Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

billbink First, I will admit that it's patently obvious to anyone who has watched Michael Mann's other films that the studio totally butchered this movie. Mann had not yet achieved enough status to insist on final cut. This movie feels like it is missing about 30 minutes which is why many reviews point out how disjointed it is, especially the last 10-15 minutes or so. Mann has disowned the film, and I am sure it's because the version he FILMED is nothing like what was theatrically released.What makes The Keep so special is not just the originality of the story line or the performances by the principals, esp. Ian McKellen, Jurgen Prochnow or Gabriel Byrne, but more than anything else, the fusion of cinematography with music, done by Tangerine Dream, and this is actually a better score than they gave Mann for Thief, as hard as that might be to believe.I know the author of the book the film is based on (who once emailed me personally after seeing a post of mine on alt.rec.arts.movies many years ago) hates this film due to the substantial changes Mann made to the story line, but that aside, this is a brilliant film which creates an atmosphere of dread and fear which far surpasses many more typical genre films.It's a tragedy that due to several contractual issues The Keep will never ever get to DVD. Even in its obviously truncated (i.e. non-director's cut) version, it is still a masterful visual and musical fusion of horror and dread.

kurt wiley At times, THE KEEP is very atmospheric, foreboding and suspenseful, with solid acting by Ian McKellen and Jurgen Prochnow. Unfortunately, THE KEEP was a troubled production (its story should emerge in a KEEP documentary to be released in 2017). In short, weather conditions were difficult, Mann kept re-visualizing the film (especially its primary villain) during production, and worst of all, his head Effects expert, Wally Veevers, died during early post-production, leaving a number of key effect scenes unfinished. Paramount then refused further production monies, time for proper sound mixing, and edited the rough film's 210 minutes down to a "theater-friendly" 96 minutes, resulting in numerous plot holes. Paramount's brief theater release was followed by home video on VHS, but in part due to rights issues over the music (a moody yet haunting score by Tangerine Dream) has kept THE KEEP from an official Paramount DVD release. In recent interviews (also part of the upcoming documentary), Michael Mann showed little interest in revitalizing this film.

clanciai Pity about a great and interesting story, which could have been handled better. Jurgen Prochnow and Gabriel Byrne as the two German officers of different minds are outstanding and make this film worth watching carefully, but the drama is damaged by the overstressed technical details, which in the 80s could not be made convincing enough to be worth exaggerating. The story of Ian McKellen and his daughter is fascinating enough and almost credible, if the demon did not have to much say in it. Scott Glenn also makes an intriguing figure adding to the character of the film as something of a mystery play, and no drama could be more dramatic than when almost all the protagonists die in the process. The music plays a special part in augmenting and stressing the drama and tensions and is highly efficient in illustrating the supernatural and demonic element. The fact that this Carpathian drama occurs exactly at the crucial turning point of the war, and that the Germans release the demon just in time to make him turn against them, is an intriguing part of the plot. Yes, it is indeed a film worth seeing and thinking about, but you don't need to see it twice.

chaveloman This movie was quite possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen in my lifetime. The beginning scene takes way too long to get into. It seems like it was added only to bring suspense to the film but it failed to do even that. The music wasn't suspenseful even in the slightest and the shot of the German commander smoking his cigarette served no purpose to the story. The first few minutes watching it made me think "oh my god I have to push myself through this for film class?" The story itself also wasn't grabbing to the viewer, why would keep yourself and your men in the keep if you're all dying? Also the movie graphics where just the worst, even for that time. Molsar looked like they recycled the figurine of Godzilla, put Christmas lights in it, and added wheels, there was no effort to make the creatures realistic in anyway shape or form. I'd give this a double thumbs down, triple if I had another set of fingers. It's no wonder this movie lost 50% of what was invested into it.