The prized possession in my video collection is my copy of 'The Keep' . For those as yet unaware of the treat awaiting them, The Keep portrays a time worn castle in hallowed Eastern Europe captured by German SS forces during World War II. The brutality and greed of the German occupying forcesAs a movie it has the ability to transcend its populist graphic imagery with an undercurrent of empathy that allowed me to identify with the evil occupant of the
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Full Synopsis:
World War II, 1942, Romania. German soldiers led by Captain Klaus
Woermann [Jurgen Prochnow] have been ordered to guard a keep in the Dinu Pass in the
Carpathian Alps. There's talk that the 108 crosses imbedded in the stone
walls are made of silver, and some of the soldiers want it. Alone on watch
one night, two soldiers pry off one of the crosses, moving the stone in
the process. Thinking that there might be more treasure behind the stone,
one of the solders crawls inside. When his comrade pulls him back out, he
is minus his torso.
Far away in Greece, Glaeken Trismegistus [Scott Glenn] awakens to the knowledge
that the keep has been disturbed. He sets out immediately to journey to
the Dinu Pass.
Five German soldiers are dead. Woermann requests relocation but,
instead, he gets an SS force led by Major Kaempffer [Gabriel Byrne], whose first act after
arriving at the keep is to shoot three local Romanians as a lesson to
would-be partisans. His next act is to take five hostages and promise
that, for each additional German soldier killed, five hostages will be
executed.
Kaempffer's threat goes unheeded. Another German soldier is killed.
This time the killer leaves a message etched into the stone wall.
Kaempffer threatens Fr Forescu [Robert Prosky] with more executions if he does not
translate it, but Fr Forescu informs him that the writing is not
translatable, being neither in the Latin nor in the Cyrillic alphabets.
The only person who might be able to translate it, he advises, is Dr
Theodore Cuza [Ian McKellen], a Jewish professor of medieval history who is currently in
a 'resettlement camp.'
Kaempffer sends for Dr Cuza, who is confined to a wheelchair because
of scleroderma. When he arrives, accompanied by his daughter Eva [Alberta Watson], Cuza is
able to translate the writing to read 'I will be free' in an alphabet that
has been dead for 500 years. Kaempffer gives Cuza three days to find out
what is killing the German soldiers, then shows Cuza and his daughter to a
cold and drafty room. Eva pleads for wood for a fire, or else gangrene
will set in her father's fingers within an hour and he won't last
Kaempffer's three days. Woermann orders that wood be brought and promises
that, if Cuza can find out what's killing them, he'll try to get Cuza to
safety in Bucharest. Woermann doesn't believe it is partisan action but
something much more evil and conscienceless.
While fetching dinner for herself and her father, Eva is accosted by
two German soldiers who attempt to rape her. Suddenly, a white mist
appears, and the soldiers are exploded. Eva is gently carried back to her
father. Realizing that he has met the one killing the soldiers, Cuza tells
the creature to go away. Instead, it says, 'I need a collaborator' and
touches Cuza. Suddenly, Cuza looks 20 years younger and has the use of his
hands.
When Woermann finds the two dead soldiers, he sends Eva to stay in
the village, away from the keep and the soldiers. There, she meets Glaeken
Trismegistus. They are instantly attracted to each other, even though he
won't tell her why he is here.
Cuza continues to improve. Now he is walking, although he conceals
this fact from the Germans. The creature tells Cuza that he will exact
revenge on the 'men in black' and their leaders if Cuza will but help him
leave the keep. To get out, he needs a certain object, 'the origin of his
powers,' he says, to be carried from the keep and hidden so that no one
can find it. Will Cuza carry out this object for him? Cuza agrees.
Fr Forescu has secretly arranged to help Cuza and his daughter
escape, but Cuza refuses the help, thinking that what he has arranged with
the keep creature is of more benefit to the world than saving his life.
Cuza leaves the keep and goes to see his daughter in the village. There,
he is confronted by Glaeken, who tells him that the talisman that he is
being asked to carry from the keep is not the source of the creature's
power; rather, it is what holds him in the keep. To do the creature's
bidding would unleash upon the world a horror greater than that which the
world already is experiencing.
Cuza returns to the keep and informs Kaempffer of Glaeken's presence,
saying that he suspects him of being allied with those who pay the locals
to care for the keep. Kaempffer orders that Glaeken be brought to the
keep. As he is hauled away, Eva runs from the inn screaming. One of the
soldiers pushes her to the ground. Glaeken responds by tossing him over
the wall into the cavern below. In retaliation, the soldiers fire several
rounds of bullets into Glaeken, causing him to also fall into the cavern.
The creature's influence is increasing, moving from the keep into the
village. As if to prove to Cuza his intent to kill the Nazis, the creature
fries all the guards and their vehicles. With no one to stop him, Cuza is
free to find the talisman and carry it out of the keep. On his way out,
Cuza is stopped by Eva who begs him to return it. It belongs to Glaeken,
she says. But the creature, eager to be free, urges Cuza to kill her.
Cuza realizes that anything that could ask him to kill his own
daughter can't be trusted. 'Take it from me,' Cuza holds out the talisman
to the creature. 'If it's yours, surely you can take it from me.' The
creature cannot do as Cuza bids. Meanwhile, Glaeken has been climbing out
from the cavern. He retrieves the talisman and uses it to force the
creature back into the keep, imprisoning him once again. [Full synopsis added by bj_kuehl.]
