‘There’s somebody else here… there’s somebody in the castle…’
‘I’ll add it to the list’ people say when they receive a film recommendation. But there is no list. Well, this is not true for me. I do have an actual watchlist and when it comes to picking what to sit through next I pick a film off the list at random. The nature of this technique means that some films sit on the watchlist so long that I forget why they are there in the first damn place. And that brings us to Castle Freak. A super low-budget, straight-to-video gothic horror movie from the mid-90s. I don’t know how this film made it onto my watchlist or why it is there but now I have seen Castle Freak so at least I am making the most of the one life that we are all gifted with…
When the Reilly family inherit an old Italian castle, they don’t anticipate that they will be sharing their new home with a castle freak (to borrow the movie’s own parlance) – a deformed monster who is chained up in the castle’s labyrinthine basement. The film reunites legendary horror director Stuart Gordon with fellow horror royalty Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton – the team behind horror classic Re-Animator.
While Castle Freak was made for less than a million dollars, the fact that it was filmed on location in an actual Italian castle (owned by the president of Full Moon Pictures who distributed the film) adds an extra layer of intrigue and the presence of Combs and Crampton ensures that the acting remains solid throughout. Rounding out the cast are Jessica Dollarhide who plays the Reilly’s blind daughter and Jonathan Fuller who portrays the titular ‘freak’. The former struggles a little with some of the stranger scenes but Fuller makes for a convincing monster and the creature design is truly grotesque.
Fans of the horror stylings of Poe and Lovecraft will find a lot to enjoy in this strange tale and while there are moments of unintentional humour, the third act is monstrous enough to ensure that Castle Freak must be considered a modest success.