Castle Freak

Castle Freak
Home video release poster
Directed by	Stuart Gordon
Produced by	Albert Band Charles Band Maurizio Maggi
Screenplay by	Dennis Paoli
Story by	Stuart Gordon Dennis Paoli
Based on	The Outsider by H. P. Lovecraft
Starring	Jeffrey Combs Barbara Crampton Jessica Dollarhide Jonathan Fuller
Music by	Richard Band
Cinematography	Mario Vulpiani
Edited by	Bert Glatstein
Production company	Full Moon Enterprises Full Moon Entertainment
Distributed by	Full Moon Entertainment
Release date	14 November 1995 (USA)
Running time	95 min.
Country	United States
Language	English Italian Swedish

Castle Freak is a 1995 American horror film directed by Stuart Gordon, slightly based upon the short story The Outsider by H. P. Lovecraft. It was released direct to video on 14 November 1995. The film contains elements of splatter and slasher films.

After inheriting a 12th-century castle which belonged to a famed Duchess, John Reilly and his family, including his wife Susan and their blind teenage daughter Rebecca, travel to Italy to live. Susan blames him for the death of their son in a drunk driving accident which killed his five-year-old son and cost their daughter her eyesight.

On the advice of the estate's executor, the three plan to stay at the castle until they can liquidate the estate. Little do they know, however, that a horrible, freakish monster has been kept locked away in the basement. Unbeknownst to them, the duchess' son, Giorgio Orsino, who was kept imprisoned and tortured by the duchess in revenge for her husband leaving her, still lives in the dungeons of the castle.

Soon, the disfigured beast has escaped by means of breaking off his own thumb to get out of the manacles which bind him. The only reference to the H.P. Lovecraft story occurs when the monster beholds his hideous reflection in a mirror. He has emerged hungry for blood, leading to a series of unexplained deaths and disappearances including that of a prostitute who don't speak one word of english and John has picked up and brought to the castle after being rejected by his wife.

When the police name John their prime suspect, he must find the true murderer before he or his family becomes the next victim. Along the way, he must not only battle the creature itself but overcome demons from his own guilty past.