The Keepis one of Michael Mann’s lesser-known movies, but the 1983 supernatural horror has aged very well, and it proves Mann should try his hand at the genre again. Auteur film directorMichael Mann has been making moviessince 1981 with his feature debut,The Thief, and since then, he’s earned 10 Golden Globe nominations and 12 Academy Award nominations with 1 win. Most of his movies are crime dramas and thrillers and his ability to depict action on screen has yet to be topped. One of his earliest films revealed a real talent for horror as well.
InThe Keep,a WWII horror moviestarring Gabriel Byrne, Alberta Watson, Scott Glenn, and Ian McKellen, a group of Nazi soldiers arrive at a mountain fortress in the Carpathian Mountains. Hoping to take control of the nearby pass in the waning stages of World War II,the Nazis accidentally unleash a malevolent spirit known as Radu Molasarwho proceeds to kill the Nazis but also drives the innocent villagers of the nearby village mad. Frightening, intense, and with all the visual flair Mann can provide,The Keephas aged very well and Mann should consider trying horror again.
The Keep Developed A Cult Following After Initially Bombing
Michael Mann’s Horror Movie Has Been Reappraised In Recent Years
After the success ofThief, a modestly plotted and made film that earned double its budget at the box office (viaBoxOfficeMojo) and an 80% rating onRotten Tomatoes, expectations were high for Michael Mann’s next feature. So it was a bit of a surprise when Mann announced his next film would be a historical horror movie starring Nazis and featuring a supernatural monster, kept locked in a keep.The film opened to poor reviews, with only a handful of critics offering lukewarm praise at best, and the movie still only has a 39% onRotten Tomatoes.
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Mann’s psychedelic film techniques, which can sometimes feel like style over substance, are turned all the way up inThe Keep. Some critics mentioned how confusing the film is at times, with rock, disco, high fashion, and other unusual combinations coming together for a chaotic mix that makes even the dialogue hard to hear. It’s not a straightforward film and the visceral gore and changing allegiances between characters made some audiences unable to get a grip on what kind of story Mann was trying to tell.
However, over the decades, there’s been a reappraisal ofThe Keepand a cult following has slowly but surely developed.
However, over the decades, there’s been a reappraisal ofThe Keepand a cult following has slowly but surely developed. Michael Nordine ofLAWeeklywrote about his feelings on the film in 2013,
“In short, it’s everything you could ask of an early-’80s movie about Nazis in Romania accidentally unleashing a supernatural entity they can’t hope to control… Mann’s steady direction shows early signs… of his rare ability to elevate ostensibly schlocky material into something dark and majestic.”
Chris Alexander ofComingSoonsaid about the film in 2015,
“It is a film of many sensory pleasures and the key to truly enjoying it is to overlook its flaws, its lapses in logic, its often dated visual effects and let it simply wash over you, to sink into it and perceive it like an opium inflicted hallucination.”
The Keephas a lot in common with Mann’s other, more popular movies, but he infuses it with some truly horrifying imagery. It’s unlike anything else in his oeuvre and there are even fewer horror movies with similar senses. It’s in a league of its own. Maybe not a better league, butstanding out in the always-packed field of horror movies is something worth commending, and it means thatThe Keep, for all its faults, sticks with viewers, which is all any director can really hope for.
Michael Mann Faced Significant Production Problems With The Keep
Mann’s VFX Supervisor Passed Away Soon After The Start Of Pre-Production
There’s a chance that Michael Mann’s original plan forThe Keepwould have made the horror movie a critical success right out the gate, rather than having to wait 30 decades for the recognition it deserved. Mann had adirector’s cut for his horror moviethat ran for 210 minutes, but Paramount eventually forced the director to cut down his movie to its current 95-minute run time (viaScreened). With so many strange cuts and jumps, which people have come to love,it’s worth wondering if Mann’s original version was a more standard horror film.
More tragically, Mann’s visual effects supervisor, Wally Veevers, passed away two weeks into post-production (viaBloodyDisgusting). There were still hundreds of effects shots that needed to be completed and no one was totally sure of what Veevers' plans were for the final look of his shots. Mann originally intended for a massive, visually stunning battle between the Molasar and Glaeken (Glenn), but without Veevers he was forced to change his ending.
Mann originally wanted Molasar to be an intangible being whose appearance was shaped by its surroundings, but that description proved too difficult to put on screen.
Mann wanted to reshoot and try a different ending, but Paramount refused to grant more money to the already over-budget and overlongThe Keep, and the director had to end his film on more of a whimper than he ever intended. The succeeding years of Mann’s filmography make a good case that had Mann been allowed to stay true to his vision and completeThe Keepon his terms, there would be no need for the film to be reappraised as a cult classic, it would simply be aclassic of horror cinema.
Human Failures At A Systemic Level Are Still Relevant Themes From The Keep
Mann Shows That It Isn’t Always The Individual Who Is At Fault
No matter how anyone feels about the style ofThe Keep,there’s no denying it has a fascinating and eerily relevant message in the modern world. That is, if viewers can understand it through the off-kilter storytelling style.The Keepmay feature a unit of Nazis at its center, and it certainly doesn’t shy away from showing their violent demise, but Mann’s film also refuses to blame any one individual for the events of the film. There is no Major Toht like inRaiders of the Lost Arc. It’s a system that Mann blames for humanity’s failings.
For Mann, the evil at the heart ofThe Keepisn’t any one person, but an entire system that puppeteers people if they are not too careful.
Molasar is not released because of one villain hoping to wield great power. He’s accidentally released by the Nazis, who are pillaging the fortress. If it wasn’t Nazis, it very well could have been Americans who inadvertently released the entity. For Mann, the evil at the heart ofThe Keepisn’t any one person, but an entire system that puppeteers people if they are not too careful.
The Keepwags a finger at the audience, reminding them that they are also always in danger of being manipulated toward evil and that those committing atrocities can come from anywhere. It’s an important theme and one that keepsThe Keeprelevant in a world where people sometimes want to believe that they alone are incapable of crime or falling victim to the dark orders of some higher system.
The Keep
Cast
In The Keep, Nazis commandeer an ancient fortress in Romania, only to encounter a malevolent entity within.
