Castle Freak (1995) #411

Director Stuart Gordon returns to familiar ground with his 1995 film "Castle Freak", which is inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Outsider". "Castle Freak" sees the return of Jefferey Combs, as the character John Reilly, and Barbara Crampton as his wife Susan. All three professionals seem more mature and laid back in this film when compared to their earlier work such as "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond"; "Castle Freak" is a darker, has a a steady build of tension, and deals with themes more adult, such as the dealing with the accidental death of a child and alcoholism. Although the movie is only loosely based on Lovecraft's short story, the movie feels very much like a story he would have written. It follows themes that Lovecraft used several times including a lead character having a mysterious family past.

While the story is and performances are solid, the film quality of the movie is lacking, which is evident since this film went straight to the video shelf. My other complaint is the overly energetic score by composer Richard Band. His work for the "Re-Animator" series was perfect, matching the chaotic nature of the Dr. Herbert West and his ungodly creations, but in this film it stands out as a stark opposite of everything that is occurring on screen.

John Reilly, his wife Susan and his daughter Rebecca, arrive in Italy to take over an old family estate that he has inherited from an unknown duchess that he was related to. There is an immense amount of strain between John and Susan ever since he was responsible for a car accident in which their son was killed and Rebecca was left blind. As the family goes about their business of settling in and deciding what to do with the estate, the unknown and deformed inhabitant in the basement escapes and begins to watch the family. This "castle freak" begins to kill the locals and the deaths are blamed on John. As John tries to clear his name and prove his innocence, the freak sets his sights on Rebecca, resulting in a climatic fight with John on top of the roof in a rain storm.

Dreams in the Witch House (2005)

"Dreams in the Witch House" aired during the first season of "Masters of Horror"; adapted by Stuart Gordon from the short story written by H.P Lovecraft. Gordon, who gave us the wonderful film adaptions of Lovecraft stories such as "The Re-Animator", "From Beyond", and "Dagon" works his magic again by modernizing this intricate tale and casting "Dagon" star Ezra Godden as Walter Gilman. This adaption takes the strongest beats from the story while ignoring others due to the 55 minute time limit. The changes and story is a great fit for the "Master of Horror" series and is one of my personal favorites.

Walter Gilman is a grad student writing his thesis on string theory. He finds the perfect place to rent a room while finishing his work. There he meets Francis Elwood and her infant son Danny as well as an elderly neighbor named Mr. Masurewicz. While studying one night, Walter is stunned that the walls in one corner of his room are just like those that he's working on, with slants and intersections that might make inter-dimensional travel possible. The next day Francis asks Walter to watch Danny while she goes to an interview; Walter agrees to but is visited by a naked woman who looks like Francis who seduces him and scratches a pentagram on his back. Walter discovers, all too late, that a witch lives in the space behind the walls and makes the men who live in that room do her bidding...which is to kill and sacrifice young children. Walter even wakes up at the university with the Necronomicon opened to a page on sacrifice! Walter now must do all that he can to resist the spells of the witch and save Danny and Frances as well as himself!

Dagon (2001)

“Dagon” was the feature film at the Lovecraft Film Festival in 2001. I loved watching it on the big screen for the first time and then realizing the joy that I was about to see it again on the Sci-Fi channel a week later. “Dagon” is a fun but loose adaptation of one of Lovecraft’s best known stories, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. It was directed by the one and only Gordon Stuart, produced by Brian Yuzna, and introduces Lovecraft movie fans to actor Ezra Godden, who would end up working with Stuart again in the production of “Dreams in the Witch House”. Just like “From Beyond”, “Dagon” was filmed and produced in Spain in order to make most of their budget.

Paul and his girlfriend Barbara are out boating with another couple when the boat hits a reef and becomes stuck far off shore. Paul and Barbara take a life raft to find help at a small fishing village within sight. When they arrive, they find that the town is empty but eventually find help at the local church. Barbara stays behind to find more help while Paul returns to the boat with two fishermen. His two friends are gone so Paul returns to the fishing village but is unable to find Barbara. He rents a room in the rundown hotel. Paul is woken up from a fitful sleep by a mob of odd looking villagers in the middle of the night. This mob enters the hotel and Paul barely escapes and realizes that these fish-like people are hunting him down, for whatever reason. He eventually finds the local crazy drunkard who tells him what has happened to the little fishing village and the evil that has come. Paul is now faced with trying to find his way out before it’s too late….

Favorite moment – The mob attacking Paul in the hotel. It’s intense and well paced and watching the actor play Paul, you can see how he is a lot like a young Jeffrey Combs while being himself. 

From Beyond (1986)

“From Beyond” holds a special place for me for a couple of reasons. One reason is because the first time I saw it was on the big screen at the Lovecraft Film Festival around 2007. Seeing a movie like this surrounded by die hard Lovecraft fans allows you to appreciate all of the fun and over the top moments that you might otherwise judge as silly if you saw it by yourself. People cheer when Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton first appear on the screen and they cheer even louder with every gruesome death that takes place. The other reason why I’m fond of this movie is because I was able to meet Barbara at this showing! She gave a wonderful 30 minute Q&A session during the festival, talking about this film as well as the “Re-Animator”. She is every bit as wonderful and gracious as you could hope.

“From Beyond” is essentially a sequel to the original Lovecraft short story of the same name, picking up right before the story's climax. As I previously mentioned, this films stars Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, who both starred in Mr. Stuart's "Re-Animator". Joining this stellar cast is another horror heavy weight, Ken Foree, best known for at the time for his role as Peter from "Dawn of the Dead". This film is an improvement upon the "Re-Animator", allowing each of the actors to grow and flesh out their characters. It's great to see Barbara's Dr. McMichaels as the lead, taking control and leading the narrative.

Dr. Pretorius has created a machine called the Resonator which stimulates the pineal gland and allows those near the machine to see creatures from other dimensions. During their first experiment, something comes and kills Dr. Pretorius and his assistant Crawford is blamed for his death. Psychiatrist Katherine McMichaels and police detective Bubba Brownlee take Crawford from the psychiatric ward that he is being kept and back to the house where the Dr. Pretorius died so they can recreate the murder scene and find out what really happened. The Resonator is rebuilt, and throughout the movie both Crawford and Katherine fall under its power and exhibit strange behaviors. The three end up fighting more dimensional monsters and the perverted beast that Dr. Pretorius has become.

Favorite moment - When Bubba is consumed by dimensional bees while saving Crawford and Katherine from the Resonator.

Re-Animator (1985)

“Re-Animator” is perhaps the most famous Lovecraft film to grace the screen to date. Jeffrey Combs portrayal of Herbert West is one of the most entertaining and honest interpretations of a Lovecraft character in my opinion. He has the arrogance, stubbornness, and ambition of the Herbert West found with the original story. Mr. Combs and director Gordon Stuart are able to insert some dark humor into an otherwise grisly tale without ruining the atmosphere. While there are plenty of extra characters added and the overall narrative does not follow the short stories, enough of the theme from Lovecraft’s work is found within the movie; Herbert West is essentially a modern day Dr. Frankenstein who creates more than his fair share of monsters.

The movie begins when Herbert West transfers from The University of Zurich to Miskatonic University after learning all that he could. He quickly gets on the wrong side of Dr. Hill after accusing him of stealing the work of his professor in Zurich. West quickly convinces his roommate, Dan Cain, to assist him in his experiments in reanimating the dead. Dan’s girlfriend Megan doesn’t trust West and by the end of the movie she can pretty much blame everything that goes wrong on him. And Dr. Hill. As West and Cain perform more experiments, they have more monsters to explain and handle until the movie finally ends in a messy gory mess, all in a very 80’s, mid-range budget special effects style of course.

Favorite moment – The opening scene and when West declares “I gave him life!”; it does a wonderful job of preparing the viewer as to what kind of movie they are about to watch.