Castle Freak (1995)
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Good ol’ Joe Bob Briggs, that’s how I watched this movie. It was on Shudder as part of “The Last Drive In” show. I have heard people mention this as one of the better 90s horror movies, and with Jeffrey Combs starring how couldn’t I watch this?
Castle Freak is about a family that finds out they inherited an old castle. The family is in tatters, after a car wreck that killed the son and left the daughter blind. The mother (Barbara Crampton) resents the father (Jeffrey Combs) for the wreck and blames his alcoholism. Strange occurrences take place and the blind daughter tells the father that another person is in the castle. Of course no one believes her but we soon find out there is a greatly deformed brother of the father on the loose, killing everything in sight. The story isn’t anything new, but it is handled well and acted strongly.
Jeffrey Combs is his normal frantic self, the guy gives 110% to every role he’s ever been given. He shows so much emotion from unfathomable sadness to intense rage. Some might see him as hammy, but damn does he make movies more interesting! Barbara Crampton is a B movie stand by and she’s great as always. Her role as the mother is a little different then her typical role as the sexy eye candy. She’s just charming and actually interviewed with Joe Bob during this on Shudder so that was fun. Jessica Dollarhide plays Rebecca the blind daughter and her acting job was commendable. It was her first big role since graduating college and I’m not sure she had another which is shocking.
The freak looks crazy great. Snarling face with lots of slobber, long nasty hair and scarred up body. Jordan Fuller did a great job as the Freak and emotes fairly well in the makeup. He was able to make you fear him and feel for him at the same time, which is impressive. The gore is decent, especially the nipple biting scene, that was cringeworthy. More than the gore, the tension that builds up is awesome. Very rarely does a film of the 90s build tension so well and have a great payoff each time. Castle Freak accomplishes that and I respect the hell out of it.
I’m not sure how many times I’ll watch this movie, but I enjoyed my viewing. Joe Bob giving backstory and doing interviews within was awesome, and insightful. When talking about best horror movies of the 90s, you can’t leave Castle Freak out. Yes it is low budget, and created by shlock masters Full Moon, but the tension, gore, acting, and suspense is great. I give Castle Freak a B+.
