Castle Freak

Couple (Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton) moves into an old castle with their blind daughter (Jessica Dollarhide), but are plagued by weird noises, unexplained visitors, and a series of murders that are taking place in the castle. In order to clear his name of the killings, Combs sets out to find out what is lurking about the house. Scary, atmospheric thriller with some good death scenes and creative make-up is a welcomed comeback by horror director Stuart Gordan.

Unrated; Graphic Violence, Sexual Situations, Nudity, and Profanity.

I didn't have high expectations for this movie and it started off slow, but this turned into a pretty messed up movie. Not messed up in a Deliverance or Vulgar type of homosexual rape way but messed up as far as how the creature in the film is created, how come the creature is created, and how the creature kills others. Some pretty gory scenes featuring nudity with gore, dismemberment and mutilation for those who are into that sort of thing.

The movie had a low budget feel to it, which many horror/gore fans are into, but regardless, the creature looked pretty realistic and disfigured. My complaint with the creature is that when you are disfigured, handicapped and starved nearly to death, that would weaken you. It seemed to make this a superhuman disfigured person who can jump out of second story windows and still run to catch up to it's victim. He wouldn't be so quiet either, at least in his case.

It took nearly an hour for the movie to fully get going with the horror after the build up, but it turned into a pretty decent effort. I didn't even rent this movie, it came as a special feature to Deathbed on the DVD, and felt this movie was far better than the one they actually featured. I give this movie 7 of 10 stars.

I really didn't expect much when I picked this movie up, considering its pedigree (a Full Moon low-budget picture shot in Italy). What a pleasure then that this turned out much better than expected. Good use is made of the Italian locations, especially the castle, and Stuart Gordon uses many cool angles to keep things interesting. Reputation has him as an over-the-top-gore director, but this doesn't do him full justice. He is also good in building atmosphere, and this is "Castle Freak"'s biggest asset. The gore is relatively minimal, and instead of indulging us with gore, he goes for a dark and tragic atmosphere, convincingly combining a traumatized family and a mistreated, misunderstood monster in the "Frankenstein"-tradition. This means that despite reuniting the Gordon-Combs-Crampton triumvirate "Re-Animator"-Fans should beware: this one is played strictly as drama/tragedy with not a single laugh in sight. The screenplay is well-developed with convincing characters and reasonably good dialogue. Nothing that is Academy Award-material, but who'd expect that from a movie called "Castle Freak"? Acting is also spot on, especially Jeffrey Combs in a straight man role (for once). While it would go to far to call this a lost genre classic, it deserves to be seen by more people than probably did. If you're a genre fan, give "Castle Freak" a chance. It might just win you over, like it did with me.

Plot: A guy is kept hidden away in a dungeon by his mother and she beats him to a bloody pulp every night. A family of three (mother, father and daughter) inherits the castle. They come to look at it and shocking acts start to unravel themselves in and around the castle..

Acting: Jeffrey Combs star as the father and plays out the role like he would Hamlet or something. He is excellent. Never dull for a second. The guy playing "the Freak" also delivers solid work in portraying the hideously deformed and tragically lonely monster as he childly limpers around the cold castle in search of someone.

Form: It is a truly frightening experience this film. It contains some of the most violent scenes in cinema. But still it manages to let the emotions be dominant in most scenes including the scenes containing hard violence. It is a deeply tragic film in many ways and Stuart Gordon(director) plays with your feelings throughout the film. Many critics and others have used this against Gordon and his movies. I don`t think that is fear at all. I mean, do we ever ask an extreme painter why he is toying with our emotions?

Who is it for?: Well, as I mentioned before this is a pretty violent piece of film. It is not for kids and not for adults who don`t feel good about seeing killings and torture up close and personal. If you are, on the other hand, a fan of movies that do contain realistic violence as well as realistic emotions, camerawork and acting see it now.

Don`t hesitate. Oh, and if you are a fan of Stuart Gordon you simply have to see it!

Grade: 8 out of 10

I just had the opportunity to sit down and revisit the 1995 "Castle Freak" movie; a movie that I have seen three or four times since it was originally released.

This 1995 movie titled "Castle Freak" is still a very enjoyable movie, even now in 2021. And that is also applicable even with the 2020 remake that they put out there. But truth be told Stuart Gordon's 1995 movie is just a tad better than the remake. Plus, the 1995 version has both Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton on the cast list, so what is there not to like?

The storyline, which is based on a H. P. Lovecraft story, is entertaining and enjoyable, despite of it being somewhat clichéd for a mid-1990s horror movie. But writers Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli did good jobs with constructing the storyline for "Castle Freak".

"Castle Freak" has good special effects, and they still hold up even now in 2021, 26 years after the movie was released.

Needless to say that it is because of Jeffrey Combs that I initially watched "Castle Freak" back in 1995, and it is still a treat to sit down and watch it this many years after.

My rating of "Castle Freak" lands on a six out of ten stars.