Castle Freak

Director - Stuart Gordon (From Beyond, Re-Animator)
Starring - Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator, The Wizard of Gore), Barbara Crampton (You're Next, The Lords of Salem), and Jonathan Fuller (Campfire Tales, Arcade)
Release Date - 1995
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Hideous, hungry, and loose"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating - (out of 5):

      When I was in middle school and high school I often visited my local video stores, Dewey's Video and Buck's Home Video, to scout the racks of films they had to offer.  Lucky for me the owner of Dewey's Home Video had a soft spot for horror so the horror VHS was always in abundance.  The store did offer a pretty solid Full Moon collection and among all the VHS in the lot was a copy of Castle Freak.  I always saw it after I had rented something else and when I returned to get it some other lucky fucker had rented it out throwing me in a game of cat and mouse for years until I finally forgot about the film.  Years passed and me and my friends decided it was time to finally watch it.  A friend of mine ordered a VHS copy of the film and we finally sat down to see it.  Sadly, the VHS was fucked up and were unable to see it.  Sometime passed and that same friend was able to secure yet another VHS and we were finally able to give it a go where I fell in love with it.  I would borrow that VHS multiple times until it finally stopped playing and I would once again go without the film until last year when my wife ordered the 18 film Full Moon archive set.
     The film follows American John Reilly (Combs), his wife Susan (Crampton), and their blind daughter, as they travel to Italy.  John just inherited a castle from his aunt who just happens to be a duchess which now makes him a duke.  John and his family traveled to Italy to prepare the estate for auction and we see that John and Susan are far from perfect couple.  Some time ago John was driving his daughter and son home for dinner while drunk wrecking the car.  This kills his son and blinds his daughter.  This is something Susan has not been able to forgive John for.  Now John is trying to use this castle as a second chance with his wife but things are not as peachy as he would like.  In a drunken rage he brings a prostitute back to the castle and bangs her in the wine cellar.  He continues to drink and she leaves but something lurking in the dark snags her and kills her.  The police suspect John is behind her disappearance and stop at nothing to prove he is guilty.  The police search the castle grounds and find her mutilated body along with the body of the lawyer's sister.  They arrest John but he quickly discovers a dark secret involving his aunt, mother, and a deceased child that never died and was tortured his entire life.
     Full Moon's films of the 90s had a look all their own. These films are hard to mistake and even harder to ignore.  With that being said, Gordon's Full Moon flicks had a unique look all their own as well and set themselves apart from other Full Moon films.  You can expect to see some decent gore, witty one liners, and the beautiful Barbara Crampton and Castle Freak delivers on all of those.  The acting in this one is great.  Jeffrey Combs delivers a superb performance.  This man is one I truly admire and I find it to be a damn shame he doesn't have more roles in modern horror.  Barbara Crampton once again shines in her role just a little disappointed we don't get a more unclothd performance like we do in From Beyond and Re-Animtor.  The remainder of the cast did a solid job as well.  This is one well acted film which is something Full Moon is not known for.  The story for this one is nothing original at the time but sure is bloody and fun.  A family moving into a home with something dark lurking about is something told before with films like Poltergeist.  This unoriginal story has the Gordon style and wit which sets it out from the others.  Finally, the film has several original and bloody on screen kills with some great practical effects.  This film has several impressive kills that stand out and one in particular that will leave the viewer saying "what the fuck."  Overall, Castle Freak is an underrated Full Moon classic that needs to be seen.  Check it out because I highly recommend it.