acting is poor and the filming is so bad a BBC drama is better. the budget must have been so low, even the effects were poor. even the same 'intense' music all the way through became boring, thank god it was only 90 minutes long as towards the end it was difficult to stay awake!

i thought dennis hopper was quite a good actor and have enjoyed some of his previous films but i would have been embarrassed to have starred in this.

in fact i would recommend you watch this film, as then every other poor film you see you can say "that was bad, but i once watched this film called the keeper..."

Worse Than a Channel 5 Movie - Films cannot get as bad as this!

[MrMacca2 · 1/10 · 23 June 2004]

Well yesterday I had the misfortune of watching this movie, a movie that I was looking forward to considering its 6-7 rating on this very site....Ohhhh how I was in for a surprise.

Not only do I have to go through life with this film logged in my brain somewhere, there is no way I can regain those precious few minutes I spent on this pathetic piece of .... make up your own word to go there.

The only good thing I can take from actually watching this movie is that I managed to fall asleep midway through. If I had watched the entire movie, you would have been seeing my suicide in the local newspaper.

So why is this film so bad? I'll try and explain whilst being as polite as possible.

Firstly the acting. Ohh it was bad, really bad in most places and at times it made me cringe, their acting was like fingernails down a chalkboard. This is probably made worse by the shoddy script though blame must also lie with the Director.

The sound effect editing and video editing are so poor they become noticeable. One scene to watch out for involves a Rat eating some cake on the floor. Hopper walks down the stairs, sees the Rat, Funniest Zoom in on the mouse I have ever seen, takes his gun out, shoots, It richochets on something, cuts to woman flinching, cut to rat running and then WHAM. AWFUL!

Another scene to look out for is when Hopper performs a kids puppet show.

Stay away from this movie, it offers you nothing at all, and what it might offer you, you have already seen it done better.

1 out of 10

average TV movie fare

[fcasnette · 3/10 · 2 May 2006]

do not read if you have not seen this movie! A quite ridiculous and unbelievable plot that the unhinged lunatic sheriff can hide someone in his basement for months without anyone visiting or noticing, and quite by accident has an unhinged lunatic TV presenter groupie woman too who finds the girl by chance and then does not free her because she wants the sheriff to be a TV show star... Boy do these Hollywood scriptwriters do nothing to earn their money. His deputy has no life except popping up every couple of weeks to say his entire mission in life is to find the missing girl as if he has no other work to do, so as to signpost the entirely predictable finale well ahead of time.

Standard average TV movie fare with low production values.

The only reason to watch is the performance of Hopper who is an actor who seems to be able to rise above any crap material, though he does his normal "unhinged" "creepy" type character here, which helps I suppose. After the majority of the movie being fairly "normal" (apart from locking up this girl for months) he goes mental giving her a show with glove puppets. Cliché follows cliché with the knocked out sheriff waking up just in time to knock out the rescuing deputy etc etc etc, lazy scriptwriting.

A better ending would have made a better movie...

[catfish-er · 6/10 · 30 October 2009]

On the surface he seems a competent and friendly law enforcement officer. However, model policeman Lieutenant Krebs (played by Dennis Hopper) harbors a deep, dark secret. He has kidnapped an exotic dancer and imprisoned her in the basement jail of his country home.

A better ending would have been if Sergeant Burns turned out to be in league with Lieutenant Krebs. That way, when the two confront each other Krebs could say, "I'm done with her, it's time for her to go." Then, the Burns would say, "no, this one's a keeper!" Go to black.

Just think of the sequel possibilities of two deranged cops, cleaning up the town of its bad elements.

A weird, weird story by director Paul Lynch.

[lastliberal · 5/10 · 29 May 2007]

Now, I have not seen Black Snake Moan, but I have seen enough trailers for the film to know that there isn't an ounce of difference in the stories. Instead of Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci, we have Dennis Hopper and Asia Aregento (Land of the Dead).

Hopper is a cop who picks up stripper Argento after she is attacked and takes her home to his basement where he has a cell. Now, how many people have a cell in their basement? Hold up your hands. A sure sign that this guy is a nut job.

He is going to make her change her ways. Yeah, right.

When he is not preaching to her, he is playing some Depty Dawg dress-up for the kiddies. Helen Shaver is a producer that wants to take him national. OK, release the nut job on all of us.

As the movie progresses, our worst fears are realized and we find that he really is a nut job because of his mommy. You say that coming, right? Bottom line: If you are going to have a movie about a stripper that takes a shower and gets attacked, then we need to see something to keep us interested. There is nothing here folks!

Point system works!

[henri-meijer · 10/10 · 1 March 2006]

Hello Writer and actors of the Keeper, I saw the movie a few days ago and it really changed my life! It was the first time I ever fell in love. I fell in love with the message of the movie, of course I'm talking about the point system. It's so beautiful in his simplicity, and tells you how to think. Thanks you for that, thank you soooooo much for opening my eyes. I am now devoting my life to the point system. I made my own version of it. But what I really like to know is: Is there a book or a religion about the system? Where do I buy these thinks? How many points does the actress that the cop keeps in his basement have? I love your work, If you where God it would not surprise me! Henri

Before you try to do impressionism you have to learn how to paint straight

[dcw-12 · 6/10 · 27 June 2007]

The allegory of the film is the centerpiece. Which isn't the best thing considering its fairly ham-fisted. Allegory works best when its on a emotional level rather than an intellectual level and the allegory here in this film is predominantly intellectual.

As I said in the summary it seemed like a lot of opportunity to create a better film wasn't taken advantage of. In terms of visual elements, emotion, lighting, etc. Again this goes back to the allegory being the centerpiece and the filmmaker overemphasizing this.

Still the acting isn't bad and the film is watchable if you have some free time. If what you look for in a film is something to intellectually mull over this maybe just your ticket.

A new high in how rotten films can be

[iwbcman · 1/10 · 30 December 2009]

I just registered here now, having been using IMDb for film info's and reviews for many years now. The reason: this film is one of the worst films I have ever seen in my life.

It pains me to register only to post on a film like this. The fact is this film is proof that a fine actor can be reduced to something beyond mediocrity. Dennis Hopper is an actor who has provided wonderful performances in so many films, but in this film he seeks to a new low, and my respect of him, as an actor, has sunk markedly.

Not one single thing about this film is worth watching. The production values are sub par for even low budget made-for-TV-movies. The plot is about as inspiring as the last flush of my toilet. The characters are completely unbelievable. The acting was horrific. Normally, bad movies can at least find some redemption in being a B film, but this film is not even in the same league. The dialog, the behaviors, the lack of suspense, the utter predictability, the snoring pace-it just doesn't end-this movie made me felt like I was trapped in that cage. The characters illicit no sympathy whatsoever. One gains no insight into their motives, other than the depiction of Hopper's characters past-which was delivered in such a lackluster way that it could not have convinced a born-again believer.

I have often read others describing wasted hours of their lives. I always had little sympathy for such comments. But this film finally helped me gain insight into such comments. I wish I could take back the 2 hours of my life that this despicable waste of time and resources, acting talent, film material, and wages represents. Those who participated in this film should be ashamed of what they were a part of and I hope that Dennis Hopper can wipe the stench off his hands for his part in it.

AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH what a horrible film!