The Keep ** (1983, Scott Glenn, Alberta Watson, Jürgen Prochnow, Robert Prosky, Gabriel Byrne, Ian McKellen) – Classic Movie Review 11,599

Writer-director Michael Mann’s 1983 horror film The Keep stars Scott Glenn, Alberta Watson, Jürgen Prochnow, Robert Prosky, Gabriel Byrne and Ian McKellen. It might be very flawed, but, because of the director, actors, subject and filming history, it has a very considerable interest.

There are creepy goings-on in a Romanian castle during World War Two when a German unit use it as their HQ, ignoring rumours that it is occupied by something nasty – well you would, wouldn’t you?

Can Dr Theodore Cuza (McKellen) and his daughter Eva (Watson) solve the puzzle before it is too late?

The Keep is a weird and confused horror thriller, but this ambitious, exotic war-horror brew is directed with lots of style and visual flair by Mann, the cast is fascinating and Tangerine Dream’s eerie score is another asset.

Michael Mann’s screenplay is based on F Paul Wilson’s novel, originally published in 1981.

It was released by Paramount Pictures.

It cost $6,000,000 and earned $3,661,757 (US).

It had a troubled production, with a gruelling shoot from September 1982 for 13 weeks. Once principal photography was finished, re-shoots were done for another nine weeks. Then the film got into huge difficulty when visual effects supervisor Wally Veevers died two weeks into post-production.

Mann’s original cut was 210 minutes but he was permitted only a two-hour movie, and then test screenings of this were negative so Paramount hacked it to 96 minutes, with bad editing problems.

The sets for the Romanian village were built at the disused Glyn Rhonwy slate quarry in North Wales. Some interiors of the Keep used the stonework in the Llechwedd Slate Caverns. Rain delayed the shooting schedule. Shepperton Studios were used for interior Keep scenes featuring the demon Molasar and a secondary crew went to Spain for footage showing Greece.

The special effects for the creature were made by Nick Maley, helped by Nick Allder, who worked on Alien and The Empire Strikes Back. Molasar was conceived by Enki Bilal.

The cast are Scott Glenn as Glaeken Trismegestus, Alberta Watson as Eva Cuza, Jürgen Prochnow as Captain Klaus Woermann, Robert Prosky as Father Mihail Fonescu, Gabriel Byrne as Sturmbannführer Erich Kaempffer, Ian McKellen as Dr Theodore Cuza, William Morgan Sheppard as Alexandru, Royston Tickner as Tomescu, Michael Carter as Radu Molasar, Rosalie Crutchley as Josefa, Wolf Kahler as S.S. Adjutant, and Bruce Payne as Border Guard, Phillip Joseph, John Vine, Jona Jones, Frederick Warder, David Cardy, John Esatham, Philip Bloomfield, Stephen Whittaker, and Yashaw Adem.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,599

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