PLOT: Nazis turn to a Jewish historian to try to stop a supernatural force that has been unleashed within a Romanian keep as an ancient warrior closes in on the keep where he trapped an evil force a long time ago.

ANALYSIS:
THE KEEP has been this unattainable movie on physical media for the longest time. It had never been available on DVD (except for one lone Australia release), blu-ray, or 4K UHD until now. It has been available to watch on streaming via various streaming platforms including occasionally being available on Pluto TV. I first saw a slightly longer cut of THE KEEP on TV back in the 1990s and it had an alternate ending (which was the director's preferred ending and closer to the novel's ending), but I was disappointed that the ending I saw wasn't on the VHS when I rented it. Over the years, I heard of the troubled production history of THE KEEP from the original VFX supervisor dying early into post-production, the movie not testing well, and Paramount kept cutting it down to the point that director Michael Mann has disowned his imperfect and unfinished moodscape horror movie. THE KEEP started with a cut rumored to be over three hours where Michael Mann cut it down to two hours, and Paramount taking it out of his hands after bad test screening reactions to be cut down to 96 minutes. Some cut footage and alternate endings would show up in various TV cuts, but sadly Paramount Pictures didn't allow the deleted scenes and alternate endings to be included or vinegar Syndrome wasn't able to clear it (for some other reason) as they state before the movie plays on the disc.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio commentary with film historian Matthew Aspery Gear

On the blu-ray are a few interviews, a still gallery, and the original theatrical trailer



OUT OF THE DARKNESS- interview with producer Gene Kirkwood

SOMETHING IS MURDERING MY MEN- a candid interview with author F. Paul Wilson as he talks about his early career as an author, writing THE KEEP novel, and his thoughts on the movie
WHAT HE LEFT UNFINISHED- interview with VFX producer Peter Kuran as he talks about the visual effects and the VFX left unfinished when the VFX guy who knew what was to be done died early in post-production

AN EVIL MOST ANCIENT- interview with make-up effects designer Nick Maley

OTHER SOUNDS FOR OTHER WORLDS- an interview with co-composer Johannes Schomelling, one of the members of Tangerine Dream, as he talks about Tangerine Dream doing music for movies and how there is no final official score for THE KEEP.

Also included in the package is a booklet with two essays and an archival interview with director Michael Mann from Film Comment in 1983, a hard case sleeve, and a slip cover.

FINAL ANALYSIS: I am happy THE KEEP did get a blu-ray (BD-50) and 4K release (BD-66), but clearance reasons and maybe even legal reasons prevented any of the deleted scenes and alternate endings being included or a retrospective documentary to be made about the messy production history of THE KEEP. I do hold out a small hope that maybe some or all of the stuff left out will be addressed with Imprint Film's upcoming 4K release of THE KEEP because I do want to at least see the alternate endings that were included in TV cuts years ago (and are only available on YouTube at this time).

This review is ©1-11-2025 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com