Search - Castle Freak on DVD

DARK MOVIE THAT ECHOS OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT.

Darth J | Somewhere In Time | 03/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"'Castle Freak' is a 1995 straight-to-video movie directed by Stuart Gordon and is adapted from H.P.Lovecraft's short story 'The Outsider'. It stars Jeffery Combs, Barbara Crampton, Jessica Dollarhide, and Johnathan Fuller.

Out story starts out in an isolated 12th century castle in Italy, we see the resident, and elderly dutchess who seems to be somewhat senile, preparing some food in the kitchen/pantery. She then takes a plate of bread across the castle grounds to another wing and into the lower levels. She opens a locked door to a room that has a deformed pethetic looking thing chained to a wall. she then picks up a leather whip of sorts with jaged edges and begins beating the 'Freak'(Fuller). After the episode, we see her walk into her room in a somewhat disoriented state, and suddenly collapse on the bed. As the movie cuts to later in the evening we see that the dutchess has suffered a heart attack and has died with her being the only one who knows of the existance of the 'Castle Freak'.
After the credits, we are introduced to the Reilys, John(Combs), Susan(Crampton), and their blind daughter Rebbeca(Dollarhide)who seem to be a very troubled family. Being distantly related, John has inherited the castle from the dutchess, and they have traveled to inspect the castle for the possiblity of selling. After the family settles in(and some exposition) Rebbeca wanders the castle. The freak becomes aware of Rebbeca's presence, and driven by hunger and the exitement of new contact, the freak breaks loose(gory scene)and slowly begins to terrorize the occupants of the castle.

This is the 3rd movie to feature the Gordon/Combs/Crampton team and, with a few flaws, is a solid effort. This movie is very dark and serious; It's a departure of the somewhat campy, dark comedy style of 'Re-Animator' and 'From Beyond'

The plot is not specificaly 'based' on 'The Outsider' but is adapted from it, with Gordon writing the screen-play. Gordon is definetly sucsessful in capturing the dark, isolated atmosphere of the story, and is one of the movies strong points. There is alot more to this story than a 'monster' on the loose. There are unerlying themes of abuse, neglect, isolation, hopelessness, and addiction. It veguely reminded me of Metallica's 'The Unforgiven' song and video(which is also influenced by 'The Outsider').

The acting and dialoge is spot-on. Combs and Crampton deliver a great performance(as ususal). After the first few minutes, you'll learn that a tragedy of John's fault took their infant son and resulted in their daughter losing her vision. Combs and Crampton(being a vet of daytime T.V)handle the disfuction and tension that would naturally follow an event of that scale. Dollarhide is convicing, and is able to 'keep up' with the veteran actors, impressive for her first film. Fuller had to go through six-hour make-up sessions to achieve the look. He is able to pull of the physical acting required of the 'freak'.

The editing and cinematography are solid. the movie is 95 min. and moves a little slow at times, but scenes don't overstay their welcome. The way Gordon shot the castle echos 'The Shining'. Being shot in rural Italy, you get a sence of isolation right away. their are tracking shots of the castle that make the castle itself become a character. This really helps bring a sence of what life was like for the 'freak' locked up in the dungeon.

There are only a few flaws with this movie;
1st, It's obviously a low-budjet, straight-to-video movie, but that shouldn't stop any fan of Gordon's movies(they're all like that).
2nd, It can be a little slow at times, but doesn't stray to far.
3rd, there are a few continuity flaws. For example; The Reily's would have to have recieved notice of the inheritance, and organized a trip to the castle before the 'freak' died of dehydration and starvation, so that's stretching it a bit, but is not a huge plot hole.
I would rank this 3rd behind 'From Beyond'(my favorite)and 'Re-animator', but if you're a fan of those, 'Castle Freak' is worth the time."

Best offering from Full Moon

Dayna Newman | Tampa | 05/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Castle Freak is one of my favorite horror movies.
of it's type..
It's not a slasher but some slashing occurs.
I think I like it so much because the Castle Freak is so realistic looking and scary.As I mentioned about the creature in my
review of "The Funhouse"..no matter how hideous The monster is, he is still humanized enough in the story for you to feel sorry for him at times..He has the same needs and desires as other men do but is a product of his deformity and environment.
It has one of the most macabre sex scenes in horror history"in my opinion"..Hold on to your Areolas ladies..YEEK.
The fact that the daughter brought to live in the castle with her parents is blind lends well to the storyline too. Plus you have Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, Two of Lovecrafts favorite actors as the leading characters.
It's quite an intresting well written and well executed little movie..
My advice is buy it."