What Keeps You Alive is a riveting thriller from writer-director Colin Minihan. It features a female couple’s cozy anniversary getaway that turns deadly. Screening at Fantasia 2018. Read our full What Keeps You Alive review here and watch it on Netflix now!

What Keeps You Alive has a simple twist to the typical survival thriller. For starters, it follows a lesbian couple instead of the usual straight couple. Of course, this doesn’t make a difference in terms of the story and how it evolves. In fact, it’s very simply diversity at its finest!

And we all know women can be violent too, so don’t worry about the horror. This movie really does not hold back with very realistic and gory violence.

Continue reading our What Keeps You Alive review below and watch it on Netflix now!

Don’t miss out on this one!

What Keeps You Alive is all about a married couple played by Hannah Emily Anderson and Brittany Allen. They both do an excellent job of portraying the hunter and prey, respectively. While this might sound like a spoiler, it isn’t really since this is the core plot of the movie.

Still, you get quite a lot of surprises along the way. In some ways, the very brutal and direct use of violence is the most efficient surprise even though you really should expect it. I mean, this is a survival horror-thriller, so obviously, violence is a key plot driver.

The two brilliant actors should also be familiar to you if you love genre productions.

Hannah Emily Anderson is in The Purge series, which I was not a fan of, but I did enjoy watching her in it. Before What Keeps You Alive, she was in Jigsaw (2017) which is currently the most recent addition to the Saw franchise, while we wait for Spiral (2021).

Also read: Our review of Jigsaw which wasn’t all that great despite good actors >

Brittany Allen followed up this movie with The Prodigy horror movie and then a very memorable role in Amazon’s Prime Video series The Boys. She was “Popclaw” and if you’ve watched the series, you will remember her character! Prior to making What Keeps You Alive, Brittany Allen was in It Stains the Sands Red (2016) and also in Jigsaw.

To me, the inclusion of either Hannah Emily Anderson or Brittany Allen is enough to check out any production. They both always deliver very memorable performances and having them both in this movie is a true treat!

What Keeps You Alive (2018) Review

Watch What Keeps You Alive on Netflix now!

Director Colin Minihan got his breakthrough along with his brother as The Vicious Brothers. This happened when they created the scary found footage horror movie Grave Encounters.

Since then Colin Minihan made the sci-fi horror movie Extraterrestrial, as well as zombie movie It Stains the Sands Red (also starring Brittany Allen). This movie is yet another awesome addition to his film resume.

What Keeps You Alive screened at Fantasia International Film Festival 2018. However, this movie has earned amazing reviews from both audiences and critics worldwide. You simply cannot miss out on this one. It would be a damn shame if you did!

It opens in theaters and on VOD nationwide on August 24, 2018.

UPDATE: What Keeps You Alive is finally out on Netflix from August 1, 2020.

Details

Director/Writer: Colin Minihan
Cast: Brittany Allen, Hannah Emily Anderson, Martha MacIsaac, Joey Klein, Charlotte Lindsay Marron

Plot

How much can you really know about another person? The unsettling truth that even those closest to us can harbor hidden dimensions drives this unpredictable, blood-stained story. Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Jules (Brittany Allen) are a couple celebrating their one year anniversary at a secluded cabin in the woods. From the moment they arrive, something changes in Jules’ normally loving wife. Jackie (if that even is her real name) begins to reveal a previously unknown dark side. It all builds up to a shocking revelation that will pit Jules against the woman she loves most in a terrifying fight to survive.

I usually keep up-to-date with all the horror news, and make sure Heaven of Horror share the best and latest trailers for upcoming horror movies. I love all kinds of horror. My love affair started when I watched 'Poltergeist' alone around the age of 10. I slept like a baby that night and I haven't stopped watching horror movies since. The crazy slasher stuff isn't really for me, but hey, to each their own. I guess I just like to be scared and get jump scares, more than being disgusted and laughing at the grotesque. Also, Korean and Spanish horror movies made within the past 10-15 years are among my absolute favorites.
Nadja "HorrorDiva" Houmoller
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