The Keep

Last night I watched the first episode of the 1982 TV adaptation of Smiley's People on DVD, based on the novel by John le Carre. It's a sequel to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, although the book it was based on was the third volume in a trilogy of which Tinker Tailor was the first. The second book, The Honourable Schoolboy, was not adapted for TV mainly because most of the book is set in East Asia and it was considered too expensive to film there at the time, and also because the series' lead character, George Smiley (played by Alec Guinness in the TV versions) had a much less central role. In Smiley's People, a defected Soviet general has important information for Smiley but, on his way, the general is murdered and the information stolen. Against the orders of his superiors, Smiley is determined to investigate. The book was very good and the series is shaping up to be good.

Later on I watched a 1983 movie on TV called The Keep, directed by Michael Mann, and based on a novel by F. Paul Wilson. The film is set in Romania, in 1941, where a platoon of German soliders make camp in the keep of an ancient castle above a small village however, before long, the soldiers accidentally release a powerful supernatural force that starts killing them off one by one. The film is one of those movies that feels really bad when you're watching it, but there is something about it that lingers in the mind afterwards. It's very much a product of it's time full of billowing dry ice, slow-motion, laser beam effects and a synthesiser score from Tangerine Dream. The movie is definitely over-stylised and does suffer from indifferent special effects, including a central monster that looks line a plastic skull with a big red lightbulb inside it. It was a huge commercial failure when it was first released but it has since become a real cult film.

I didn't have chance to have much breakfast today except for some coffee and an apple. Work was really dull today and the day just completely dragged, which it usually does. I was very happy to get back home. I did mange to walk to and from work today though. I have been thinking of what I'll be doing for this year's NaNoWriMo, and I am thinking of doing a vampire story.