Michael Mann’s THE KEEP at Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema

Michael Mann’s little-scene film, The Keep (1983), was much-maligned when it opened on Friday, December 16^th, 1983.  At 97 minutes, it was dismissed as a cursory telling of F. Paul Wilson’s mammoth 1981 novel of the same name.  Since then, it has acquired somewhat of a cult following, and even received a letterboxed laserdisc release from Pioneer LDCA in 1993.  Still not available on DVD or Blu-ray, the film is also a showcase for the moody score by Tangerine Dream.

The Keep will be screened in a rare 35mm presentation on Friday, January 13^th and Saturday, January 14^th, just after midnight at Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema.  From the press release:

Before his mainstream success with Miami Vice, Heat, The Insider, and Ali, director Michael Mann explored the horror genre in the early 80s with his film adaptation of F. Paul Wilson’s vampire fantasy novel set in the latter days of WWII called The Keep. The story depicts the German army’s unfortunate intersection with an epic battle between supernatural beings in a remote mountain castle in Romania. A group of Nazis led by Jürgen Prochnow is forced to join forces with an ailing Jewish historian (Ian McKellen) to prevent an ancient demon from returning to the mortal realm all taking place in a wonderfully creepy atmosphere. Mann in adapting the book created one of the best horror films of the decade, a piece almost entirely reliant on mood vs. conventional storytelling. With a cast featuring Scott Glenn, Gabriel Byrne, and a mesmerizing score from Tangerine Dream, The Keep stands as a significant achievement for its era and, with its hallucinatory imagery, it maintains a timeless quality.

Part of Nitehawk’s January BECAUSE I’M EVIL midnight series.

Click here for more information, such as tickets and location.