The Keep

The Keep is a 1982 horror novel written by F. Paul Wilson. It concerns a group of German soldiers sent to guard a mountain pass in Romania, who accidentally unleash an ancient evil being from within the story's titular citadel. The SS are sent in but have little luck, and, ultimately, the Germans are forced to seek the help of a Jewish history professor, Theodore Cuza, who unsurprisingly ends up allying himself with the evil entity (who claims to be a vampire and identifies himself as Radu Molasar) because he sees him as a means of ridding the world of Nazism. In the meantime, a mysterious stranger (calling himself "Glenn") with some connection to the keep shows up, determined to interfere with whatever it is Molasar's got cooking. In the meantime he naturally falls for Prof. Cuza's hot daughter, Magda.

The Keep was adapted in a very, very strange and confusing but not entirely bad film the following year in 1983. It was directed by Michael Mann and was typical of Mann's directorial style. It featured an impressive cast and some good special effects, but studio-enforced editing gutted the film and the untimely death of special effects supervisor Wally Veevers necessitated a completely different ending. The Keep bombed, and bombed hard. Nevertheless, it has gained a cult following in the ensuing years, thanks mostly to its soundtrack, but also due to its interpretation of Molasar, as well as the rare mix of Gothic Horror with World War Two.

This film contains examples of:
"Woermann: [after being accused of incompetence] My competence was proven in combat, against soldiers who shoot back!"
 * All Germans Are Nazis: Subverted in a big way in the character of Klaus Woermann, especially in the film version. He aims to have good relations with the Romanian civilians, and looks down his nose at the SS.


 * And I Must Scream: The book implies that this is the fate of Creepy...
 * Badass Decay: A bit of a tossup.
 * Body Horror: In the movie, Molasar's victims are either  or   after encountering him.
 * Canon Foreigner: Father Fonescu in the movie.
 * Death by Adaptation:, at least in the theatrical cut with the truncated Downer Ending.
 * Simultaneously averted in that the scene where Alexandru (who otherwise just sort of disappears from the story) is murdered by his own sons was cut.
 * Dracula: Subverted, as Molasar claims he'd merely worked for the historical Dracula.
 * Enemy of My Enemy: Molasar convinces Prof. Cuza they have a common enemy. That, or Cuza just assumes it and Molasar plays along to gain his trust.
 * Executive Meddling: The studio supposedly ordered quite a bit of scenes cut and re-edited, resulting in the film being a confusing mishmash of nonsense. The ending in particular was changed at least twice (the first time was due to Wally Veevers dying during production). The reshot ending had.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!:
 * Emmit from Silverado as Glaeken.
 * Gandalf as Prof. Cuza.
 * Bib Fortuna as Radu Molasar (although you'd never recognize him)
 * Dean Keaton as Kaempffer
 * General Radek as Woermann.
 * Dietrich as one of the SS troopers.
 * Jack Crawford As Glaeken.
 * Mook Horror Show: First the German soldiers experience this, and it's possible to feel sorry for them as Molasar devours his way through their ranks, seeing as there is effort put into making them seem human. Then the Schutzstaffel Einsatzkommandos are brought in, and it's difficult not to cheer for the monster.
 * Night of the Living Mooks: In the book.
 * Our Angels Are Different: What Glaeken can seem like if one has only watched the film.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Debatable in the novel that . In the film however.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * Sdrawkcab Name:
 * Shout-Out: The books found inside the keep's walls are standard occult reference-works of the Cthulhu Mythos.
 * Spared by the Adaptation:
 * Too Dumb to Live: Lutz.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: Radu Molasar.
 * Those Wacky Nazis: Kaempffer and his SS bully boys.
 * You!: Done by Molasar in reaction to.
 * Your Head Asplode: One of the SS troopers who has this done to him by Molasar.