This remake of the old Stuart Gordon flick begins in fine fashion with a sexy naked nun flagellating herself in an ancient castle. Rebecca (Clair Catherine) receives word she’s inherited the castle, and she and her asshole boyfriend John (Jake Horowitz) go to check it out. John just wants to sell it and get outta Dodge, but our blind heroine kinda digs it. She soon finds out there is a misshapen thing lurking within the castle walls, but naturally, asshat doesn’t believe her. Eventually, John’s friends (whose reckless behavior was a contributing factor in blinding Rebecca) come to the castle to party and it’s only a matter of time before our old freak crashes it.
The original had some pacing issues, but this one is even more extreme in regards to pace. In fact, after the fun prologue, the next hour and fifteen minutes or so are pretty sluggish. You also have to put up with a whole lot of overly annoying asshole characters. Of course, they all wind up getting their just desserts, but it certainly does take a while.
The gratuitous nude and sex scenes that occasionally rear their head help to keep you watching throughout the draggy sections. We are talking some heavy duty Skinamax stuff here. I know this is a remake of a Charles Band film, but there are times when it feels closer to a Surrender Cinema flick than a Full Moon movie. That, in case you were wondering, is a compliment.
Things get progressively kinkier as it goes along too. Not only do we have scenes involving the freak watching others participating in the sexual act, the freak itself even gets down and dirty with a freaky S & M sequence that is sure to make your jaw drop. Yes folks, this remake puts just as much emphasis on “Freak” as it does “Castle,” if you know what I mean.
Although the first 4/5 of Castle Freak are slow and uneventful, hang in there because the last twenty minutes or so have to count as some of the wildest, sickest, twisted shit I have seen in a motion picture in some time. Not only does the film find a way to put a fresh spin on the original during the third act, but the last scene is gloriously gross. The final shot is so fiendishly fucked-up that it singlehandedly secured the flick a positive review, no matter how dawdling the first two acts were. As bad as 2020 on the whole was, this scene alone is enough to give any jaded horror fan hope for the future.
In short, give this Castle Freak a shot and let your freak flag fly!
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