The Keep is a simple good-vs-evil tale with ups and downs along the way. What's more interesting is the making of the film itself. While Michael Mann is an individual of amazing talent, he was hobbled by intense studio interference. The first cut of the film was a whopping 210 minutes long (3 ½ hours)!. Discover reviews, ratings, and trailers for The Keep on Rotten Tomatoes. Stay updated with critic and audience scores today!
The Keep was released theatrically in Dolby Stereo, and this is the original four-channel mix matrix encoded into two. That's for good and for ill, because the theatrical mix was hastily produced, and as Vinegar Syndrome notes in an opening title card, "certain mix-related issues are inherent in the source and cannot be improved.". Under the floodlit mist of The Keep, you can see the outline of the film it might have been - the one Michael Mann shot before Paramount cut it to ribbons - but you have to squint past the gaps. What's left is a jagged 96-minute relic carved out of a 210-minute Gothic war-fantasy, a film that's atmosphere heart is in the right place but is missing the narrative arteries to deliver the.