THE KEEP
Overcomes the curse of Gabriel Byrne
I understand that the F. Paul Wilson novel upon which this movie is based had something to do with vampires. Just where they'd fit in, I have no idea. No vampires here, although overall, it's a pretty cool little movie.
Michael Mann wrote and directed, and the script is occasionally quite entertaining, and the movie just looks terrific. Nice and foggy and rainy and grainy and loaded with dank stone and huddled masses. The story isn't bad - Nazis occupy a strangely constructed fortress in the Carpathian mountains, and call upon the services of an about-to-be-concentrated Jewish scholar to figure out just why one or two of them are dying horribly each night. Once he gets there, some imposing force starts communicating with him and healing him, and shares in his wrath at the Nazis. Or seems to.
Anyway, the FX are inconsistent (this "presence", when shown, can look alternately sinister, ridiculous, powerful, and hokey), top-billed Scott Glenn serves no purpose in the narrative, and Gabriel Byrne chews up more scenery than a Langolier, as usual. But the movie moves along at a good clip, and is always interesting to look at. Jurgen Prochnow plays, again, a sympathetic Nazi officer not entirely happy to be where he is, and does it quite well.
Recommended. So how's the book?