Paramount Pictures
Not part of a collection.
The Keep
They were all drawn to the keep. Tonight, they will all face the evil.
Set during World War II, a German army garrison is sent to guard a mountain pass in a village in Romania's Carpathian mountains and sets up barracks in an ancient stone fortress. Two of the soldiers unwittingly release a mysterious entity that kills or corrupts those within its influence, drawing the attention of a Gestapo commander, a Jewish scholar, and a mysterious traveller.
- Original title
- The Keep
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US,GB
- Budget
- $6,000,000
- Revenue
- $3,661,757
Wuchak
Feb 16, 2022 · via TMDB
**_Arty fantasy/horror taking place at a citadel in Romania during WW2_** In late 1941, a motorized German infantry unit holds a pass in the Carpathian Mountains by occupying a strange fortress that’s “built backwards,” as the captain observes (Jürgen Prochnow). When soldiers start mysteriously dying, it draws a ruthless Nazi commander into the fray (Gabriel Byrne), as well as a Hebrew professor and his daughter (Ian McKellen & Alberta Watson). A strange nomad is also attracted to the proceedings (Scott Glenn). Based on the 1981 book of the same name, "The Keep" (1983) is a supernatural thriller set in WW2, one of director Michael Mann’s early flicks before his great success with films like “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992). While this was a flop at the box office, it has since developed a cult following. It was no cheapo movie, costing a whopping $11 million at the time and hence has quality production values, especially for an early 80’s horror flick. It’s comparable to a late-era Hammer movie, just made on a huge budget and without Cushing or Lee. There are elements of “Altered States” (1980), “The Formula” (1980), “The Seventh Sign” (1988) and “Howling V: The Rebirth” (1989) so, if you like those films, check it out (and, yes, I realize those last two came out 5-6 years later). The production was troubled with Mann’s original edit being 3.5 hours, which is well over TWICE as long as the version released to theaters (!). This has caused critics to denounce “The Keep” as a jaggedly-edited outlandish mess that attempts to be an art film, a horror flick and a WW2 movie without really succeeding at any. The film’s peculiarity is augmented by a dream-like score by Tangerine Dream. Nevertheless, there’s enough good here to entertain open-minded viewers. While there are obvious cut parts, the story isn’t hard to fill-in the blanks. There is a creature and it’s easily the most intriguing part (in later scenes it sorta rips-off of Jack Kirby’s Darkseid). Yet I found the characters played by Prochnow, Byrne and McKellen interesting too. Scott Glenn’s role would’ve been better if he was fleshed out more. He was the protagonist of the book, but his scenes were cut. What we are left with is an enigmatic traveler with glowing eyeballs and a magic stick who has no qualms about jumping into bed with a woman he barely knows (in defense of this sequence, he instinctively KNOWS her and vice versa to a degree). The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in Blaenau Ffestiniog & Llanberis in northwestern Wales, as well as England at Shepperton Studios, just west of London, and Kent (the concentration camp); with Spain standing in for Greece in one scene. GRADE: B-
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Scott Glenn
Glaeken Trismegestus
Alberta Watson
Eva Cuza
Jürgen Prochnow
Captain Klaus Woermann
Robert Prosky
Father Mihail Fonescu
Gabriel Byrne
Major Kaempffer
Ian McKellen
Dr. Theodore Cuza
William Morgan Sheppard
Alexandru
Royston Tickner
Tomescu
Michael Carter
Radu Molasar
John Vine
Lutz
Wolf Kahler
S.S. Adjutant
Rosalie Crutchley
Josefa
Frederick Warder
Border Guard 1
Bruce Payne
Border Guard 2
David Cardy
Alexandru's Son
Yashaw Adem
Carlos
Stephen Whittaker
S.S. Kommando
Ian Ruskin
S.S. Kommando
Stephen Jenn
S.S. Kommando
Benedick Blythe
S.S. Kommando
Robin Langford
S.S. Kommando
Renny Krupinski
Wehrmacht Soldier
Peter Guinness
Wehrmacht Soldier
Sean Baker
Wehrmacht Soldier
Alex Thomson
Director of Photography
Alf Joint
Stunt Coordinator
Andy Bradford
Stunts
Nick Hobbs
Stunts
Tracey Eddon
Stunts
Michael Mann
Director
Callum McDougall
Third Assistant Director
Gavin MacFadyen
Associate Producer
Bonnie Timmermann
Casting
Nancy Klopper
Casting
Noel Davis
Casting
Gene Kirkwood
Producer
Hawk Koch
Producer
Christopher Franke
Original Music Composer
Edgar Froese
Original Music Composer
Johannes Schmölling
Original Music Composer
Nick Allder
Special Effects Supervisor
F. Paul Wilson
Novel
Michael Mann
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Dec 16, 1983
