Castle Freak (1995)

Director:

Stuart Gordon

Writers:

Stuart Gordon (story)
H.P. Lovecraft (story)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Hideous... hungry... and loose!

Plot:

A troubled couple and their blind daughter come to Italy to visit a 12th Century castle they've inherited...

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Freak | Drunk Scene | Policeman | Male Frontal Nudity

Cast

Jeffrey Combs	...	John Reilly
Barbara Crampton	...	Susan Reilly
Jonathan Fuller	...	Giorgio
Jessica Dollarhide	...	Rebecca Reilly
Massimo Sarchielli	...	Giannetti
Elisabeth Kaza	...	Agnese
Luca Zingaretti	...	Forte
Helen Stirling	...	Duchess D'Orsino
Alessandro Sebastian Satta	...	JJ
Raffaella Offidani	...	Sylvana
Marco Stefanelli	...	Benedetti
Tunny Piras	...	Grimaldi
Rolando Cortegiani	...	Tonio
Carolyn Gordon	...	The Gelato People
Suzanna Gordon	...	The Gelato People

Also Known As:

Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong violence and gore, a scene of sexuality and some language.

Runtime:

90 min | USA:95 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:R | Germany:18 | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Giove, Terni, Umbria, Italy

Company:

Full Moon Enterprises

Trivia:

The castle used in the film is an actual Italian castle owned by the president of Full Moon Pictures, the distribution company.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the Duchess is taking bread and dried sausage to The Freak in the opening sequence the sliced bread has a gaping hole in it in the kitchen but is whole by the time it makes it to the dungeon.

Quotes:

Rebecca Reilly: There's somebody else here there's somebody in the castle!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: Castle Freak" (2003)

Nice, gory intense and tragic

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