Stuart Gordon returned to "Lovecraft" years after directing the classics REANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND, with CASTLE FREAK.
It's interesting how he and Yuzna and Paoli took the source material (Lovecraft's writing) and updated it with copious amounts of gore and psychosexuality in REANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND. The two films worked excellently, and I would say that REANIMATOR is one of the greatest schlock horror films ever made.
He went wrong with CASTLE FREAK. Visually it is bland, lacking the gorgeous cinematography, wit, and all-round creativity of the former two films. Of course things had changed, it was the 90's, Gordon wasn't so eager to please as he was established, and there was a new kid on the block: Peter Jackson.
Apparently Stuart Gordon suffered from a case of penis envy when he found out that Jackson's film Dead Alive used a lot more fake blood than REANIMATOR so, not wanting to pale in comparison, he wanted to top Jackson with violence.
CASTLE FREAK was what was to re-pedestalise Gordon in the horror world (in his mind only) and it just doesn't.
In REANIMATOR we had the "head giving head" scene, which was only flirted with. In CASTLE FREAK we got the "pussy eating" scene.
What's interesting about Gordon is his obsession with castration. It's pivotal to understanding the psychosexuality of his work.
When Dr Hill's head is cut off in REANIMATOR he is set free and able to confidently explore his repressed sexuality because he is no longer attached to his penis. He then has Halsey bring his own daughter up to the alter for the sexual gratification of the man who lobotomised him.
We have two cases of this in FROM BEYOND. The first is Dr Pretorius, as it is hinted at (explicitly when Crawford calls him a eunuch and taunts him about his impotence) that he either has no penis OR can't use it. This leads him to brutalise women with BDSM violence. Once he gets ultimate power in the beyond he is free to do as he pleases, but of course has no women. Crawford himself was impotent under the wing of Pretorius, because he was his assistant, making him the "beta" intellect, and also had to listen to his master brutalising woman after woman after gently wining and dining them. THEN we have the castration of Crawford when McMichaels bites off his erect pineal gland. He not only returns to his senses but becomes a courageous hero who rises above his old master.
Now in CASTLE FREAK the titular freak is castrated. This was done by the evil matriarchal figure in his life, who imprisoned him, disfigured him, and destroyed his humanity. We have a scene where John makes love to a prostitute. He employs suckling and cunnilingus before doing the deed. Giorgio, who has never known sex or love, watches and is eager to try. But instead of repeating what his now absent brother did he mutilates the woman by eating her breast and vagina. What is different between CASTLE FREAK and the previous films is that this film focuses on the effects of the evil matriarch and how that corrupted a man. The dichotomy of the two brothers, one having all the worst luck and simply being lost in the world, the other having the best luck and also being lost in the world with alcoholism and a fraying relationship, deepens the psychosexual angle whilst also pointing out that it doesn't matter what your upbringing was like, we can all suffer mentally.
Unfortunately it's not a good film. How the freak spent his life stuck in a cell, brutalised beyond belief, and starved, somehow develops super human strength, is beyond me. And the scene described above leaves a bad taste in my mouth; it's disgusting and no fun. As I said, it lacks the wit of the first two outings. There is, however, an unavoidable sensitivity towards poor Giorgio, who one can't help but feel sorry for.
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