Castle Freak (1996)

The Worst Film Ever

That was an excellent one.

Load of rubbish!!

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

I first saw this on a VHS in the mid 90s. Revisited this recently on a DVD. Well the movie hasn't aged well. It wasn't scary at all. The film is about a family which suffered horrible tragedy due to the fathers alcoholism. His son died and his daughter was blinded. The father just inherited a castle in Italy from his late aunt n he moves to that castle. The castle houses a dark secret... The acting by Combs and Crampton is good. They were convincing as the couple breaking up. Stuart Gordon managed to create a gory and Gothic horror tale. Gordon makes good use of the castle's ominous atmosphere and he also gets wonderful performances from his cast. The movie was shot on location in a genuine Italian castle which added a sense of the Gothic feel. The gore is too much, breasts are bitten off, eyes are gouged out, thumb bitten off, vagina bitten off, body being whipped to death by iron chains, cat been devoured, etc. But the problem with the movie was its story n lack of tension n suspense. Also the body count ain't that high. The freak is one of the most frightening monsters but he is as much a victim as a villain. Sometimes u feel pity for it, especially when its revealed that its penis has been severed. Also ther r too many flaws, i mean how could the freak survive for so long after being chained n locked up. Nonetheless, a one time watch considering the director n the lead actors.

"Castle Freak" is a genuinely good movie. Loosely inspired by "The Outsider," probably my favorite H.P. Lovecraft story, the film is also probably my favorite Stuart Gordon film and, bar none, the classiest thing Charles Band ever pushed out of his studio. (Somewhat ironically, since the original Full Moon Entertainment was slowly decomposing at the time.) "Castle Freak," despite its exploitive title, actually has its roots in deep themes of family, forgiveness, childhood, responsibility, cruelty, and love. A family inherits a castle in Italy. Deep in the bowels of the castle is a man kept imprisoned for forty years, starved, castrated, and routinely tortured by his mother. But the castle isn't the only thing with a secret. The Reily family is slowly coming apart, after alcoholic father John wrecked the family car, killing their youngest son, and blinding their teenage daughter. Mother Susan has never been able to forgive him and, it's made clear quickly, John has never quite forgiven himself. The two story lines slowly come together, the emaciated, twisted Giorgio a shadow mirror, reflecting back the family's darkest impulses.The film is far more serious affair then the previous Gordon/Combs/Crampton/Lovecraft collaboration. "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond" are certainly great in their own ways but "Castle Freak" is a much richer, deeper film. It's also far scarier. Gordon had previously displayed a strong handle of atmosphere on "Dolls." Here, he graduates to full shadows expert. The final act, where Giorgio stalks mother and daughter throughout the castle, each hiding in deep shadows, is intense and sustained. The blind daughter is an inventive device, as it allows the villain to creep around her undetected several times. The castle is an excellent location, of course, which helps. It's definitely the most frightening film on the director's resume.It also delivers on the gross-outs. Gordon had, perhaps unfairly, received a reputation for a goremeister following "Re-Animator." There's also more to his films then that but, honestly, "Castle Freak" delivers some nauseating gore effects. A cat being pulled back through a trap door is an early, unnerving moment. Bones crack and flesh rips as a thumb is gnawed off. The most notorious moment involves the titular freak's encounter with a prostitute. In what is probably a homage to extreme Italian filmmakers like Lucio Fulci, deranged Giorgio attempts to recreate an earlier rendezvous. It's a disturbing, memorable moment that skillfully combines twisted gore and protracted thrills. The make-up design for Giorgio is impressively unnerving as well. He looks truly starved and tortured. Odds are this movie will show you far more eunuch bits then you desired to see.The performances truly anchor the film. Jeffrey Combs frequently trots out his Herbert West personality without acting much while Barbara Crampton is usually confined to indistinct scream queen roles. Combs shows no ego as the alcoholic John. He sweats and cries, frantic, a man at the end of his rope. He is pulled between his frustrated libido, his persisting guilt over his son's death, and his own guilt over refusing to take responsibility for it. It's a career-best performance for Combs. Similarly, Crampton blows the roofs off. She marks a strong figure against Jeffrey, her grief translating as anger, not self-pity. Her own path to forgiveness is also wrought. As the blind Rebecca, Jessica Dollarhide conveys the blindness well, if not the character's panic. It is disappointing that she would disappear from acting after this. Jonathan Fuller no doubt had the most difficult performance, under extensive make-up and without his voice. He makes Giorgio far more then just a hideous villain but a sympathetic being. "Castle Freak" is a world where monsters aren't born, they're made.For once, the fisticuff endings doesn't feel awkward, a natural evolution of the characters and themes. The final scene, powered by Richard Band's typically excellent, mournful score, conveys a poetic sense of sadness and resolution. "Castle Freak" is fantastic all around, a true hidden gem. If you're a Combs or Gordon fan, you've probably already seen it but I think it's essential viewing for any horror fan.

I have high regard for Gordon's brand of film-making, and CF doesn't disappoint. Although it lacks the gore and special effects of Gordon's other films like Dagon and Herbert West - Reanimator. In fact, I thought that this too was based on a Lovecraft story, but came to know from the credits that this Gothic plot was penned by Gordon himself.Its difficult to decide whether CF was the oppressor or the oppressed. An individual who is manacled, castrated and left to rot in a dungeon since childhood, coupled with frequent lashing with a cat-o-nine tails, cannot hope to grow up into a normal human being. And when such a person breaks free, he is bound to create havoc, since his alienation is total, because he has no sense of right or wrong. And so it happened with CF in the film.As usual, Combs rocks, and the female characters: the prostitute, the mother and the daughter, all display their hot bodies with aplomb. The yelling of the mother got on my nerves after a while, and my only regret is that she was not ripped apart by CF.A point of confusion: Just how long was CF in the dungeon after his crazed mother died? How did he survive without food and water for so long, till Combs' family arrived? I know that its futile to search for logic in a horror film, but still..Watchable, at least once, but certainly not a collectible. And yeah, the irritating, selfish mother, most definitely deserved to be messed up a bit by CF..

I've known about this movie for some time and am a casual fan of Gordon's work, but this one came out at a time when things were changing in the low-rent movie biz...more and more a B-film was meaning a "DIY" film, any old hack could put something out and call it a movie and Full Moon, Troma or SOMEONE would try to sell it as a legit feature. I just didn't believe it could be worth the effort, I was tired of being burned by early-90's low-rent horror sludge."Castle Freak" is a legit feature...sorta. It's shot on film, it has real actors and locations, but still suffers the trappings of a low budget...the sets are underwhelming and nothing much happens. And that's one of two major beefs I had with this movie.1) Nothing much happens, and what does transpire is old news...there's a Thing in the cellar and before we dispatch with it there's a modicum of bloodletting and screaming. Meanwhile we have to sit through a healthy heap of tedium concerning the domestic problems of a small family. Despite the presence of some good B-movie actors these scenes seem superfluous to the action...which we never quite get to, except...2) When it does happen, it's outrageously repulsive. Not the most offensive thing you've ever seen it's just...this movie is just really icky! Out of nowhere there are a couple of things that transpire that include naughty bits that are just...unpleasant, and not in the fun way. I wasn't so much offended or caught in that so-gross-it's-fun mode as just...well, sorry I had to bear witness to it--and the effects weren't even that well done. It's just...the sight of the Freak and what he does to his victim is just...blecchy! And it's so completely out of touch with the rest of the movie, which is very "USA Up All Night," back when that show was on. It's really weird to see an average little quirky B-film with this kind of grue in it. I'm glad they went there, actually, I just wish the film would've either sustained/accelerated it (as Gordon did so well in "Re-Animator") or not even gone there to begin with.It's not bad, really it isn't...what's good about it is great--the castle, the final fight, the mysterious Italian village aura and the compelling idea of what exactly the Freak is all about. But the combo of this not being quite bad enough to be really bad or good enough to be really good left me ambivalent, and left me stuck with the sickening images of Freak's mutilated crotch and the prostitute's mutilated boobs. If that's what you want stuck in your head, see this film immediately.