Review of The Keep (1983) by Andrew B — 18 Aug 2014

The Keep is one of the more frustrating films that I've seen as of late. It's frustrating because Michael Mann, at this time in his career, was making some fantastic films. Previously he had made Thief and after this he made Manhunter, and for some reason, he decided to make a horror movie in between.

It's based on a novel, of course, but it was an interesting choice at the time, and one that he never repeated. It's fine that he wanted to try something different, but the final product is so underwhelming.

There are lots of long, uninterrupted shots of nothing in this film, and it doesn't help that I saw the film in sub-standard image quality. At times I didn't know what was going on in relation to the characters and their surroundings.

The film has an interesting cast, but the editing and score are incredibly poor, to that point that this is pretty much a failure as a film. I got a strong Sorcerer vibe from the opening moments, and there's certainly some things in there to make this slightly watchable, but it's disappointing overall.

It doesn't help to know that it isn't the director's cut of the movie, as it was taken away from Mann and re-edited before release.