Michael Mann has all-but-disowned The Keep.
And how has the fanbase kept it going?
Every auteur has a black sheep in their filmography.
Something which doesnt gel with their established style, and was rejected by critics and fans upon release.
On this front Spielberg has1941, Oliver Stone hasThe Hand, Brian De Palma hasWiseguysand so on.
Michael Mann has the crown jewel of them all.
Hes a director best known for his precise, beautifully shot thrillers likeHeat,Manhunter,orThe Insider.
Thats what happened with 1983sThe Keep, which was his second film afterThief.
WhileTheKeepis a definite departure in terms of genre for Mann, its still recognisably his.
Theres no overlooking how odd it is either.
The narrative is disjointed, the monster is distractingly cheesy and it doesnt make a lick of sense.
This is partly down to the studio taking it away from Mann and cutting it to the bone.
It must suck, right?
Lets start with our hero.
Once he senses Molesar has awakened he travels to the keep to destroy him once and for all.
In his mind, its essentially a suicide mission, since they are so closely tied together.
If one goes, so does the other.
In the movie they meet and within minutes theres an awkward 1980s sex scene, which is quite jarring.
Mann planned to flesh out this subplot, but most of these scenes were removed.
Molesar got a heck of a reinvention.
Which isnt to say hes non-threatening; quite the opposite.
Hes a hateful creature who takes pleasure inflicting pain and terror; he literally feeds off it.
He can even raise the dead to do his bidding.
Still, his look appears to have been an inspiration onThe Incredible Hulks Abomination and Oscar Isaacs Apocalypse.
The book also goes into detail about the crosses that cover the keep.
Theyre actually in the shape of a talisman, which is the handle of Glaekens weapon.
Which would be bad.
Even poor Alexandru the caretaker of the keep was shown being murdered by his sons during this sequence.
Molesar originally committed a few more onscreen murders following his release.
There also a crucial scene where he discovers Eva snooping in his room and discovering his mystical sword/raygun thingie.
This comes after the creature has wiped out the entire Nazi platoon, whose charred remains litter the scene.
The most significant lost scene is Manns original ending.
Like the book, Glaeken chases the creature through the crumbling keep and onto the roof.
Even if he was, apparently the footage needed to assemble one has been lost to time.
While the other deleted scenes are likely lost forever, this extended ending was restored in aTV viewing.
The fanbase aroundThe Keepseems to grown bigger every year.
The director himself wont be taking part of course, which is a shame.
Which isnt a bad legacy for a failure to have, really.
