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.
