Castle Freak

THE STORY: Interesting movie. Better than average I'd have to say. At least its better than expected.

John Reilly inherits an Italian castle from his father's former wife, a duchess. With his wife Susan and blind teenage daughter, Rebecca, he goes to Italy with the intent to sell the castle. What he doesn't know is that the duchess had a deformed son by his father that has been kept in the castle's dungeon for about forty years. The duchess was angry that John's father left her and the son was so deformed so she brutally beat the poor freak with a heavy whip daily. John has other troubles, too. Susan hates him for his drunk driving accident that killed their son, JJ and blinded Rebecca. The Freak manages to free himself (by ripping his own thumb off to slip his hand through the manacle that binds him....ugh!) and skulks about the castle. Rebecca hears him when he sneaks into her room, but no one believes her. The police refuse to search the castle on the word of the Reilly's daughter. John and Susan have an argument that ends with her basically telling him she wishes he had died in the accident. Upset, john, an alcoholic, begins to drink again. He brings a hooker back to the castle with him to ease his loneliness. While he does the hooker in the wine cellar, the Freak watches from the shadows. After John asks the hooker to leave the Freak captures her and tries to imitate John with her. The poor woman is hysterical and the freak bites off her nipple. (its pretty gruesome) The police question John the next day about the hooker's disappearance. (John was stupid enough to pick up a hooker while the same policeman he spoke to earlier was in the bar) The housekeeper of the castle finds the poor hooker chained in the cellar, but the Freak pummels her to death with the chain he still has bound to him. The police find both bodies and arrest John. That night the freak attacks Susan and Rebecca. John escapes from the police and returns to the castle in time to confront the monster and save his family. After a brutal fight John binds the Freak's chain to himself and leaps off the castle ending both of their tortured lives.

While not having a big budget this movie still uses what it has effectively. I actually felt sorry for the Freak. In a disturbing scene with the hooker we see that the poor beast has no genitalia. (He has balls, but no wee-wee) We never find out whether its part of his deformity or whether the duchess lopped it off. Jeffrey Combs gets kind of agitated as John, but still he put on a good show. Star trek fans will know that combs played the evil vorta Weyoun on Deep Space Nine.

Best Lines: "I didn't kill her, I [unwrite]ed her, Okay?!."- John explaining that he's not a murderer to the police.

1.) Holy Sh*t! Its Groppler Zorn from the first episode of Star trek: the Next Generation. (Actually its the Duchess...she looks f***ed up)

2.) The freak is lame...but he moves fast. When he wakes Rebecca up and she screams he runs out of the room. John and Susan come in two seconds later. There's no way the Freak moved out of sight before they could have seen him! There are other scenes too, when someone will hear the Freak and turn around but he'll duck behind something. Its rather dubious that no one caught a glimpse of him.

3.) Not to be unkind, but when Rebecca goes after the cat she hears, what was she smoking? She's blind! She's in a big ass castle that she's unfamiliar with! That's just dangerous, for her. Plus what does she think her chances of catching this cat are? Eleventy-Gazillion to one! I have a hard time catching my cats and I can see them.

NUDITY AND SEX: Not a lot, but yeah, you see the hooker's boobs...actually you see her, well, you know.

HUH?: The hooker attacks the freak in a bid to get away even though she's manacled to him! That was just plain stupid. She knows she's chained to him.   How did she plan on getting away from him? The least she could have done was try to kill him instead of wound him.

THE TALLY: For a Full Moon straight-to-video-release, this is pretty good. Its not one of those unstoppable monster flicks...the characters show a little depth. (not a lot, but hey, its a monster flick!) The Freak was obviously n a skin suit... you can tel in some parts. But for a Full moon pic thats forgivable. FM for once made a movie thats half decent. If you like horror movies you're bound to like this.