Rating: 
Summary: From the man who brought you "The Re-animator"
Review: Stuart Gordon presents another film adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story. In this one "Castle Freak" John Reilly(Jeffrey Combs,The Re-animator series)his wife(Barbara Crampton,The Re-animator)and their blind daughter inheret a castle in Italy,from a relative who recently passed away. They also inhereted her son, who was chained up in the cellar, that they don't know about until, John brings home a prostitute and she is never seen again and he is accused of her murder. It's up to John to protect his family and prove his innocence. As you would expect there is plenty of creative gore, one scene is similair to one in Beyond Re-animator. If you enjoy the works of H.P.Lovecraft, STuart Gordon, or Jeffrey Combs you will enjoy this film others however should be causious about choosing whether or not they want to watch this.
Rating:
Summary: From the man who brought you "The Re-animator"
Review: Stuart Gordon presents another film adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story. In this one "Castle Freak" John Reilly(Jeffrey Combs,The Re-animator series)his wife(Barbara Crampton,The Re-animator)and their blind daughter inheret a castle in Italy,from a relative who recently passed away. They also inhereted her son, who was chained up in the cellar, that they don't know about until, John brings home a prostitute and she is never seen again and he is accused of her murder. It's up to John to protect his family and prove his innocence. As you would expect there is plenty of creative gore, one scene is similair to one in Beyond Re-animator. If you enjoy the works of H.P.Lovecraft, STuart Gordon, or Jeffrey Combs you will enjoy this film others however should be causious about choosing whether or not they want to watch this.
Rating: 
Summary: What kind of meat goes with this wine?
Review: Stuart Gordon with Full Moon bring us two essential elements for creepy pleasure....A Freak...and A Castle! Poor baby has been locked away in the cellar and beaten his entire life, but he has also been fed regularly. Till Mama dies.John Reilly inherits this beautiful castle, and travels with his wife and blind daughter to see his new windfall. A brief and non-intrusive flashback show us that John and Susan have recently lost their son in an automobile accident, the same accident that left their daughter blind. Susan blames John for their son's death, and this explains the tension between the two as they settle into their quarters in the castle. Their plans are to sell the furnishings and artwork, and John wants to get started right away on inventory. He takes his daughter Jessica along with him, but Jessica gets curious about a cat meowing and follows it instead. Of course, we all know that Jessica will wind out in the lower halls of the castle where our hungry, wretched little friend awaits. Jessica gets away, Freak eats Kitty and gets loose, but while Jessica didn't see Freak, he saw Jessica and would like a closer look. He sneaks into her room, leaving with a sheet to wrap himself in, and only Jessica's dad believes her tale that there is someone or something else in the castle with them. Surprisingly good acting in this low budget film, with Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator and the Frighteners) and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator and Body Double) and a good supporting cast; plus gorgeous castle background giving us beauty and creepiness all in one, set the perfect stage for our lovely, twisted, lonely freak. When John Reilly brings home a local prostitute, our darling, grotesque little intruder will give you a whole new meaning to the term "oral sexx" in a particularly gory "love" scene. Over all, if you are lover of cheap and/or cheesy horror flicks, you will not want to miss out on this jewel. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Frightfully Freaky Flick from Full Moon & Stuart Gordon
Review: Stuart Gordon's CASTLE FREAK (1995) is a direct-to-video production that is actually way above the average quality of such fare. Gordon, as most genre fans know, is the director of the highly venerated RE-ANIMATOR, the Lovecraft-inspired horror-comedy starring Jeffrey Combs as the titular character, Herbert West, and the beautiful Barbara Crampton as the requisite T&A. With CASTLE FREAK, Gordon re-unites with Combs and Crampton, but this film is much bleaker than the other, dealing with more serious and grimmer themes. Fans of RE-ANIMATOR will therefore be disappointed if they go in expecting the same tongue-in-cheek situations and gallows humor, 'cause it just ain't there. CASTLE FREAK is an earnest, adult horror film. The film follows the three members of the dysfunctional Reilly family--father John (Combs), mother Susan (Crampton), and daughter Rebecca (Jessica Dollarhide)--as they travel to Italy to check out a castle and surrounding estate that has been bequeathed to John by a recently deceased aunt. But the family arrives at the castle with more baggage than just that which contains their clothing and personal items: A year earlier, an inebriated John had been driving his kids home from school during a rainstorm, and an accident resulting from his drunkenness caused the death of his son and the blindness of his daughter. In spite of John's sincere contrition and his subsequent commitment to remaining sober, wife Susan has been unable to forgive him, and her participation in the marriage has since been perfunctory at best. John hopes that Susan's willingness to come to Italy, stay in the castle, and help him sort out the details of his inheritance is a signal that the wound to their relationship is healing. Once there, however, Susan is as icy as ever, and this depresses John so much that he eventually falls prey to old habits and seeks solace from a bottle...and from a local prostitute. In the mean time, sightless daughter Rebecca decides to explore their new digs on her own, and she learns that she and her parents are not the castle's only inhabitants when, deep in the miasmic caves and catacombs beneath the old building, she inadvertently stumbles upon the dwelling place of a hideous, blood-thirsty freak. In spite of her ocular handicap, Rebecca is able to escape unharmed, but she is unable to subsequently convince her parents or the police that her subterranean encounter was genuine. Eventually, though, everyone associated with the Reilly family will have to face this castle freak, and John Reilly will also come face-to-face with the truth about his heritage and his own past. The plot of CASTLE FREAK--very loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's THE OUTSIDER--is actually pretty deep, with good character development and tons of subtle Freudian and Existentialist subtext. As fans would expect, Gordon's direction is judicious and tight, and the work of Italian cinematographer Mario Vulpiani is breathtakingly aesthetic. Though CASTLE FREAK lacks the levity and humor of Gordon's RE-ANIMATOR, it still has plenty of the shocks and gore. In fact, the current DVD version from Full Moon offers the restored, unrated director's cut, and the gore and violence that has been added back is pretty gut-wrenching and gruesome. Since the special FX and make-up FX are skillfully executed, the blood and guts look quite realistic, so the gore hounds should not be disappointed. The acting in CASTLE FREAK is also wonderful. Jeffrey Combs affects his usual smarmy yet likable on-screen persona, and the acting abilities of beautiful Barbara Crampton have only improved with age. (Alas, Ms. Crampton does not have the same degree of--ahem!--exposure here that she had in RE-ANIMATOR.) One of the best performances is from newcomer Jessica Dollarhide, who creates a refreshingly sincere average-teen character, one of the best to appear in a horror flick in recent years. Rather than the cocky know-it-all attitude that teenagers exude in most contemporary genre films, Dollarhide's Rebecca is a genuinely nice, likeable kid who loves both of her parents and is struggling to cope with both the growing contention in her family and her new disability. Also outstanding is Jonathan Fuller as the eponymous "castle freak." Presumably because of injury or deformity, the character is unable to articulate normal speech, but Fuller is nonetheless able to relay to the audience all of the character's emotions or thoughts via groans, whines, and guttural sounds or sometimes via pantomime. His is an amazing performance. As mentioned before, the DVD from Full Moon offers the restored, unrated director's cut of CASTLE FREAK, meaning that there is some pretty graphic gore and some pretty explicit nudity--all the trappings of a really cool horror flick. Since this film is a direct-to-video production from the mid-1990s, it is assumed that the 1.33:1 aspect ratio is the original format. (Close scrutiny of the framing bears out this assumption, as there is never a shot that appears to be poorly arranged, nor is there any camera motion that clearly indicates pan-and-scan butchery.) The digital transfer from film appears fairly sharp, with only occasionally noticeable digital or film-wear artifacts. A few nice extras include the film's trailer, a cool making-of featurette, and some amusing trailers of other lesser Full Moon home-video offerings. All in all, 1995's CASTLE FREAK is a high-quality horror production that belies its conception and design as a direct-to-video release. It is a must-see for fans of director Stuart Gordon, and the superb DVD from Full Moon is priced low enough that any horror aficionado can add it to his or her collection.
Rating:
Summary: Frightfully Freaky Flick from Full Moon & Stuart Gordon
Review: Stuart Gordon's CASTLE FREAK (1995) is a direct-to-video production that is actually way above the average quality of such fare. Gordon, as most genre fans know, is the director of the highly venerated RE-ANIMATOR, the Lovecraft-inspired horror-comedy starring Jeffrey Combs as the titular character, Herbert West, and the beautiful Barbara Crampton as the requisite T&A. With CASTLE FREAK, Gordon re-unites with Combs and Crampton, but this film is much bleaker than the other, dealing with more serious and grimmer themes. Fans of RE-ANIMATOR will therefore be disappointed if they go in expecting the same tongue-in-cheek situations and gallows humor, 'cause it just ain't there. CASTLE FREAK is an earnest, adult horror film. The film follows the three members of the dysfunctional Reilly family--father John (Combs), mother Susan (Crampton), and daughter Rebecca (Jessica Dollarhide)--as they travel to Italy to check out a castle and surrounding estate that has been bequeathed to John by a recently deceased aunt. But the family arrives at the castle with more baggage than just that which contains their clothing and personal items: A year earlier, an inebriated John had been driving his kids home from school during a rainstorm, and an accident resulting from his drunkenness caused the death of his son and the blindness of his daughter. In spite of John's sincere contrition and his subsequent commitment to remaining sober, wife Susan has been unable to forgive him, and her participation in the marriage has since been perfunctory at best. John hopes that Susan's willingness to come to Italy, stay in the castle, and help him sort out the details of his inheritance is a signal that the wound to their relationship is healing. Once there, however, Susan is as icy as ever, and this depresses John so much that he eventually falls prey to old habits and seeks solace from a bottle...and from a local prostitute. In the mean time, sightless daughter Rebecca decides to explore their new digs on her own, and she learns that she and her parents are not the castle's only inhabitants when, deep in the miasmic caves and catacombs beneath the old building, she inadvertently stumbles upon the dwelling place of a hideous, blood-thirsty freak. In spite of her ocular handicap, Rebecca is able to escape unharmed, but she is unable to subsequently convince her parents or the police that her subterranean encounter was genuine. Eventually, though, everyone associated with the Reilly family will have to face this castle freak, and John Reilly will also come face-to-face with the truth about his heritage and his own past. The plot of CASTLE FREAK--very loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's THE OUTSIDER--is actually pretty deep, with good character development and tons of subtle Freudian and Existentialist subtext. As fans would expect, Gordon's direction is judicious and tight, and the work of Italian cinematographer Mario Vulpiani is breathtakingly aesthetic. Though CASTLE FREAK lacks the levity and humor of Gordon's RE-ANIMATOR, it still has plenty of the shocks and gore. In fact, the current DVD version from Full Moon offers the restored, unrated director's cut, and the gore and violence that has been added back is pretty gut-wrenching and gruesome. Since the special FX and make-up FX are skillfully executed, the blood and guts look quite realistic, so the gore hounds should not be disappointed. The acting in CASTLE FREAK is also wonderful. Jeffrey Combs affects his usual smarmy yet likable on-screen persona, and the acting abilities of beautiful Barbara Crampton have only improved with age. (Alas, Ms. Crampton does not have the same degree of--ahem!--exposure here that she had in RE-ANIMATOR.) One of the best performances is from newcomer Jessica Dollarhide, who creates a refreshingly sincere average-teen character, one of the best to appear in a horror flick in recent years. Rather than the cocky know-it-all attitude that teenagers exude in most contemporary genre films, Dollarhide's Rebecca is a genuinely nice, likeable kid who loves both of her parents and is struggling to cope with both the growing contention in her family and her new disability. Also outstanding is Jonathan Fuller as the eponymous "castle freak." Presumably because of injury or deformity, the character is unable to articulate normal speech, but Fuller is nonetheless able to relay to the audience all of the character's emotions or thoughts via groans, whines, and guttural sounds or sometimes via pantomime. His is an amazing performance. As mentioned before, the DVD from Full Moon offers the restored, unrated director's cut of CASTLE FREAK, meaning that there is some pretty graphic gore and some pretty explicit nudity--all the trappings of a really cool horror flick. Since this film is a direct-to-video production from the mid-1990s, it is assumed that the 1.33:1 aspect ratio is the original format. (Close scrutiny of the framing bears out this assumption, as there is never a shot that appears to be poorly arranged, nor is there any camera motion that clearly indicates pan-and-scan butchery.) The digital transfer from film appears fairly sharp, with only occasionally noticeable digital or film-wear artifacts. A few nice extras include the film's trailer, a cool making-of featurette, and some amusing trailers of other lesser Full Moon home-video offerings. All in all, 1995's CASTLE FREAK is a high-quality horror production that belies its conception and design as a direct-to-video release. It is a must-see for fans of director Stuart Gordon, and the superb DVD from Full Moon is priced low enough that any horror aficionado can add it to his or her collection.
Rating:
Summary: A sadistic display of greusome special affects
Review: The movie lacked nothing, especially story line. It amazes me that this never made it to the big screen. There were no limits to the content and what Mr Gordaon was trying to put on the screen. Maybe it was just a little too graphic for the general public. Movies like Castle Freak bring back the true essence of the "Horror Flick"
Rating:
Summary: Great movie
Review: this is a great horror movie for the true fans. One of the most origianl films to come out in a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie if gross is what you are going for....
Review: This is purely a video for those of you who enjoy gross special effects. Everyone who saw the movie with me squirmed the whole time. Not something for the faint of heart or young people (or even those of us who are not pure horror fans).
Rating:
Summary: Deeply moving...
Review: This is THE movie to see if your just sitting around the house with some friends. That was my viewing experience, and since, not a day goes by that the term "castlefreak" is not worked into normal conversation. It's a cult film in my eyes as of now. I think we can all learn some lessons from the tormented Castlefreak. This guy is the POET OF MY SOUL! heh heh...
Rating:
Summary: A very weird, sad and spooky film
Review: This is the weirdest film I have ever seen. I do not understand why it is not rated NC-17. .... There is both a rated and unrated version. Don't watch this film if you are affended easily. I had to turn it off I was so appalled! It was the part where castle freak bit the prostitute's boob off and ate her...well...you know. After he saw the man of the house(who has a wife and daughter)doing it to the prostitute. It is very sad how castle freak never got to live a life.He was locked up in chains by his horrible crazy mother after her husband left her. After she dies Castle freak breaks free and lurks in the castle. Meanwhile a family moves in the castle. When mutalated bodies turn up they must fight for survival.It is worth 3 or 4 stars at the most. Full moon did an okay job on this one.....
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