[roddglenn]

Originally Posted by The Ace

Can't remember the author now, but a horror novel called, 'The Keep.'

It ran on the premise that the vampire legends of Eastern Europe had a basis in fact, an immortal monster who could take human form, cast no reflections and turned his victims (in this case a squad of Nazi soldiers) into zombies.

Although largely well-made, the film missed many of the more subtle moments (Like the jewish professor showing a crucifix to the monster who pretends to be terrified and provoking a crisis of faith.)

The big disappointment, though, was the ending, with the monster's nemesis, 'The red-haired Man,' finding love and redemption, a message giving as much hope for the future as the monster's destruction and the surviving nazis departing for Barbarossa.

The ending was changed (perhaps to leave room for a sequel ) in a way that left me profoundly unsatisfied.

I thought the film of The Keep utterly sucked in comparison to the book. In addition to what you've already mentioned, the film totally washed over the struggle between the German Army Commander and the SS Commander sent to crush the localised rebellion which they blame for all the mysterious deaths. The film also lost all of the suspense felt by the reader in the first half of the book where German soldiers are getting picked off one by one. I was thoroughly disappointed with it and had been so looking forward to it with being such a fan of the book.