Nazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.Nazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.Nazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
William Morgan Sheppard
- Alexandru
- (as Morgan Sheppard)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe main set of the film was built in a disused abandoned former slate quarry at Glyn Rhonwy near Llanberis in North Wales. Some interiors of "The Keep" were filmed inside the natural stonework of the Llechwedd Slate Caverns near the historic mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd, Wales. Michael Mann once described the set by saying: "It's a black monumental structure that might have been built by a medieval Albert Speer."
- GoofsWhen Dr Cuza is translating the writing on the wall, he says "The form is the imperative" i.e. that it's a command. That's taken from the source novel, where the writing is translated as "Strangers, leave my home!" But in the film the translation is "I will be free", which is not an imperative statement.
- Quotes
Major Kaempffer: [frightened] What are you? Where do you come from?
Molasar: Where am I from? I am... from YOU!
- Crazy creditsThe Keep Production Pays Tribute To Wally Veevers
- Alternate versionsSome television versions include additional footage after the original downbeat ending, showing Eva Cuza (Alberta Watson) turn around, entering the Keep and finding the body of Glaecen (Scott Glenn), dead after the final battle with Molasar. Eva hugs Glaeken, who is revived by the power of her love.
Featured review
Utter madness
To call this film an oddity or a curiosity piece is a bit of an understatement. Actually if you look at this, there's already a lot of reviews here, so strangely enough this film is not as forgotten as its ashamed director would like it to be.
THE KEEP starts out extremely well with a spellbindingly dreamlike and somewhat pretentious sequence with the Germans rolling into a small Romanian hamlet during WW2. Things remain interesting as long as the film keeps up the bizarreness and borderline out-of-place Tangerine Dream synthesizer music. However, things get silly when it turns out that the Germans have unwittingly raised a demon from a thousand year slumber who goes on a slow killing spree while fallen angel Scott Glenn works his way back there to save the earth. Things rapidly unravel as the promising setup settles into a plot which manages the amazing task of becoming nonsensical and routine simultaneously!
A few things guarantee though that this imperfect film will forever have my attention. For one, it actually does a decent job of melding the horror and war genres and gives a brief glimpse of the completely ignored Romanian complicity in World War 2. It actually interestingly manages to give the German soldiers some characterization as well. Another thing this film has going for it is Michael Mann's completely OCD touch to the whole thing which oddly suits the subject matter.
Not to mention the inspired casting; Jurgen Prochnow shines in his first major English-language role as a conflicted Wehrmacht captain matched by a cold and calculating Gabriel Byrne as his closed-minded S.S. superior. Scott Glenn and Alberta Watson do about as much as they can with their very underwritten protagonal characters and Ian McKellen hams things up considerably as a Jewish professor who tries to maneuver the demon into destroying the Germans for him.
Actually, come to think of it, this film would have done just fine without Glenn or Watson - they seem only to exist to sidetrack the film into romantic drama territory which adds nothing. Much more interesting is McKellen's inner conflict and the exchanges between Prochnow and Byrne. Things seem awfully rushed at the film's last act considering the slow pace through most of the film, but that may be more the work of studio meddling than anything.
Definitely worth picking up if you're into cinematic curiosities. Fits right in with THE SOLDIER and THIEF if you're looking for early 80's murky drama accompanied by Tangerine Dream, Alberta Watson, and Robert Prosky.
THE KEEP starts out extremely well with a spellbindingly dreamlike and somewhat pretentious sequence with the Germans rolling into a small Romanian hamlet during WW2. Things remain interesting as long as the film keeps up the bizarreness and borderline out-of-place Tangerine Dream synthesizer music. However, things get silly when it turns out that the Germans have unwittingly raised a demon from a thousand year slumber who goes on a slow killing spree while fallen angel Scott Glenn works his way back there to save the earth. Things rapidly unravel as the promising setup settles into a plot which manages the amazing task of becoming nonsensical and routine simultaneously!
A few things guarantee though that this imperfect film will forever have my attention. For one, it actually does a decent job of melding the horror and war genres and gives a brief glimpse of the completely ignored Romanian complicity in World War 2. It actually interestingly manages to give the German soldiers some characterization as well. Another thing this film has going for it is Michael Mann's completely OCD touch to the whole thing which oddly suits the subject matter.
Not to mention the inspired casting; Jurgen Prochnow shines in his first major English-language role as a conflicted Wehrmacht captain matched by a cold and calculating Gabriel Byrne as his closed-minded S.S. superior. Scott Glenn and Alberta Watson do about as much as they can with their very underwritten protagonal characters and Ian McKellen hams things up considerably as a Jewish professor who tries to maneuver the demon into destroying the Germans for him.
Actually, come to think of it, this film would have done just fine without Glenn or Watson - they seem only to exist to sidetrack the film into romantic drama territory which adds nothing. Much more interesting is McKellen's inner conflict and the exchanges between Prochnow and Byrne. Things seem awfully rushed at the film's last act considering the slow pace through most of the film, but that may be more the work of studio meddling than anything.
Definitely worth picking up if you're into cinematic curiosities. Fits right in with THE SOLDIER and THIEF if you're looking for early 80's murky drama accompanied by Tangerine Dream, Alberta Watson, and Robert Prosky.
helpful•181
- Aylmer
- May 17, 2010
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Die unheimliche Macht
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,218,594
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,032,295
- Dec 18, 1983
- Gross worldwide
- $4,219,430
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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