CASTLE FREAK : [5/10] : Stuart Gordon : US 95 : 91m approx : {13/28}

So-so HP Lovecraft adaptation from the director/writer combo responsible for Lovecraft-inspired hits Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986) – both starring Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton –  plus 2001’s shoddy, Spanish-made Dagon.
Shot in an atmospherically rambling 12th-century Italian castle, Castle Freak is a moderately passable B-movie chiller with a smattering of stomach-churningly unpleasant visuals. A feuding American couple (Combs, Crampton) arrive at the castello, which the husband has unexpectedly inherited, and sinister happenings quickly ensue…
The story is as simple as the bald, catchpenny title suggests – perhaps too basic, right from a prologue that effectively gives the game away, sapping suspense and intrigue from what follows. And, as often with Gordon, the Lovecraft connection turns out to be relatively tenuous – Castle Freak owes at least as much to Don’t Look Now (1973), and, inevitably, suffers in comparison.

Neil Young
21st December, 2009

 ¦ seen on DVD in Sunderland, 20.Dec.09  ¦ with thanks to Tonio Van Vugt  ¦