Okay, time to enter madness once more. Only this time it could almost be considered “high brow” madness. Oh and guess what? Shocker, it’s another film from the 80’s! Oh man, The Keep… Words can’t give this insane movie justice. First off, just know that when this film came out, this baby was almost universally hated by critics and audiences alike. Man, it must be a stinker, right? Au contraire. Fast forward a mere 30 years and this now cult classic is an absolute gem. Let’s look at the pedigree behind making this movie. #1, it’s written and directed by Michael Mann. Michael freakin’ Mann! That’s a top notch filmmaker right there. #2, it stars Scott Glenn, Gabriel Byrne, Jurgen Prochnow (one of my favs) & even Ian McKellen, amongst others. #3, the music is done by Tangerine Dream! Oh yeah, so you know it’s chock full of sweet, sweet synth. Oh, and did I mention it’s about Nazis doing battle with an ancient demon inside a medieval fortress meant to keep the evil force inside? Nazis! Demons! Oh, and they’re actually working with a Jewish scholar, well, not as much working with as forcing to work with. Oh, and Scott Glenn glows with bright light for some reason. Oh, and there’s killer fog. Oh, and Molasar, the evil force slowly builds himself a physical form throughout the film as he takes more souls, and the FX on that are pretty freakin’ sweet. I might also mention that for an evil force, he has a pretty great singing voice. Oh, and… ahh forget it, I’ll stop listing awesome things and just let you experience them on your own. Man of man, it’s just so full of pure entertaining madness. It actually used to be tough to find because it was never released on DVD, but now with all the streaming services, you should be able to track it down. Who knows if we’ll ever get the rumored 3 ½ hour director’s version that Mann originally cut. But for now, these 90 pack enough to keep me happy. KEEP, me happy. See what I did there? Wordplay hooray! Sorry, it’s late. Enjoy folks. This one’s a trip.
Musings of a Scary Horror Writer. 