Best movie of this year hands down!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

John (Jeffrey Combs) and Susan Reilly (Barbara Crampton) are a married couple going through some very dark times. She blames him for the fatal car crash that blinded their teen aged daughter Rebecca (Jessica Dollarhide) and killed their younger child J.J. (Alessandro Sebastian Satta). Now, years later, John learns that he has inherited a 12th century Italian castle. They come to do some inventory (John really just wants to sell the place) and do a little exploring. What they discover is that the castle also comes with a secret: a monster, Giorgio (Jonathan Fuller) residing in the lower levels.What gives "Castle Freak" an edge over similar horror product is the overwhelming feeling of tragedy. A pall hangs over this whole film; one has to wonder if this family is ever going to be happy again. Giorgio, too, comes with his own desperately unhappy back story. As is the case with many a movie monster, he's quite pitiable as well as hideous. Fuller is excellent in the role. As often as he creeps you out, he earns your sympathies.While Combs does tend to get his due as a truly talented actor, this viewer would have to point to "Castle Freak" as a solid example of just how good Crampton is as an actress. She's more than just a pretty face. The dramatic tension between John and Susan is palpable. Dollarhide, too, is very good, delivering a sensitive and vulnerable performance. It's somewhat wearying that Susan keeps automatically dismissing Rebeccas' insistence of the other presence in the castle. Stubborn characters can be hard to deal with in this or any other genre.Director Stuart Gordon and his largely Italian crew create vivid atmosphere. They mostly try to avoid bright colours. In fact, this is one of those instances where it feels like the filmmakers tried to create a slightly colourized version of a black & white movie. The makeup effects by Optic Nerve are impressive, and Richard Bands' music is excellent."Castle Freak" definitely deserves a wider audience. It's a serious, somber story where one does get emotionally invested in these characters.Inspired by, rather than officially based on, the H.P. Lovecraft tale "The Outsider".Seven out of 10.

Not only is this one of the final films of Charles Band's Full Moon Pictures of the 1990s, but it is the last of the moderately budgeted horror genre's collaborations with the Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, and Barbara Crampton trio. This is considered by many to be a complete failure on many levels, but good delivery of bad material and some very gory moments give fans a run for their money.Combs and Crampton are grieving parents after a car accident leaves their son killed and their daughter blinded. She can't seem to forgive the distraught dad for being intoxicated behind the wheel when it happened, which leaves the plot open for Comb's inevitable redemption. Sooner if not later, the family inherits a castle in Rome, and unfortunately, they also inherit the hideously deformed and tortured man chained up in the basement. After eating a cat, the freak gains enough strength to break his chains and go on a rampage after anyone found in the castle. Its pretty tasteless stuff as the completely naked creature bites a prostitute to death, tears out the throats of policemen and other sorts of gory mayhem, meanwhile the blind daughter and Combs are the only people convinced that there is someone else in the castle.This is a dingy looking movie that fails to provide mood or ambiance short of trying pretty hard. Combs and Crampton are now pros at what they do considering the material that they're given. The creature is more amusing than scary, but gore fans will be pleased with the overall gruesomeness. Too bad Full Moon Pictures didn't end their stay with a better bad movie, but left audiences in the rain with just plain bad instead.

This movie was a disappointment. The story is essentially The Shining with a castle (or a very cheap set masquerading as a castle, to be specific) substituting as the hotel and a monster instead of the ghosts. The budget is the same you'd see from a Cinemax softcore porn, as is the photography, sets, lighting, and video it was shot on. The story is a failed attempt at sincerity: there's no easier way to make your audience feel sympathetic for your characters than to show them experiencing emotional trauma. And the trauma in this movie is pretty trite. Want an example? A blind girl listening to a language tape teaching the Italian words for colors begins to cry at what she will never see.This movie had a few things going for it, however: the monster is actually pretty cool, pretty scary-looking. And there is a pretty decent amount of nudity from Raffaella Offidani, herself a star of Italian "erotic" films. The gore, however, leaves much to be desired, as does the acting, even from the experienced Jeffrey Combs.Other than this I've only seen two other Stuart Gordon films: Re-Animator and From Beyond, both of which were outstanding. But I won't let this little footnote in his career keep me from watching many more of his movies.

A family of three (Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Jessica Dollarhide) have inherited a castle, but have no plans to stay on. So they take inventory in order to sell off the property. But they aren't the only living relatives -- in the basement is the "castle freak", a deformed cannibal chained to the dungeon. If he gets loose, the family's heritage may become one of pure carnage.Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator") directs this film with a cast consisting of Jeffrey Combs ("Re-Animator") and Barbra Crampton ("Re-Animator"), produced by Charles Band ("Re-Animator"). Maybe you've caught on, but this is something of a "Re-Animator" reunion... with a few people missing. And a much lower production value (the film quality looks like 1970s issue or something from PBS during British comedy hour). For the most part, this is pretty solid film.Combs is quite good, and one wonders why he's not given leading roles more often. Crampton is also good, and the blind girl (Jessica Dollarhide, in her only feature film) was remarkable. The freak? I have to say the makeup, effects and even the mannerisms were impressive. There's a scene where a prostitute meets her end... and they really went out of their way to show how horrific the freak could be.The story isn't fast-paced or action-packed, so if you need to be constantly entertained, this may not be for you. But if you like a good development in your plot, I think you'd appreciate this lost treasure (definitely one of the lesser-seen Gordon horror films). I wasn't paying as close attention as I should have been, because I was half in the bag from drinking Scoresby Scotch (it's the connoisseur's Scotch)... but it kept me feeling pretty good. Thanks, Full Moon Features, for one of your better offerings.