Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

Boring

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

During WWII, Nazi soldiers decide to defend a Romanian mountain pass. As part of their plan, they make their headquarters in a nearby fortress. Unfortunately, two sentries get greedy, and in their search for the treasures that the fortress contains, they allow an ancient evil spirit to be released from its tomb. While the Germans procure the services of an aged, ailing Jewish historian (Sir Ian McKellen, the "X-Men" franchise), their humane, level-headed officer Woermann (Jurgen Prochnow, "Das Boot") butts heads with his brutish young associate Kaempffer (Gabriel Byrne, "Miller's Crossing") over methodology, and a strange mystery man named Glaeken (Scott Glenn, "The Silence of the Lambs") is drawn to The Keep to fulfill some sort of mission.Michael Mann ("Heat", "Manhunter"), here following up his smash debut "Thief", also adapts the novel by F. Paul Wilson. One can see that this could have been interesting; he had good intentions and definitely did his research. Unfortunately, his squabbles with the producers & studio (Paramount) resulted in his ultimately disowning the film, since he was never able to properly realize his vision.As it is, this is a compelling, appropriately ethereal horror-fantasy story, but in this 96 minute long incarnation, it comes across as muddled and not fleshed-out enough. In addition, the inevitable confrontation between Glaeken and the imposing monster Molasar (played by Michael Carter of "An American Werewolf in London") is much too rushed and cheesy, robbing us of complete satisfaction.Still, there's a fair bit to respect here. Production design (by John Box), cinematography (by Alex Thomson), and the music (by Tangerine Dream) are all excellent. The film is shot through with some absolutely overwhelming gloomy atmosphere, and is quite sombre, with no real humour to speak of.It's the efforts of a superior cast that help to make "The Keep" work as well as it does. Prochnow and Byrne, in particular, have one great scene together. Also starring are Canadian beauty Alberta Watson ("The Soldier"), the late, great character actor Robert Prosky (the gangster in Manns' "Thief"), William Morgan Sheppard ("Wild at Heart"), Wolf Kahler ("Raiders of the Lost Ark"), and Rosalie Crutchley ("The Haunting" '63). Glenn has a commanding presence, but with so little to work with, his hero character doesn't leave that much of an impression.I think we can chalk this up as a "nice try, but no cigar" effort, and only wonder about what might have been, had there been no interference.Six out of 10.

First, I will admit that it's patently obvious to anyone who has watched Michael Mann's other films that the studio totally butchered this movie. Mann had not yet achieved enough status to insist on final cut. This movie feels like it is missing about 30 minutes which is why many reviews point out how disjointed it is, especially the last 10-15 minutes or so. Mann has disowned the film, and I am sure it's because the version he FILMED is nothing like what was theatrically released.What makes The Keep so special is not just the originality of the story line or the performances by the principals, esp. Ian McKellen, Jurgen Prochnow or Gabriel Byrne, but more than anything else, the fusion of cinematography with music, done by Tangerine Dream, and this is actually a better score than they gave Mann for Thief, as hard as that might be to believe.I know the author of the book the film is based on (who once emailed me personally after seeing a post of mine on alt.rec.arts.movies many years ago) hates this film due to the substantial changes Mann made to the story line, but that aside, this is a brilliant film which creates an atmosphere of dread and fear which far surpasses many more typical genre films.It's a tragedy that due to several contractual issues The Keep will never ever get to DVD. Even in its obviously truncated (i.e. non-director's cut) version, it is still a masterful visual and musical fusion of horror and dread.

Michael Mann surely knows how to make movies. At least in regards to atmosphere and music aesthetics. With "The Keep" Michael Mann ventures into an odd world of Nazi-period Eastern Europe set against the back-drop of even greater ancient evil, which has been unwittingly released into our world. A Nazi unit camps out at a fortified keep in a remote Romanian mountain are. Where two soldiers attempt to loot the walls from a golden cross, an untold ethereal evil seeps through to our world and silently starts murdering the soldiers. This awakens a mysterious protector (Scott Glenn), who ventures to the keep to stop this force from escaping its prison. Based on the novel F. Paul Wilson, comes a tale that despite its significantly talented cast falls into obscurity because of a strikingly underdeveloped story.For one thing, the characters themselves are a very enticing bunch, rife with potential. Captain Klaus Woermann (Jürgen Prochnow) is a soldier in war-time, more emotionally attuned to his humanity, not so much to Nazi ideology, leading his army through a sense of obligation - a striking detachment from typical presentations of II World War Germans. The ruthless Major Kaempffer (Gabriel Byrne), leader of a Gestapo death squad, works as his direct contrast, fully indoctrinated and mercilessly cold, capable of killing women and children to achieve his goals (Byrne's chilling portrayal nonetheless remains a highlight of the movie). Into this construct arrives Jewish historian Theodore Cuza (Ian McKellen) and his daughter Eva (Alberta Watson), who are brought in from the camps to aide in solving the deadly puzzle. For Theodore this task brings the promise of an ultimate solution to the Nazis, as the maleficent force promises their destruction in return for his freedom.As these characters intertwine in the misty Gothic backdrop created by Michael Mann and his talented cinematographer Alex Thomson, a sense of dread permeates (aided in part by great haunting atmospherics by Tangerine Dream). The slow camera-work and detailed sets, reminiscent of the best of Dario Argento, captivate with their gloomy consistency. Also the special effects are so perfectly 80-ish with their crude muckish gruesomeness, something that seems so lost in the perfection of CGI-induced horror. Slowly however the confused script and B-class elements so widespread in the 1980s, start to overrun the qualities, which made the movie so promising. Riden with clichéd portrayal and short-cuts in terms of story development, Mann ends up with a bungled mess of a horror, which neither frightens nor manages to maintain the eerie essence. Nonetheless the look of the movie offers some degree of satisfaction, it will undoubtedly remain a skeleton in Michael Mann's closet.

This movie was quite possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen in my lifetime. The beginning scene takes way too long to get into. It seems like it was added only to bring suspense to the film but it failed to do even that. The music wasn't suspenseful even in the slightest and the shot of the German commander smoking his cigarette served no purpose to the story. The first few minutes watching it made me think "oh my god I have to push myself through this for film class?" The story itself also wasn't grabbing to the viewer, why would keep yourself and your men in the keep if you're all dying? Also the movie graphics where just the worst, even for that time. Molsar looked like they recycled the figurine of Godzilla, put Christmas lights in it, and added wheels, there was no effort to make the creatures realistic in anyway shape or form. I'd give this a double thumbs down, triple if I had another set of fingers. It's no wonder this movie lost 50% of what was invested into it.