BAMcinématek Presents: The Keep

Part of the BAMcinématek series Tangerine Dreams


Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 4:30, 9:30pm

Directed by Michael Mann
With Scott Glenn, Alberta Watson, Jürgen Prochnow, Gabriel Byrne, Ian McKellan

(1983) 96min, 35mm

Mann’s bold fusion of World War II melodrama and gothic horror concerns an implacable Nazi officer (Prochnow) whose occupation of a remote Transylvanian castle stirs up a long-dormant Lovecraftian demon. If the Tangerine Dream sound is “like silt seeping on the ocean floor” (as Lester Bangs put it in a 1977 concert review), then The Keep is the essential Tangerine Dream showcase, a film that seemed to coalesce just so Edgar Froese and company could creep through stone corridors for two hours. A murky but enormously evocative film maudit with multiple alternate endings (available on YouTube), The Keep was semi-disowned by its director and remains unreleased on DVD or Blu-ray; in other words, it’s a certifiable cult item with a growing reputation, and its inky blacks are a must-see on 35mm.