From the beautiful mind of Stuart Gordon comes a haunting tale of terror and retribution. A dysfunctional family inherits a big castle. Having no use for such a thing, the family decides to liquidate it. Before they can do this, however, unexplained phenomenon starts to happen, such as a mirror breaking and noises and stuff. Alas, they are not alone in this castle. There is another occupant…below. An occupant with a terrible and secret pedigree. Some distorted creature who will not let his brutal past sufferings go unavenged. I give you Castle Freak!

Castle Freak has the Bands (Charles and Richard) teaming up with Stuart Gordon, Jeff Combs, and Barbara Crampton yet again. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Based on the story The Outsider, by H.P. Lovecraft, this is a pretty good parallel to it. I believe the character from the original story was some kind of zombie or mummy, but Le Freak is developed well enough to deviate from that and not lose any continuity. It works.

Combs and Crampton expertly play the Reilly’s, a family divided by a car accident that killed their son and blinded their daughter. As the movie progresses, this tension increases until a climactic ending provides closure for all involved. Intrigued? I thought you might be.

The gore and special effects in this movie are good. You have savage chain beatings, oral nipple removals, stabbings, gunplay, and one gnarly looking disfigured guy. There’s a freak in the house! You also get some quality nudity, though there is one time where you definitely get more than you bargained for.

I enjoyed this movie. I like all aspects of it. This movie was actually filmed on location in a castle in Italy. Gotta give props for authenticity. Music by Richard Band always builds the suspense up when it should also.

The storyline is essentially a monster haunting a family, but it is more complicated than that. Gordon adds good character development and interesting plot twists. The main characters’ imperfections add realism to the story. There is great development with the Freak himself. You really start to feel for the guy and what he’s been through. But then, when you see him start to beat and kill people you are left undecided.

Overall, I give this movie 7.5 out of 10 cats that almost made it.

This review was fueled by Dogfish Head Immort Ale (sitting at a lofty 11%), and newer Killswitch Engage. I also threw in some Black Sabbath with Ronnie James for some variety.