The Keep

The Keep

1983

Director- Michael Mann

Cast-  Alberta Watson, Jürgen Prochnow, Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne, Scott Glenn

           

During World War 2, a German unit (led by legendary actor Jürgen Prochnow) occupies a keep in the Romanian hinterlands. An evil force is accidentally let loose and starts slaying the Germans. An SS commander (played by Gabriel Byrne) is called in to put an end to what is believed to be terrorists. He soon enlists the involuntary aid of a Jewish scholar who is an expert on the keep (played by none other than Magneto/ Gandalf himself Ian McKellan) and his daughter. The culprit finally reveals itself to be an ancient and powerful evil. A stranger (Scott Glenn) turns up mysteriously to oppose the evil force.

            The movie is based on the novel of the same name by F. Paul Wilson. Wilson didn’t like the movie. The movie has all the novels characters and follows the plot reasonably close. The only complaint you could have is how rushed the movie feels. Apparently Michael Mann directed a 3 and half hour epic that was cut down by the studio to an hour and a half. Complicating this was the death of the visual effects supervisor during filming and Mann himself being unsure of how he wanted certain scenes to unfold (this was only his 3^rd film and completely different from anything he has ever done.)

            The biggest difference between the book and film is the film’s creature. In the book there is a long red herring plot where you think the creature is a vampire before finding out it’s really an ancient sorcerer serving the forces of darkness. The movie forgoes all of that and leaves its origins a mystery. In a way, the movie’s heavy plot editing forces it to rely almost entirely on visual storytelling. The creature especially is striking, looking like a cross between Darkseid and the Swamp Thing.

            Even with all of these failings, the movie succeeds despite itself. First off is its stellar cast! Its other great attraction is its combination of disparate elements. Michael Mann is known for his urban crime dramas but here he directs a gothic horror set in WW2. Combine that with an electronic music soundtrack by Tangerine Dream (they also did Legend ) and you have a strange mix.

            The Keep has become a cult movie for all the reasons listed above. Its begging to be remade I think. Until it is, you can enjoy this strange, flawed little gem from the early 80s.

Cover to the novel. The movie was reasonably close to it.