The Keep

Michael Mann has never managed to take my breath away (not even with his best films, like Heat). Most of the time, I’ve had a hard time not falling asleep because his narration style is very slow. The reviews of The Keep are mixed at best, so I could expect how much fun I would have with it: little. And that was the case. The premise sounds nice, a mysterious castle in the Romanian mountains occupied by Nazis could be a great setting for a horror film, but alas. All those painted backgrounds, the dodgy special effects and the ridiculously looking evil turn those ninety minutes into an experience so tiring that even a five hour long Albanian existentialist drama would envy it. (07.07.2010)

As a horror comedy, somewhat problematic as a mysterious spectacle, but surprisingly successful as a war drama. Michael Mann didn't deny his talent for improving suspicious-looking scripts, and with the help of an ethereal soundtrack and Ian McKellen's indescribably charismatic performance, even though he speaks with a plastic blinking figurine, he managed to create an interesting atmosphere, albeit occasionally faltering due to the lack of a defined genre. However, I wouldn't search for the potential of a masterpiece like "Unforgiven" in this cursed stronghold. (03.05.2009)

Michael Mann in the early days. A rather timeworn, slowly told story, but filmed with atmosphere. In terms of acting, the picture is quite passable and so the only serious problem are the rather old-fashioned special effects and, mainly, the book the movie is based on, because it simply sets the bar too high. Outstanding as a well-made eighties B-movie, but as an adaptation of one of the best genre books, this is a bit of an insult. (22.01.2007)

The filmmaker's beginnings are very difficult, especially when he is shooting a horror film from a cardboard Romanian village with a plasterboard fortress, in which, in addition to the well-groomed Nazis, an ill-disguised Ian McKellen and a kind of runaway anatomical model of human muscles appear. The horror scenes are without doubt just as scary as the TV creations based on the motifs of Mr. Vašíček, the directing is indeed cruelly careless, sloppy and seldom reveals that Mann is a filmmaker with a distinctive vision. Actors in confusingly written roles have no chance to impress, and Scott Glenn literally feels like a bad joke. This is all accompanied by a hellishly archaic "casio" prelude to the TANGERINE group, and one cannot help but be upset that it wasn’t even stupider. Because this is not even a guilty pleasure, but rather just a kind of dusty swarm without a hint of atmosphere and meaning. (06.01.2010)

Although Michael Mann is better known as "Mr. (Crime)intellectual," in his early days as a director he already clearly showed signs of his distinctive trademarks, which have followed him throughout his filmography. Despite its lack of originality, the plot is typically lengthy in Mann’s style. The story of the fortress with the mystery is told at a slow pace, where the emphasis is mainly on the dialogue unraveling the mystery. Yet it all, unfortunately, comes at the expense of the horror atmosphere, which the director builds to perfection in some moments, despite the rather primitive digital effects and the incredibly crazy music, aided mainly by the precise camerawork and, last but not least, the sympathetic cast, led by the charismatic Jürgen Prochnow. It's a B-movie, but that's what the 1980s were like. (19.08.2006)