The Keep

Directed by Michael Mann

R

1983 1h 36mHorror, Drama,

5.742%43%5.6

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Nazis are sent to guard an old, mysterious fortress in a Romanian pass. One of them mistakenly releases an unknown force trapped within the walls. A mysterious stranger senses this from his home in Greece and travels to the keep to vanquish the force. As soldiers are killed, a Jewish man and his daughter (who are both knowledgeable of the keep) are brought in to find out what is happening.

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Cast of The Keep

Scott GlennGlaeken Trismegestus
Alberta WatsonEva Cuza
Jürgen ProchnowCaptain Klaus Woermann
Robert ProskyFather Mihail Fonescu
Gabriel ByrneMajor Kaempffer
Ian McKellenDr. Theodore Cuza
William Morgan SheppardAlexandru
Royston TicknerTomescu
Michael CarterRadu Molasar
John VineLutz
Wolf KahlerS.S. Adjutant
Jona JonesOtto
Rosalie CrutchleyJosefa
Frederick WarderBorder Guard 1
Bruce PayneBorder Guard 2
David CardyAlexandru's Son
John EasthamAlexandru's Second Son
Philip BloomfieldJosefa's Son
Yashaw AdemCarlos
Stephen WhittakerS.S. Kommando
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The Keep Ratings & Reviews

EnochLightAugust 4, 2025
“The Keep” (1983) is a forgotten gem of '80s horror cinema — or at least, the dusty, half-finished jewel of what could have been. Largely flying under the radar and now drifting somewhere between cult classic and fever dream, this film suffered a particularly brutal fate: the unexpected death of visual effects wizard Wally Veevers, who tragically passed away with hundreds of effects shots still in the pipeline. Director Michael Mann, suddenly left holding the supernatural bag, was forced to cobble together a conclusion himself — and suffice it to say, it’s not the grand showdown he originally envisioned. His plan for an epic, effects-laden finale? Crushed under the weight of studio indifference. Paramount wouldn't cough up the cash, so instead we got a stripped-down, ethereal shrug of an ending. (But hey, it made for great late-night cable fodder back in the day.) Even worse, Mann’s original cut clocked in at a whopping 210 minutes — nearly four hours of bleak, beautiful chaos. Paramount, in their infinite wisdom, hacked it down to a lean 96, leaving the final film with more holes than the Swiss cheese in the cast food truck. Continuity? Gone. Character arcs? Whoops. Entire plot threads? Missing, presumed dead. And yet… in spite of the carnage, what remains is still a gorgeously shot, atmospheric descent into supernatural horror. The opening cinematography is stunning, the score by Tangerine Dream is hypnotic, and the performances are all deliciously eerie, like everyone knew something was wrong but just went with it anyway. Check it out — if only to witness what happens when visionary ambition slams headfirst into studio meddling and real-world tragedy. It’s not perfect. It’s not even finished. But it’s unforgettable.

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The Keep Trivia

The Keep was released on December 16, 1983.

The Keep was directed by Michael Mann.

The Keep has a runtime of 1 hr 36 min.

The Keep was produced by Gene Kirkwood, Hawk Koch.

The key characters in The Keep are Glaeken Trismegestus (Scott Glenn), Eva Cuza (Alberta Watson), Captain Klaus Woermann (Jürgen Prochnow).

The Keep is rated R.

The Keep is a Horror, Drama, Fantasy film.

The Keep has an audience rating of 4.3 out of 10.

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