Michael Mann Only Made One Horror Movie — The Legendarily Cursed Production May Be the Reason Why

Nobody puts together an action sequence like Michael Mann, the visionary director behind Heat, Thief, and Miami Vice. But early on in his career, Mann waded into the field of horror filmmaking, and the results were not as precise as the clockwork-like functional qualities of his crime masterworks.

The Keep was Mann’s second feature, released two years after Thief. The film starred Scott Glenn as a mysterious, otherworldly man with insights to mythological forces, and Ian McKellen as a Jewish scholar whose stories intersect at an abandoned structure in Romania which holds within it an ancient evil that Nazi soldiers want to investigate. With an intriguing premise and a promising filmmaker at the helm, The Keep could have turned out great, but a myriad of production issues turned it into a confounding final product.

Michael Mann’s Most Ambitious Movie Suffered Major Production Issues

The ancient force, Molasar, seen in his final form, with glowing red eyes, in Michael Mann's 'The Keep' — Image via Paramount Pictures

The production of The Keep first ran into troubles when Mann and the crew were unable to arrive at a conclusion as to what Molasar, the supernatural being held within the Keep, would look like, as well as how the fantasy battle sequences would shape up. They went through many ideas, but ultimately pushed off many of the higher-concept, special effects things to be addressed after filming the rest of the movie. This turned into a major issue when the film’s visual effects supervisor, Wally Veevers (Rocky Horror Picture Show), suddenly passed away just weeks into post-production.

Mann had intentions for a spectacle-driven final fight between Glenn’s character and Molasar, which was scrapped for a much less exciting sequence involving some lackluster light-beam effects being shot back and forth. The film’s story also presents many opportunities for exciting death scenes that are instead mostly off-screen. It may not be clear what exactly was lost, but it is obvious that Molasar’s entire presence in the story was severely impacted by the lack of visual effects resources or planning.

When the film was finished– as finished as it could be given the circumstances– Mann ran into more problems with the test screenings. Paramount initially requested a clean, two-hour cut of the film, which was shorter than Mann intended. But that one did not test well, and an additional thirty minutes were taken out, ending with a 96-minute runtime, including credits.

After the movie was finally scraped together, it was cut to pieces. And this would prove a misstep, as The Keep still failed to connect with critics or audiences. It was a box office failure, a critical dud, and quickly fell into obscurity. Only through Mann’s strengths as a craftsman and acclaimed director has The Keep maintained any relevance, and as more of his films join the cult-cannon of misunderstood, ahead-of-their-time masterpieces, even The Keep is enjoying a slight reappraisal.

‘The Keep’ is Michael Mann’s Most Heightened Film, for Better or Worse

The Keep is kind of a mess, but the film’s striking, cinematic atmosphere makes it abundantly clear that Mann could make a masterful horror film under the right circumstances. Unfortunately, production woes and the disastrous manner in which the film was cut together have left us with this fascinating barrage of sights and sounds far better than the story they accompany. The movie is surprisingly watchable, but its flaws are undeniable.

Despite The Keep‘s difficult production and unremarkable reception, the film has developed a slight following among fans. So much so that boutique label Vinegar Syndrome announced a restoration with a stunning 4K box set in late 2024. The film now exists in what will likely be its most complete and highest quality form, and it is a great artifact for fans of offbeat horror and Mann completionists.

As unfinished as it may be, The Keep has still seen a resurgence as a minor cult classic. Mann never made a genre film of this kind again, although his follow-up, Manhunter, is quite terrifying at times. Mann’s taste for crime stories and grounded realism has evolved over the decades, and fans and critics alike have taken to it strongly. The Keep is Mann’s most special-effects-heavy, fantastical, and surreal film, so it is worth a watch just for the novel experience of seeing the mind behind Heat make a completely different type of film. But it is also a stark and frustrating example of the messy and unexpected hiccups that can throw a film’s production into oblivion.