31 (or so) Days of Terror: The Keep

You know who pretty much nobody would feel bad about seeing die? Nazis. Everybody hates Nazis. So having your protagonists be Nazis is something of an uphill battle because it's hard to sympathize with evil bastards. But under that logic, a horror movie with Nazis makes a certain amount of sense. Nobody cares if the characters in a horror movie get killed, it's what they're there for, and nobody cares if Nazis get killed. 2+2=4. And while seeing Nazis murdered by a monster is certainly an element of Michael Mann's 1983 film The Keep, it's a more thoughtful and thematically rich feature than that grindhouse premise would make it seem.

Here's the setup; during the dying days of WW2, a platoon of German soldiers are sent to a remote Romanian village to fortify an ancient mountain fortress, the titular keep, against the oncoming Russians. The keep has legends surrounding it though and appears built to contain something, not keep people out. It's not too long before the Germans awake the evil sleeping within the keep and their soldiers begin dying. This gets the SS involved, who force elderly Jewish scholar Dr. Cuza (Ian Mckellen) to help them fight the demon of the keep. But Cuza may have other ideas, working to help the demon escape the keep so it can destroy the Nazis once and for all. And what is the story of the mysterious man making his way to the keep, who seems to know all its secrets?


Right off the bat I have to credit The Keep for differentiating between the Nazi SS and the regular German army. Too often in movies set during the war are the Germans all portrayed as terrible monsters, dudes in black trenchcoats and armbands who gleefully round up any "undesirables". But in reality there was a great diversity of opinion among the German people and even those in the army fighting the war weren't totally onboard with Hitler. So to see this shown in a film is nice not only for historical accuracy, but also works around the sympathy problem. We the audience can sympathize more easily with the regular German army, these are guys who don't really want to be there and are stuck fighting a war they know they're losing. They'd rather just go home but circumstances have forced them to camp in this old fortress in the middle of nowhere. So when a monster starts killing them, we actually feel bad because we know what kind of guys they are. And it helps create a contrast when the SS, the black trenchcoat Nazi true believers, show up and just make the situation worse by antagonizing the villagers.

The entrance to the titular keep.

That difference also leads into the theme of The Keep, which is about the dangers of ideology. It's consistently shown throughout the film that the characters motivated by ideology are more susceptible to having those ideals twisted to serve others or just use them as an excuse for their terrible behavior. We can see this clearly in the split between the German Army and the SS. The leader of the German army (Jurgen Prochnow) is only concerned with keeping his men safe, he really doesn't give a shit about the thousand-year reich. But the SS commander (Gabriel Byrne) is Nazi through and through, he even insults the army officer for cowardice because he cares more about his men than the cause. He'll use any brutal tactic necessary to hold the keep and enforce control. And unsurprisingly, Byrne is killed by the demon of the keep. But Prochnow, with his down to earth, practical goals, is portrayed much more sympathetically. He's a man in over his head, not afraid to admit, and just wants to survive. And because he's willing to throw Byrne's jackbooted thuggery back in his face, Byrne shoots him. That's almost a metaphor for the German side of the war, Both sides getting destroyed because the Nazi leaders wouldn't support the army so they could keep their Holocaust going.

But this theme is expressed most clearly through Ian Mckellen's character Dr. Cuza. Understandably as a Jew he hates the Nazis. So when they force him to help them deal with the demon of the keep, he goes along to protect his daughter from suffering at their hands. But after the demon saves his daughter from a pair of Nazi rapists, he starts to get ideas. He persuades the demon to only attack the Nazis and the demon returns the favor by healing Cuza's paralyzed legs. The demon agrees to destroy Berlin for Cuza if Cuza can help him escape the keep, and that's the kicker. The demon is really just using Cuza to help him escape, the only reason he was killing the Germans was so that he could absorb their lifeforce and regain his strength. He doesn't care what the Nazis are doing, but when he saw bitter, angry old Cuza he saw someone he could manipulate. So the demon rescues Cuza's daughter, makes him healthy and promises Cuza exactly what Cuza wants to hear. He uses Cuza's righteous fury at what the Nazis are doing to further his own ends. In contrast to that is Cuza's daughter Eva, who like Prochnow's character is really only concerned with their safety and survival. She's another character who just wants to make it through the war intact, philosophy can wait. All this leads up to one of the best scenes in the film, where the demon commands Cuza to kill Eva to prove his commitment to their pact. But Cuza rejects the demon, seeing how his rage has been twisted and brought him close to killing the only thing he really loved. It's a great scene and McKellen acts the hell out of it, giving a preview of Gandalf vs. the Balrog.

Gabriel Byrne faces the demon

The Keep is not a perfect film though and it's in the supernatural aspects that the production really falters. My research tells me that the studio took scissors to this part of the film and the cuts are very obvious. I mentioned in the synopsis a mysterious man (Scott Glenn) who seems to know everything about the keep, but he and his relationship to the keep are kept maddeningly vague. I think the implication is that Glenn's character is supposed to be immortal and that he's the one who sealed the demon in the keep, but even that isn't clearly spelled out. Now it wouldn't be a problem if the demon isn't elaborated on; all the audience has to grasp is that he's evil, been there a long ass time, and is using Cuza, but this character feels like he needs some exposition on. Is he some kind of wizard? Why's he immortal? How does he know about demons and fighting them? Does he just deal with this keep or does he travel around doing shit like this? As the film is Glenn just wakes up when the keep is unsealed, comes to Romania, sleeps with Eva and fights the demon. It's really disconnected to the rest of the story. The demon himself is also a disappointment from a visual standpoint. When he first appears he has a great look, all exposed muscle and bony exoskeleton surrounded by fog, but when regains his full strength he just looks like a lumpy Power Rangers villain made of leather.

At least the rest of the film looks good. Mann shoots the keep as an appropriately grim and cold underworld and wisely sets most of the action there. The harsh corners and slanted walls make it an imposing labyrinth of stone and fog, and what little human elements the Germans bring in just serve to make the keep feel even more alien. The music also fits well, with a heavy use of synthesizers to compliment the ominous and (dare I say) fascist mood Mann is going for.

The Keep is something of an unfinished piece. Studio meddling prevented Mann from making the film he wanted and the more paranormal elements of the story suffer the most for it. Thankfully the more human stakes of the story (the Germans attempting to survive, Cuza's quest to kill the Nazis) are strong enough to carry the film adequately. Combined with excellent mise-en-scene and music, it makes for an intriguing if flawed watch.

Good performances and themes make up for bad worldbuilding, hesitantly recommended.

Final Score: 3/5