Michael Mann's "The Keep"

[redtornado]

Im watching this right now. I got a copy burned off of laserdisc and it looks pretty good. Ive heard rumors of a dvd release, and saw what was supposed to be a dvd cover, but nothing ever came up.

PLOT SUMMARY: 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.

Has anyone seen this? I know for an older catalog movie, it has little chance of a blu-ray release, but I at least figured Michael Manns name on it might do it some good.

[Drewza89]

I watched it on youtube last year because it's not available on DVD. I don't think it will ever get a DVD release because Michael Mann is embarrassed by the theatrical cut.

If I remember correctly, Mann had envisioned it being at least 3 hours long, but the studio cut a significant amount of footage making the movie a big mess. It failed at the box office, but it has become a cult classic.

The cut footage is probably in such bad condition that a restoration wouldn't be worth it to the studio. That's too bad because I would love to see Mann oversee a director's cut. The cinematography is gorgeous and I'm sure it would be a good movie if Mann got to reinsert the cut footage.

[World_War_BLU]

I really like that movie. I had no idea it was Mann who directed it (one of my favorite directors)

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Drewza89

I watched it on youtube last year because it's not available on DVD. I don't think it will ever get a DVD release because Michael Mann is embarrassed by the theatrical cut.
If I remember correctly, Mann had envisioned it being at least 3 hours long, but the studio cut a significant amount of footage making the movie a big mess. It failed at the box office, but it has become a cult classic.

But Paramount is still reading 1983 memos where the movie sank without a trace, and it's hard enough getting them to show some back-catalogue love for the unappreciated. (Even for their obsessions with the 80's catalogue.)

The cut footage is probably in such bad condition that a restoration wouldn't be worth it to the studio. That's too bad because I would love to see Mann oversee a director's cut. The cinematography is gorgeous and I'm sure it would be a good movie if Mann got to reinsert the cut footage.

Now that we've actually heard of Mann (and Ian McKellen), it's an underrated piece of "Miami Vice"-era Mann stylistics, like "Manhunter".
Creepy backlit castle scenery, overcast-doom cinematography, and that edgy Tangerine Dream score, all the stuff of which Underappreciated Cult Classics are made.

The "cut" ending, however, eventually showed up on network TV, and...it's a snore:
After Scott Glenn ends up

[Show spoiler]sucked back into his Final Battle

, we get ten dialogue-free, explanation-free minutes of

[Show spoiler]Glenn and the demon flying through dark Keep space and shooting lasers at each other, until Glenn barely wins his battle, the girl runs back to the castle, and finds Glenn's eerily smoking body.

And you thought '83 audiences couldn't understand the theatrical cut!

[movielib]

The film of The Keep is a horrid mess, IMO. It is based on one of the greatest horror novels of all time, The Keep by F Paul Wilson.

Wilson himself was furious over how badly Mann ruined the film. He actually wrote a short story by the name of Cuts in which a novelist gets revenge against the director, Milo Ghirl (OK, not so subtle), for making a terrible film out of his masterpiece. The story appears in Wilson's short story collection Soft and Others.

That is one horror movie that is begging for a remake.

[Jack Torrance]

This flick always gets a bad rap... and y'know, even though I am a Michael Mann obsessed, I would have to say that this is not for everyone. An acquired taste for sure.

In the canon of Mann's work, it's a failure, but for me at least, an interesting one. Though I know he turned Wilson's novel upside down, I appreciate what Mann was trying to do... going for a cinematic equivalent of a dream. Far from the intent of Wilson's novel (which there could be a more straight adaptation of as a movie "remake" and wouldn't encroach on Mann's movie one iota)... but there are sequences that are just wonderful that when combined with Alex Thomson's photography and Tangerine Dream's scores it close to cinematic heaven. Then there's stuff that just falls dead on the floor. Oh well.

This was on the radar at Paramount as a DVD release a few years ago... announced, then pulled, then announced again... then pulled with the vague "waiting for Michael Mann's participation". Then... nothing.

My wife had the pleasure of working on a Mann movie and knows that he has a fondness for this movie. I would love to see it on Blu... but heck, I'd take an official DVD release if that was all that was available!

[LordCrumb]

I don't suppose anyone has an English subtitle file for this film do they? I see a couple Spanish or Italian versions, but no English ?

[ghostgate2001]

Originally Posted by movielib

The film of The Keep is a horrid mess, IMO. It is based on one of the greatest horror novels of all time, The Keep by F Paul Wilson.

Wilson himself was furious over how badly Mann ruined the film. He actually wrote a short story by the name of Cuts in which a novelist gets revenge against the director, Milo Ghirl (OK, not so subtle), for making a terrible film out of his masterpiece. The story appears in Wilson's short story collection Soft and Others.

That is one horror movie that is begging for a remake.

Wilson also wrote a graphic novel version of The Keep - which is, in effect, the storyboards for the faithful and author-approved film adaptation that never happened.

I love the Michael Mann film despite its undeniable flaws; it still contains moments of sheer cinematic poetry. It just feels like a film that needs finishing with a revised cut - extensions here, trims there - much like Paramount and Robert Wise did with "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."

That said, I definitely agree that The Keep is begging for a remake. In fact, it's about the ONLY remake I would genuinely be excited by - because we would get to see the novel adapted properly, and also (no doubt) we would finally see an official release of the Michael Mann film, riding on the remake's coat-tails. That's win-win in my opinion.

[obiwopkenobi62]

Man I remember seeing this movie in the theater. I feel old now.

[dallywhitty]

What with the rumours about an upcoming Blu-ray release, I thought I'd throw together an idea as to what it might look like:



Paramount (assuming they haven't licensed to it somebody else) would no doubt give it a fancy slipcover, though.

[Pondosinatra]

I own it on Laserdisc. Spent a bunch to get it. I figured it was one of those lost gems that never made it to DVD as it had several big name actors as well as the director attached to it.

Boy was I wrong. What a steaming pile of crap it was! No wonder Michael Mann all but refuses to be associated with it.

[Rich65]

That's your opinion. I think it's a decent movie but I would like to see a complete version released to see how bad the studio butchered it, heck I just want to see it released period. The book was awesome and I am all for a remake also so long as it is done right.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by Rich65

That's your opinion. I think it's a decent movie...

And that's your opinion

[thompsonjohn]

Wonder if "Shout!/Scream Factory" is going to distribute this one?

[Rich65]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

And that's your opinion

Right. So we agree to disagree.

If everyone agreed on everything things would be awful boring around here.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by Rich65

Right. So we agree to disagree.

If everyone agreed on everything things would be awful boring around here.

I did find it had promise at the beginning when the troops showed up in the town but then it went off the rails for me. I agree with whomever said it'd be a prime candidate for a remake. I hate remakes generally speaking, but ya, I think in this case it'd be a good thing. Plus as it never made it to DVD not a lot of people have seen it.

[Abdrewes]

Will blind buy this. I've seen and loved all of Mann's films (even Miami Vice) and own all blus. So, I'm all in... For Christ's sake he needs to make a new movie!

[iART]

I love this show; enough so that I created an account here to voice my opinion with the slim chance that, just maybe, it would convince the right person to release The Keep on Blu-ray.

I have read that it waits in limbo because of a dispute with Tangerine Dream. If this is true, people please, work it out and make this film available to a new generation.

My worst fear is that instead, someone in Hollywood will remake The Keep, thereby destroying another classic film. I believe too that Tangerine Dream's music is a perfect fit for the Keep's visual feel. Its chiselled black stone mountain town enshrouded in a permanent fog. Both the audio and video drip with atmosphere. If Hollywood redid the Keep, there would be a correlation to castle Dracula involving the cast of Twilight... Barf!

If I were to alter anything, it would be the post production "lightening bolt" effects near the movies end, as they are pretty sad, lol, or perhaps thats another reason why the Keep is a classic!

Release the Keep on Blu-ray Please!

[Movie-Brat]

Oh come on, remakes can be done well. From what I can tell, it's begging for one.

[kristoffer]

I have never seen this but love all of Manns work. The trailer does make it out to look very cheap though..