Castle Freak (Video 1995)

A troubled couple and their blind daughter come to Italy to visit a 12th Century castle they've inherited. Soon they are plagued by unexplained noises, mysteriously broken objects, and the ... See full summary »

Director:

Stuart Gordon

Writers:

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

Stars:

Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Jonathan Fuller

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

A troubled couple and their blind daughter come to Italy to visit a 12th Century castle they've inherited. Soon they are plagued by unexplained noises, mysteriously broken objects, and the daughter's claims of an unknown nocturnal visitor to her bedroom. When the housekeeper and a local prostitute and are discovered savagely murdered in the castle's dungeon, John must unlock the castle's secret to save himself from jail and his family from the castle's secret inhabitant.

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Plot Keywords:

castle | prostitute | freak | voyeurism | hit in the crotch | 

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Taglines:

Hideous... hungry... and loose!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian Swedish

Release Date:

14 November 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak

Filming Locations:

Giove, Terni, Umbria, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Full Moon Enterprises, Full Moon Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 95 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

After the family gets to the castle, the castle freak rips off his left thumb to escape the handcuffs. In the end where he is kissing the daughter, he clearly has two thumbs.

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Quotes

John Reilly: I didn't kill her, I fucked her, Okay?

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Crazy Credits

Special thanks to H.P. Lovecraft, Andrea Barzini, Giovanni Natalucci, Michla Gisotti, Kimi Yamada, and the wonderful people of Giove, Italy.

User Reviews

Definitely, an underrated movie!

Stuart Gordon, the man behind that classic named "Re-Animator", returns to his Lovecraftian roots with "Castle Freak", a movie that has not received the recognition it deserves; which some may consider a crime, since this was one of the very few good horror movies that came out in the 90's.

Horror Icon Jeffrey Combs(also from "Re-Animator") stars in this Gothic tale of a man, John Reilly, who inherits an Italian castle, only to find that there is a secret lurking deep inside of it. Gordon takes this simple plot(slightly based in "The Outsider") and adds depth to Combs character and his family: he killed his 6 years old son in a car accident while driving drunk. This event has marked his family, destroying his relationship with his wife Susan(Barbara Crampton) and his daughter Rebecca(Jessica Dollarhide), who was blinded in the accident.

All this conflicts explode in the castle when a prostitute brought by John appears brutally killed in a savage way, and all the clues point to John; who now not only must prove himself innocent, but also must save his family from the mysterious being who lurks in the castle.

Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton give one of their best performances. Crampton's Susan Reilly is truly believable as a mother who has lost a child and blames his former lover of everything that goes wrong in her life; while Combs shines as the man overwhelmed by guilt who must face his own demons to gain the strength to save his family.

Gordon's direction is remarkable, as he manages to keep a Gothic atmosphere while making the film shocking by including a few extremely graphic gory scenes. Makes a nice contrast that many have attempted but very few manage to achieve.

The make-up is outstanding and very realistic, there was a lot of heart in the production of the horrifying scenes. A true love for the horror genre.

The movie does not disappoint and flows smoothly from the beginning to the end, it never gets boring and the script is really well constructed. While the movie may not be exactly Lovecraft's story, it still has that spirit mixed with that visual style of Gordon that has given us jewels such as the previously mentioned "Re-Animator", and the awesome "Dagon".

While this is not as good as those 2 movies, it still stands as one of the best horror movies of the 90's, keeping that soul that 70's & 80's horror films used to have.

Very recommended for fans of the genre. 8/10