Castle Freak
Castle Freak has a kind of gothic feel to it with it being set in an actual Italian castle in Italy. This was one of the first Full Moon movies I watched after discovering the Puppet Master series. Also, my first introductions to Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton. A darker movie than some of the other Full Moon movies, but pretty good.
PLOT
A man and his family travel to Italy when he inherits a castle. Once there, internal family conflicts and someone else possibly in the castle, cause chaos and danger.
Photo Credit: Full Moon Entertainment
Released: 14 Nov 1995
Runtime: 90 mins
Director: Stuart Gordon
Writer: Stuart Gordon, H.P. Lovecraft, Dennis Paoli
Actors: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Jonathan Fuller
MY THOUGHTS
There’s seven kills and even a poor cat dies. Some of the kills are a bit bloody, but not too gory. Other than the poor prostitute who has several bites, ummm… in very sensitive areas. As far as gory, I would say the creature is a bit gory. Deformed face and at one point he bites and tears off his thumb. You do get to see the bite and the deformed thumb on the floor.
I think, for the most part, the acting is pretty good. I’ll watch anything Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton are in. Jeffrey Combs is known for his work in Re-Animator, the Frighteners, and Would You Rather just to name a few. I must admit, when I was younger I had a small crush on the actor so I would watch everything he was in. Now Barbara Crampton is one of our OG scream queens. She’s been in movies such as Re-Animator, Chopping Mall, From Beyond, and many more. She’s also in the more recent Superhost and Jakob’s Wife. It’s always a nice surprise when she’s in the movie.
The plot is a basic one. A family movies into a castle and something is in there with them. But that’s not all. We have a family that is broken because of a dead child and their other child was blinded. Then add the secrets of the castle, and you don’t have a basic plot anymore. You have an interesting story, with an actual Italian castle, and this makes for a decent movie.
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I wanted to take a quick break to let you know I found these great deals on Amazon for Castle Freak merchandise. I’ve applied to Amazon’s affiliate program and if I can get three purchases I will be accepted into the program. This will be of tremendous help with starting my small business.
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I would be remiss if I didn’t mention “Ding-Dong Gate”. Yes, Ding-Dong Gate. This is where there was a split amongst the fans of the movie. One side said the creature ripped off his genitals and the other side said he didn’t. This lasted for about a year before the podcast “The Flop House” got an answer straight from Stuart Gordon. That no, he didn’t rip off his ding dong.
Overall, a decent Full Moon Entertainment movie from Stuart Gordon. I definitely recommend this if you like the actors and the director.
And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:
The castle in the film is an actual Italian castle in the small town of Attigliano owned by the president of Full Moon Pictures.
Based slightly on HP Lovecraft's short story, The Outsider.
The film was blessed by the Vatican for fears of the effect on its viewers.
Check out my other reviews here: Forever Final Girl
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 4/5
Sex/Nudity: 2.5/5
Scare factor: 3/5
Enjoyment factor: 4/5
My Rank: 3.87/5
IMDB: 6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: critics: 5.7/10 audience: 4.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.1/5
