Die unheimliche Macht

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)

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)

Aller Anfange des Filmemachers ist schwer, insbesondere wenn er einen Horrorfilm aus einem rumänischen wellpappeähnlichen Dorf dreht, mit einer Gipskartonfestung, in der außer ein paar Nazis sich auch der schlecht gemakeupte Ian McKellen promeniert, und danach irgendein geflüchtetes Modell anatomisches Modell menschlicher Muskeln. Dies ist zweifelsohne ebenso gruselig, wie die TV-Kreationen, die auf den Motiven des Herrn Vašíček basieren. Die Regieführung ist hier in der Tat unachtsam, schlampig und zeigt selten, dass Mann ein Filmemacher mit einer charakteristischen Vision ist. Die Schauspieler, welche verwirrend geschriebene Rollen darbieten, haben keine Chance, Aufmerksamkeit anders zu erregen, und ein Scott Glenn sieht beispielsweise wie ein schlechter Witz aus. All dies wird von einem höllisch archaischen "casio"-Preludium der Gruppe TANGERINE-Gruppe begleitet, und man kann einfach nicht anders als zu schluchzen, dass das Ganze nicht noch ein wenig dümmer ist. Denn das hier ist nicht einmal ein "guilty pleasure“, sondern eher nur eine Art total schlechten Umherschwirrens, das jegliche Atmosphäre und jeglichen Sinns entbehrt. (06.01.2010)

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)

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)

Kriegshorror, der nicht jedem gefällt. Die Hauptstärke von "Die Festung" ist vor allem die beklemmende Atmosphäre (böses Verstecken draußen und drinnen, ewiger Regen) und erst danach die ordentliche Besetzung und qualitativ unausgewogene, manchmal sogar komische Spezialeffekte. Übrigens arbeitete damals der aufstrebende Bob Keen daran, der es durch Filme wie "Lifeforce" und "Highlander" bis zum kultigen "Hellraiser" geschafft hat. (70%) (01.07.2012)

I was deciding between two and three stars because, from my subjective point of view, it's more like 2 and a half. In its time, it would definitely be three strong stars, but the quality of special effects, as expected, became outdated from the first half of the 80s, and this type of film partly relies on them. The first Terminator was made practically at the same time, but unlike it, The Keep is just a weak B-movie. Genre-wise, this film can be described as dark fantasy with some horror elements, but to today's horror fans, it will probably seem too bloodless, and for fantasy lovers, not spectacular enough. The atmosphere in some moments cannot be denied because Michael Mann is simply too talented of a director. However, the screenplay dilutes in the second half of the film, and the finale is too digital and fades into nothing. Throughout most of the runtime, I had the feeling that much more could have been achieved from this idea with a little goodwill from the producer and crew. I also prefer when stories like this are set within a functional historical framework. Film viewers are usually not experts in history, but in the late summer of 1941, Romanian Jews were certainly not being sent to concentration camps; Romania was a respected ally of Germany with several units on the Eastern Front, and while the Romanian government was conservative and monarchist, it was certainly not fascist, and if not for the conflict over today's Moldavia, Romania would definitely not go to war against the Soviet Union. Therefore, German soldiers had no reason to patrol a Romanian pass thousands of kilometers away from the front... Overall impression: 40%. (04.05.2009)

An atmospheric, not completely traditional B-movie with a superbly gloomy story. Mann’s style starts waving at you already in the title sequence with the arrival of the Nazis at the fortress and peeps out in each really good scene. I was a little surprised with the strange work with music, because that is usually Mann’s strong side. But here, crazy synthesizers boom away in pretty weird passages and sometimes it is disruptive more than helping to complement the visual action. No flaws in terms of acting, but apart from McKellen and Glenn the remaining ensemble didn’t get much of a look in. I mean, Jürgen Prochnow and Gabriel Byrne could certainly have got more involved in the action. As for effects, they seemed pretty impressive for a movie from the 80s. (03.05.2009)

The Keep unfortunately has number of things that make it an almost chaotic and boring slag. The characters are pretty poorly written, the pace is uneven, the special effects are laughable at best, and the music is annoying; I feel this is a premise that John Carpenter could do wonders with, he would highlight the trashiness in a creative way and would give a better style to both the heroes (especially the mysterious Scott Glenn) and the villains. But here we have Michael Mann, a precise builder of atmosphere and ideological conflicts, and the resulting film is not fun at all, but it does have an unquestionable aura and even a vision. The brutally strong back or side lighting and the permanently overheated steam machines create a surreal backdrop that literally saves the film and makes it quite a remarkable experiment. It’s as if Carpenter had left the narrative games aside and had a joint that awoke in him a desire for artsy horror with a timeless concept. It’s really weird and I’m not surprised that Mann never made another effect based film, but what I appreciate more is that a filmmaker as interesting as him has tried something so insane. 55% (22.02.2021)

The American movie The Keep is not considered Michael Mann's finest work, although I think it boldly ranks among the director's best movies. Sure, it has its weaknesses, although I enjoyed the mood it evoked more than other newer movies with better cinematography and higher definition images. As a result, I was mesmerized by The Keep. (22.05.2020)