#31daysofhorror, day 12: Castle Freak (1995)

Spooky castle, gothic family drama, Italians

This movie adds a new state of titties to the GITM cinematic universe “titties bit off by dungeon eunuchs” & that part is really fucked up. This is one of the rare horror movies where the subplot is more compelling than the primary weird element. Jeffrey Combs’ John Reilly & Barbara Crampton’s Susan play a struggling couple trying to stay together after John’s alcoholism results in a fatal drunk driving incident that claimed the life of their son and the eyesight of their daughter. The tension in their relationship & John’s eventual obsessive spiral as he finds out the history of his father & the Dutchess D’Orsino are the best part of the movie. However, I don’t particularly like the story mechanism of the “freak” half brother that is scary because he’s fucked up looking. He’s actually scary because he’s feral & abused & I feel like there’s a little bit of nuance lost in the way it’s framed. However, I have to say the writing is better than expected for a Full Moon film so I’m not mad, but it could have been better.

— L

Clip

Host ratings

Stef: 1 C.H.U.D.
L: 3 C.H.U.D.s
Mel: 1 C.H.U.D.
Matt: 3 C.H.U.D.s

Average: 2 C.H.U.D.s