History Film / TheKeep

* PapaWolf: Molasar manages to convinced Cuza that he is this to the Romanian Jews. He makes a big show of acting outraged when told that "his people" are being murdered, and bows to take vengeance against "[[ThoseWackyNazis the soldiers in black]]." [[spoiler:It's all just a lie to get the Jewish Cuza to cooperate with him, and the desperate scientist swallows it hook, line and sinker.]]

* PapWolf: Molasar manages to convinced Cuza that he is this to the Romanian Jews. He makes a big show of acting outraged when told that "his people" are being murdered, and bows to take vengeance against "[[ThoseWackyNazis the soldiers in black]]." [[spoiler:It's all just a lie to get the Jewish Cuza to cooperate with him, and the desperate scientist swallows it hook, line and sinker.]]

* PurpleEyes: Glaeken has purple eyes.

* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: A subtle variation involving Glaeken. [[spoiler:As part of his obviously otherwordly nature, he casts no reflection.]]

* SealedEvilInACan: Radu Molasar.

''The Keep'' is a 1983 horror film based on the first novel in Literature/TheAdversaryCycle by F. Paul Wilson. It concerns a group of German soldiers sent to guard a mountain pass in Romania, who accidentally unleash an [[EldritchAbomination ancient evil]] being from within the story's titular citadel. The dreaded [[EliteMooks SS Einsatzkommando]] 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 because he sees him as a means of [[EnemyOfMyEnemy ridding the world of Nazism]]. In the meantime, a mysterious stranger 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, Eva.

* YourHeadASplode: The two Einsatzkommandos who try to rape Eva have this done to them by Molasar.

* BadAssDecay: A bit of a tossup. In the novel [[SociopathicHero Glaeken]] murders a boat captain who betrays him and also kills two Romanian soldiers, but doesn't fight back against the Einsatzkommando and gets taken out like a punk. In the film, the captain never betrays him and he merely bullies his way past the Romanians, but the movie makes up for this by letting him [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome openly resist the Einsatzkommando in a big way]] and kill one of them.

''The Keep'' is a very strange and confusing - but not entirely bad - film. 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 [[ExecutiveMeddling 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 [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome soundtrack]], but also due to its interpretation of [[EvilIsCool Molasar]], as well as the rare mix of GothicHorror with WorldWarTwo.

''The Keep'' is a 1983 horror film based on the first novel in the Literature/TheAdversaryCycle by F. Paul Wilson. It concerns a group of German soldiers sent to guard a mountain pass in Romania, who accidentally unleash an [[EldritchAbomination ancient evil]] being from within the story's titular citadel. The dreaded [[EliteMooks SS Einsatzkommando]] 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 because he sees him as a means of [[EnemyOfMyEnemy ridding the world of Nazism]]. In the meantime, a mysterious stranger 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, Eva.

''The Keep'' is a 1983 horror film based on the first novel in the Literature/AdversaryCycle by F. Paul Wilson. It concerns a group of German soldiers sent to guard a mountain pass in Romania, who accidentally unleash an [[EldritchAbomination ancient evil]] being from within the story's titular citadel. The dreaded [[EliteMooks SS Einsatzkommando]] 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 because he sees him as a means of [[EnemyOfMyEnemy ridding the world of Nazism]]. In the meantime, a mysterious stranger 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, Eva.

* YourHeadASplode: One of the Einsatzkommando who tries to rape Eva has this done to him by Molasar.

* AllGermansAreNazis: Subverted in a big way in the character of Klaus Woermann, who initially appears to be a stereotypical Nazi in his first scene, calling the Germans "masters of the world." However, he aims to have good relations with the Romanian civilians, and looks down his nose at the SS.

* AllGermansAreNazis: Subverted in a big way in the character of Klaus Woermann. He aims to have good relations with the Romanian civilians, and looks down his nose at the SS.

* RailingKill: Done to one of the Einsatzkommando by Glaeken in the film, in gloriously silly slo-mo.

''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 [[EldritchAbomination ancient evil]] being from within the story's titular citadel. The dreaded [[EliteMooks SS Einsatzkommando]] 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 [[EnemyOfMyEnemy 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 [[ExecutiveMeddling 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 [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome soundtrack]], but also due to its interpretation of [[EvilIsCool Molasar]], as well as the rare mix of GothicHorror with WorldWarTwo.

* AllGermansAreNazis: 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.

* AndIMustScream: The book implies that this is the fate of [[spoiler:Molasar's victims. He can control the bodies of those he kills, and we see that Woermann is still conscious and thinking after being killed by Molasar. Woermann even frantically tries to do something, anything, to stop the way Molasar is using him but is helpless to so. So when Molasar goes all NightOfTheLivingMooks toward the end of the book, (see below) there's a chance that every single dead soldier was desperately trying to resist being forced to kill their friends and fellow soldiers and were completely unable to stop what they saw themselves doing.]] ''Creepy...''

* BodyHorror: In the movie, Molasar's victims are either disintegrated entirely or left burned and charred after encountering him.
* CanonForeigner: Father Fonescu in the movie.

* {{Dracula}}: Subverted, as Molasar claims he'd merely ''worked'' for the historical Dracula. [[spoiler: And he's lying about that.]]

* AFatherToHisMen: Woermann seems to be this, since he tells his men exactly what they want to hear (for example, when his second in command laments that they should be Russia for the final assault on Moscow, Woermann tells him that by the time he puts n for a transfer, they'll be Masters of the World) but he doesn't really believe in the party rhetoric, is anti-Fascist, and hates the S.S. He still does his job anyway.

* NightOfTheLivingMooks: In the book [[spoiler:Molasar controls the corpses of the dead soldiers, and at one point uses them to slaughter all of the Germans still alive in The Keep]].
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: What Glaeken can seem like if one has only watched the film.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Debatable in the novel that [[spoiler:Molasar/Rasalom isn't even a vampire]]. In the film however [[spoiler:he can be argued to be a vampire, albeit one that sucks life directly rather than blood. Also in both versions, crosses don't work on him (see CrowningMomentOfFunny)]].

* SdrawkcabName: [[spoiler:In the novel, Molasar's surname is actually "Rasalom" backwards. Again, no word on whether this also applies to his given first name, Radu, in which case his ''really'' real name would be "Udar Rasalom."]]
* ShoutOut: The books found inside the keep's walls are [[TomeOfEldritchLore standard occult reference-works]] of the CthulhuMythos.

* SealedEvilInACan: Radu Molasar ([[spoiler: Rasalom]]).

* ExecutiveMeddling: 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 [[spoiler:Glaeken surviving his battle with Molasar and being found alive by Eva... but for some unfathomable reason this was deleted and the film's third ending has the hero presumed dead]].
* HeyItsThatGuy:
** Emmit from ''{{Silverado}}'' as Glaeken.
** [[LordOfTheRings Gandalf]] as Prof. Cuza.
** [[ReturnOfTheJedi Bib Fortuna]] as Radu Molasar (although you'd never recognize him)
** [[TheUsualSuspects Dean Keaton]] as Kaempffer
** [[AirForceOne General Radek]] as Woermann.
** [[IndianaJones Dietrich]] as one of the Einsatzkommando.
** [[TheSilenceOfTheLambs Jack Crawford]] as Glaeken.

''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 [[EldritchAbomination 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 [[EnemyOfMyEnemy 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.

* BadAssDecay: A bit of a tossup. [[spoiler: In the novel [[SociopathicHero Glaeken]] murders a boat captain who betrays him and also kills two Romanian soldiers, but doesn't fight back against the SS and gets taken out like a punk. In the film, the captain never betrays him and he merely bullies his way past the Romanians, but the movie makes up for this by letting him [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome openly resist the SS in a big way]] and kill one of them.]]
* BodyHorror: In the movie, Molasar's victims are either [[spoiler: disintegrated entirely]] or [[spoiler: left burned and charred]] after encountering him.

* EnemyOfMyEnemy: Molasar convinces Prof. Cuza they [[ThoseWackyNazis have a common enemy]]. That, or Cuza just assumes it and Molasar plays along to gain his trust. [[spoiler:In either case he's lying outright and is worse than the Nazis.]]

** [[IndianaJones Dietrich]] as one of the SS troopers.
** [[TheSilenceOfTheLambs Jack Crawford]] As Glaeken.
* MookHorrorShow: 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 [[SociopathicSoldier Schutzstaffel Einsatzkommandos]] are brought in, and it's difficult not to cheer for the monster.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:It's heavily implied Cuza dies in the novel, but the movie lets him survive, albeit returned to his aged, decrepit state. Similarly, in the novel Glaeken kills the two Romanian border guards but in the movie he just intimidates them into getting out of his way.]]

* YourHeadASplode: One of the SS troopers who [[spoiler:tries to rape Eva]] has this done to him by Molasar.

* BadAssDecay: A bit of a tossup. [[spoiler: In the novel [[HeroicSociopath Glaeken]] murders a boat captain who betrays him and also kills two Romanian soldiers, but doesn't fight back against the SS and gets taken out like a punk. In the film, the captain never betrays him and he merely bullies his way past the Romanians, but the movie makes up for this by letting him [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome openly resist the SS in a big way]] and kill one of them.]]

* EnemyOfMyEnemy: Molasar convinces Prof. Cuza they [[ThoseWackyNazis have a common enemy]]. That, or Cuza just assumes it and Molasar plays along to gain his trust. [[spoiler:In either case he's lying outright and is [[CompleteMonster worse than the Nazis]].]]

* MookHorrorShow: 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 [[SociopathicSoldier Schutzstaffel]] [[CompleteMonster Einsatzkommandos]] are brought in, and it's difficult not to cheer for the monster.

* BadAssDecay: A bit of a tossup. [[spoiler: In the novel [[HeroicSociopath Glaeken]] murders a boat captain who betrays him and also kills two Romanian soldiers, but doesn't fight back against the SS and gets taken out like a punk ([[IGotBetter he got better]] though). In the film, the captain never betrays him and he merely bullies his way past the Romanians, but the movie makes up for this by letting him [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome openly resist the SS in a big way]] and kill one of them.]]