Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Fresh and Exciting

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I rather enjoyed this 90s cult classic. Horror legends Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton deliver great performances. The acting in general was very good, and the effects were great, as well. I also enjoyed the castle setting, which added greatly to the film's foreboding atmosphere.

I first saw this on a VHS in the mid 90s. Revisited this recently on a DVD. Well the movie hasn't aged well. It wasn't scary at all. The film is about a family which suffered horrible tragedy due to the fathers alcoholism. His son died and his daughter was blinded. The father just inherited a castle in Italy from his late aunt n he moves to that castle. The castle houses a dark secret... The acting by Combs and Crampton is good. They were convincing as the couple breaking up. Stuart Gordon managed to create a gory and Gothic horror tale. Gordon makes good use of the castle's ominous atmosphere and he also gets wonderful performances from his cast. The movie was shot on location in a genuine Italian castle which added a sense of the Gothic feel. The gore is too much, breasts are bitten off, eyes are gouged out, thumb bitten off, vagina bitten off, body being whipped to death by iron chains, cat been devoured, etc. But the problem with the movie was its story n lack of tension n suspense. Also the body count ain't that high. The freak is one of the most frightening monsters but he is as much a victim as a villain. Sometimes u feel pity for it, especially when its revealed that its penis has been severed. Also ther r too many flaws, i mean how could the freak survive for so long after being chained n locked up. Nonetheless, a one time watch considering the director n the lead actors.

This movie was a disappointment. The story is essentially The Shining with a castle (or a very cheap set masquerading as a castle, to be specific) substituting as the hotel and a monster instead of the ghosts. The budget is the same you'd see from a Cinemax softcore porn, as is the photography, sets, lighting, and video it was shot on. The story is a failed attempt at sincerity: there's no easier way to make your audience feel sympathetic for your characters than to show them experiencing emotional trauma. And the trauma in this movie is pretty trite. Want an example? A blind girl listening to a language tape teaching the Italian words for colors begins to cry at what she will never see.This movie had a few things going for it, however: the monster is actually pretty cool, pretty scary-looking. And there is a pretty decent amount of nudity from Raffaella Offidani, herself a star of Italian "erotic" films. The gore, however, leaves much to be desired, as does the acting, even from the experienced Jeffrey Combs.Other than this I've only seen two other Stuart Gordon films: Re-Animator and From Beyond, both of which were outstanding. But I won't let this little footnote in his career keep me from watching many more of his movies.

A family of three (Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Jessica Dollarhide) have inherited a castle, but have no plans to stay on. So they take inventory in order to sell off the property. But they aren't the only living relatives -- in the basement is the "castle freak", a deformed cannibal chained to the dungeon. If he gets loose, the family's heritage may become one of pure carnage.Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator") directs this film with a cast consisting of Jeffrey Combs ("Re-Animator") and Barbra Crampton ("Re-Animator"), produced by Charles Band ("Re-Animator"). Maybe you've caught on, but this is something of a "Re-Animator" reunion... with a few people missing. And a much lower production value (the film quality looks like 1970s issue or something from PBS during British comedy hour). For the most part, this is pretty solid film.Combs is quite good, and one wonders why he's not given leading roles more often. Crampton is also good, and the blind girl (Jessica Dollarhide, in her only feature film) was remarkable. The freak? I have to say the makeup, effects and even the mannerisms were impressive. There's a scene where a prostitute meets her end... and they really went out of their way to show how horrific the freak could be.The story isn't fast-paced or action-packed, so if you need to be constantly entertained, this may not be for you. But if you like a good development in your plot, I think you'd appreciate this lost treasure (definitely one of the lesser-seen Gordon horror films). I wasn't paying as close attention as I should have been, because I was half in the bag from drinking Scoresby Scotch (it's the connoisseur's Scotch)... but it kept me feeling pretty good. Thanks, Full Moon Features, for one of your better offerings.