movie "Below" and its distant cousin "the keep"

[GoldenRivet]

the film "Below" is a better ghost story than it is a WW2 sub film, but it is a WW2 sub film still.

for those familiar with Below... read on

for those few who are unfamiliar here is the plot:

Just days after sinking a German Submarine Tender, an American Sub is rerouted to pick up survivors who were spotted in a raft. The survivors turn out to be the only people who escaped the sinking of a British hospital ship that was attacked by a "u-boat" just a few nights before. Upon their joining the submarine's crew, strange things begin to happen, the crew is on edge and sabotage is suspected. Eventually, it is revealed that the captain of the sub died in mysterious circumstances while he and the officers investigated the burning wreckage on the night they sunk the sub tender. The crew now believes that the captain's ghost wants his submarine back and when odd occurrences and strange coincidences add up to a runaway submarine, they will do anything to escape the haunted boat.

one of the movie recommendations under "similarly themed movies" was a film staring Jurgen Prochnow called "the keep"

the one liner plot synopsis of The Keep was:

"when german troops occupy an old romanian fortress during the second world war, mysterious murders blamed on an evil supernatural force begin to occur."

has anyone seen the keep?

reviews? info?

thanks

[krashkart]

I was thinking about that film earlier while replying to another thread. I remember seeing an Entertainment Tonight spot years ago regarding the lasers and eye contacts they were using in the movie. Never did get to watch the movie, though. My parents would have crapped a short ton.

[GoldenRivet]

Looks like The Keep is available for instant play on Netflix on the Wii.

think i'll kill a couple of late night hours

[krashkart]

Awesome! I'll watch it on the box here when Chirstmas rolls around.

[GoldenRivet]

Interesting, The Keep features Jurgen Prochnow and Scott Glenn.

Prochnow as everyone knows played the role of a sub commander in "Das Boot"

Glenn played the role of the commander of USS Dallas in "The Hunt for Red October".

[GoldenRivet]

The keep also stars Ian McKellen who plays the role of a Jewish concentration camp prisoner.

In x-men he plays the role of magneto, who in that film spent a portion of his childhood in a Jewish concentration camp.

[GoldenRivet]

Aside from some interesting trivia and a look back at the early days of some well known actors, "The Keep" really has very little to offer. The entire film has a slow pace, a "b movie" feel and seems to end right in the middle of the climactic scene.

Unless you're just morbidly curious, avoid this one.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

I saw The Keep. I liked it. The End.

[frau kaleun]

"The Keep" is one I would like to see if only because Prochnow's in it. Last time I checked it had never been released on DVD/BluRay and it didn't show up in a Netflix search. If I can stream it from them now I may have a look at it.

The book "The Keep" was good.
The movie was a HUGE let down.


Given the choice of watching the movie again,
or walking 5 miles in a snow storm?
I'd have to think hard about which I'd rather do.

[Onkel Neal]

Yeah, I happened to post about Below a while back here.

The only good thing about Below was the really authentic looking fleet boat set. The story was forgettable. Too bad Hollywood won't make a decent, historically-themed US sub movie using that set.

The Keep was a good film, but a better book. I enjoyed other F. Paul Wilson novels such as The Touch and some of the Repairrman Jack stories, but have not read much of him since the middle '80s.

[MaddogK]

I finally saw Below earlier this week but missed the first 10 minutes or so and was rather confused about the plot. From what I gathered the American sub mistakenly sank a british hospital ship instead of a German sub tender, then the Capt fell overboard during a scuffle with the crew who refused to strafe the survivors the Capt. wanted shot.

...so why was on of the three rescued survivors a German ?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by MaddogK

I finally saw Below earlier this week but missed the first 10 minutes or so and was rather confused about the plot. From what I gathered the American sub mistakenly sank a british hospital ship instead of a German sub tender, then the Capt fell overboard during a scuffle with the crew who refused to strafe the survivors the Capt. wanted shot.

...so why was on of the three rescued survivors a German ?

Just in case: ***SPOILERS!***

IIRC the captain did not want the survivors of the hospital ship killed in the water - it was the other officers, primarily the XO (who was in command of the ship for the rest of the story) who had misidentified the ship in the first place. The captain wanted to rescue the survivors but the other officers on deck didn't want the incident on their records and whomped the captain on the head and he fell overboard and they left him for dead (if he wasn't already).

So if you buy the idea that the boat was haunted, it could've been the captain's ghost that kept driving them back towards the scene of the crime by whatever means possible. Either way it also explains the reactions of the men who knew what had really happened and progressively got more and more freaked out as the story went on - they had reason to feel guilty and to believe that a "vengeful spirit" was at work somehow.

The German was a patient on board the hospital ship - I think he was someone that they picked up from a plane that was shot down? I can't remember exactly. But he was an injured POW that they had on board.

[GoldenRivet]

@ Maddogk: the German POW was rescued because they thought him to be British, and only later discovered he was German because an article of his clothing was made in Berlin. The nurse got him rescued because she "wanted to save at least one of her patients." she told the German not to speak, so he didnt.

@ Neal: the set looked authentic alright... the movie was filmed aboard the USS Silversides in Muskegon, Michigan.

on The Keep: The film was a major let down, and the best acting by a long shot was from Jurgen Prochnow who probably should have been given a better role in another movie. He was fresh off the set of Das Boot the prior year, and his performance as a common German Officer who wanted to serve his country yet was also resistant to the NAZI ideology came through perfectly.

Him being billed as a major player in the film is the chief reason i watched it in the first place.

it goes to show that even some first rate actors cannot save a poorly conceived film. Even the writer of The Keep called it a disaster.

The Keep features a couple of top names - who would go on to experience a lot of success.

Ian McKellen being one of them - even this legendary actor is "out acted" in this film by Prochnow. I found Ian's performance to be bland, and in some places overdone. Watching Ian in this movie was less like watching a professional actor and more like watching a decent kid in a high school play.

[jumpy]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

the film "Below"

one of the movie recommendations under "similarly themed movies" was a film staring Jurgen Prochnow called "the keep"

Below was a good film imo, good atmosphere without being graphic or getting wrapped up in historical stuff. Worth watching for being a little different.

The Keep, the film wasn't so great, was a little farcical in its way, but was ok. Notable is the uber badguy nazi demanding of 'the ultimate evil' "who/what are you?" to which the reply is "...I am you" or words to that effect.
At the time I saw it I was not quite a teenager, so it was a little freaky. The book was way better, however.