Nazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.Nazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.Nazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
William Morgan Sheppard
- Alexandru
- (as Morgan Sheppard)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe main set of the film was built in a disused abandoned former slate quarry at Glyn Rhonwy near Llanberis in North Wales. Some interiors of "The Keep" were filmed inside the natural stonework of the Llechwedd Slate Caverns near the historic mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd, Wales. Michael Mann once described the set by saying: "It's a black monumental structure that might have been built by a medieval Albert Speer."
- GoofsWhen Dr Cuza is translating the writing on the wall, he says "The form is the imperative" i.e. that it's a command. That's taken from the source novel, where the writing is translated as "Strangers, leave my home!" But in the film the translation is "I will be free", which is not an imperative statement.
- Quotes
Major Kaempffer: [frightened] What are you? Where do you come from?
Molasar: Where am I from? I am... from YOU!
- Crazy creditsThe Keep Production Pays Tribute To Wally Veevers
- Alternate versionsSome television versions include additional footage after the original downbeat ending, showing Eva Cuza (Alberta Watson) turn around, entering the Keep and finding the body of Glaecen (Scott Glenn), dead after the final battle with Molasar. Eva hugs Glaeken, who is revived by the power of her love.
Featured review
Built to Keep Something--In
This movie begins with a German army squad traveling through the Carpathian Mountains in Romania to secure the Dinu Mountain Pass during the first days of Operation Barbarossa during World War II. Commanding this squad is "Captain Klaus Woermann" (Jurgen Prochnow) who is both competent and combat experienced. Upon arrival at a small Romanian village near an abandoned citadel known as "The Keep" he decides to set up operations. What he doesn't know is that rather than being built to keep intruders out, "The Keep" was built to keep something--in. That being the case, it isn't too long before German soldiers are being killed by some mysterious entity despite the best efforts of Captain Woermann. Not long after he requests a relocation point, a special SS unit arrives under the command of "SD Sturmbannfuhrer Eric KKaempffer" (Gabriel Byrne) who takes command of the area and decides to execute villagers as a way of containing what he believes is partisan activity. But there is no partisan activity. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was an interesting movie which made great use of smoke and music to create a surreal atmosphere. Unfortunately, the director (Michael Mann) went too far with these stylistic enhancements which crowded out everything else. Along with that the special effects for the "entity" were clearly second-rate and that didn't help either. In short, the film had a good plot but lacked the necessary time to really develop which in turn limited the overall effect. Accordingly, I rate this movie as about average.
helpful•40
- Uriah43
- Jul 1, 2015
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Die unheimliche Macht
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,218,594
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,032,295
- Dec 18, 1983
- Gross worldwide
- $4,219,430
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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