The Keep

Screened on 4K Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray

There were definitely some cool visuals in Michael Mann's 1983 film The Keep which completely spoke to me. Dark yet bright 80s aesthetics are the sweet spot for me, and were my main inspiration for checking this one out finally. It delivered in that regard, and overall the cinematography I thought was quite good and rather lovely. Michael Mann has a cool, slick sensibility to his directing overall, and that was present here.

I also felt the overall idea and story were quite promising. Basically an entity in an old keep is released by a couple doofus Nazi soliders in World War II-era Romania, which of course means there is hell to pay. The problem here is despite the visual elements, this overall is rather sleepy and boring. I blame it on the cast. Good actors, but together, Gabriel Byrne, Jurgen Prochnow, Ian McKellan and Scott Glenn, it just added up to something that didn't keep attentive or even intrigued really.