The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Castle Freak
Thriller · Drama · Horror · 1996
John Reilly discovers that his family's newly inherited castle in Italy is haunted by a relentless, bloodthirsty creature.
Movie details
Castle Freak
“Hideous, hungry, and loose!”
1996 Thriller · Drama · Horror 1h 30m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.0 / 10
7.7K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
67 %
Tomatometer
TMDB
6.1 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
John Reilly discovers that his family's newly inherited castle in Italy is haunted by a relentless, bloodthirsty creature.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Castle Freak?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Set in a 19th century village, a young man studying under a local doctor joins a team of hunters on the trail of a wolf-like creature.
Caged
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Hunter, a newly pregnant housewife, finds herself increasingly compelled to consume dangerous objects. As her husband and his family tighten their control over her life, she must confront the dark secret behind her new obsession.
Night of the Living Dead
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A ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.
The Woman
Drama · 2011
A lawyer puts his family in jeopardy when he captures the last member of a violent clan and tries to forcibly tame her.
The Devil's Rejects
Drama · 2005
The murderous, backwoods Firefly family take to the road to escape the vengeful Sheriff Wydell, who is not afraid of being as ruthless as his target.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Stuart Gordon
Written by
Dennis Paoli · Stuart Gordon
Jeffrey Combs
John Reilly
Barbara Crampton
Susan Reilly
Jonathan Fuller
Giorgio
J
Jessica Dollarhide
Rebecca Reilly
Massimo Sarchielli
Giannetti
Elisabeth Kaza
Agnese
Luca Zingaretti
Forte
Court is in session
Put Castle Freak on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.