50 greatest World War II movies no 49. The Keep (1983)
Directed by Michael Mann
German soldiers wake an ageless evil in a crumbling Carpathian castle.
The joker in the WWII movie pack, at least until ‘Inglourious Basterds’ hove into view, was this utterly bizarre cod-spiritualist dark castle chiller from a pre-‘Miami Vice’ Michael Mann. The mist-shrouded opening sequences, as Jurgen Prochnow’s dead-meat Nazi platoon occupy the titular fortress, rumoured to be stalked by evil spirits, are breathtaking, Mann’s superb eye for visual detail fusing with some spectacular design work to create a real atmosphere of impending dread. But it all begins to fall apart with the introduction of Scott Glenn’s Jewish translator (it doesn’t help that he’s saddled with the name Glaeken Trismegestus), who has some mysterious connection to the old castle. The film was drastically cut and limped out to a disinterested public, but it’s unashamed weirdness and wondrous sets have helped to build a pretty solid fanbase since. Director’s cut, please!
Director Michael Mann's brooding style is perfectly suited to conjure a tightening atmosphere of floating terror in this unhinged allegory of Hitler's rise involving Yankee ghost-busters, Nazi officers and an evil force in a Romanian castle
