What Keeps You Alive

2018 Directed by Colin Minihan

There's a demon inside

Majestic mountains, a still lake and venomous betrayals engulf a female married couple attempting to celebrate their one-year anniversary.

Hannah Anderson Brittany Allen Martha MacIsaac Joey Klein Charlotte Lindsay Marron

99 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Tony the Terror😼🏳️‍🌈 ★★★★½ 4

WOW! Just not at all what I was expecting, but damn it’s a good time! I really went into this thinking it was a lesbian couple vs. some psychotic backwoods mountain man and it’s not even! Not EVEN! Instead, it’s a complex psychological horror about a lesbian couple that has way too many secrets for their own good.
I really love that this movie depicts a gay married couple because I fall into that category and I think it is woefully underrepresented in 2020. However, the farther into the movie you get the more you wonder whether or not this is the type of representation you want, but then I started to think: is this really speaking to all couples in…
Review by Chris Hormann ★★ 2

Imagine the most brainless characters and then make them more stupid, just for cheap thrills. To a certain extent, the filmmaker takes his audience to be just as brainless. On the plus side, it's nicely shot and definitely passes the Bechdel test. So there's that.
Review by Jacob Knight ★★

A really great opening 15 minutes gives way to rather abysmal acting amidst a slew of intriguing visual ideas (there’s a black light murder cleanup sequence that’s simply amazing). This could’ve been a rather tight, brutal midnight movie option, sporting some cool LGTBQ representation (as the central duo is a married lesbian couple celebrating their anniversary). Instead, it’s a subpar stab at crafting some cabin in the woods violence, with only momentary flashes of inspiration.
Review by coles84 ★★★★ 2

A film I missed at last years Frightfest due to a clash but hearing it was now on Netflix gave me the perfect opportunity to watch. I have enjoyed Minihan’s other work and both lead actresses I have enjoyed work previously too. A fair few people told me to not read much about the movie and go in as blind as possible so that is what I did and I can certainly confirm I experienced a wild, unpredictable ride that took initial expectations of a potential THE STRANGERS meets EDEN LAKE to something else entirely (other comparisons here would ruin potential surprise).
A thrilling ride that uses both its leads perfectly. There is enough emotion, tension and despair to keep…
Review by Freyr ★★★

While I did rather enjoy Grave Encounters, I skipped over last year's It Stains the Sands Red because the idea just wasn't really grabbing me. Still, I was curious what Colin Minihan would do next, so I felt like I had to give this one a shot. The premise is simple, but with enough going on in the background to generate some interest. Sadly it just didn't sustain that interest for me, tonally wobbling between serious character drama and thriller camp. The foreshadowing is laid on super thick, over and over, and characters behave in according to every trope applicable. It is filmed in a gorgeous location though, with more than a few stylish shots and use of darkness, and the lead actresses mostly do a good job where the script works, particularly Hannah Emily Anderson's emotional shifts during the beginning of the conflict. It's not a total miss, but it doesn't stand out from the crowd either.
Review by angel ★★★½

Does Jules have seven lives?

Recent reviews

Review by quiet_artist ★½

So predictable. I guess thriller was never my genre but this just pushed me off the edge. Good acting wasted on such an extremely straight-forward plot. At least it passes the Bechdel test.
Review by claire 🗡️💀🕷️ diane

what is love?
baby, don't hurt me
no more
Review by dipsomatic ★★½

If a man had pushed her off the cliff, she’d be dead.
Review by Luccia ★

I need to delete this movie from the hard drive of my brain.
Review by Benjo1997 ★★★★

It's been a long time since a story made me want to scream 'GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE' this badly at the screen.
Starts strong by playing on the anxiety of not really knowing your partner or their past against a backdrop of total rural isolation* before evolving into a gnarly, unbelievably mean survival horror. Totally different to what I was expecting. Jules goes through some shit.
If you're willing to forgive some hefty implausibilities and some clunky b-movie dialogue that doesn't fit with the rest of the film, you'll be treated to an indie horror gem.
*that delicious oner used to establish the vacant house and each of the rooms.
Review by Andrew ★★★★

“He says to us, ‘It’s time you girls learn a bit about life.’; and so, he hands each of us a rifle, and off we go.”
As much as I love horror movies, and watching anything considered disturbing, or creepy, or whatever, and how they make me feel a plethora of intense emotions when done right — I am rarely truly scared by them. But I love so many of them anyway. Because I don’t need to be left physically shaking or traumatized to think it’s great and did its job, or to just love and appreciate it for whatever reasons. Writer-director Colin Minihan’s Grave Encounters is one of those rare films to truly scare me, and leave me physically…
Review by Raffi M Raihan ★★★★

You only kill what keeps you alive. Cuckoo.
Review by Spooky ★★★★

I'm honestly not sure why so many people dislike this movie. I found it to be well paced with a tense premise. There might have been some logically flawed parts however I'm not one to pick apart a movie unless it's something that sticks out as a rip in the plot. I can't say anything here was to that point. Some people just aren't fighters and some people are. Anyone under pressure can make mistakes.
What I liked the most about this movie was the main couple. They feel like a real couple that has been together for over a year or more (2?). And when things start to shift I understand the way both of them react to the…
Review by Hamish James Halliday ★★½

Very inconsistent. A lot of good and bad.