Castle Freak (1995)

Castle Freak is an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation from the short story “The Outsider”, directed by Stuart Gordon  and released by Full Moon Entertainment. The plot involves a family who inherits a 12^th century mansion in Spain. John Reily (Jeffery Combs), Susan Riley (Barbara Crampton), and Rebecca Reily (Jessica Dollarhide), as their blind daughter, move into the 12^th century mansion. The family is still recovering from a drunken driving accident that killed their son and left the daughter blind. John is a recovering alcoholic and is attempting to win back his families trust. While John combats his own demons, there is something living in the basement. This basement creature is a maniac and eats humans if it isn’t chained to the wall. Strange noises occur throughout the house and the Reily family believes that it’s just the old mansion. The creature becomes loose and wreaks havoc on the mansion murdering guests and leaving John as the prime suspect. John later finds out that the creature in the basement is his brother. His mother locked him in the basement due to her embarrassment of his disfigurement and that his father was not her husband’s. The film is an excellent adaptation to the short story and keeps you in your seat the entire time. It has become one of my favorite films from Full Moon Entertainment. Castle Freak was released recently by Full Moon Entertainment on DVD or BluRay, as well as a UK version on BluRay or DVD by 88 Films. It can be purchased through Amazon on either format and is a must own for any horror fan.

Lurking Fear (1994)

Produced by Charles Band of Full Moon Entertainment, Lurking Fear is an adaptation film loosely based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story and directed by C. Courtney Joyner. Lurking Fear stars John Martense (Blake Adams), as an ex-con, who has just been released from jail. He returns home to meet a family friend, a mortician, Knaggs (Vincent Shiavelli) to help decipher a map that holds the location of his deceased father’s money from a robbery heist. The map leads John to a graveyard with an abandoned church where he is confronted by Cathryn (Ashley Laurence) who is seeking revenge for her sister’s murder. Cathryn is accompanied by a local doctor Dr. Haggis (Jeffrey Combs) who finds a woman in the abandoned church about to give birth. They are quickly joined by a gang of criminals who was with John’s father during the robbery, looking to retrieve their share of the money. The story takes many twists as they become hostage by the gang of criminals. Unknowingly, the abandon church holds a dark secret.  A group of humanoid creatures lurk below the churches holy grounds and cemetery. They must fight the creatures together, while still looking for John father’s money. With more than two situations ongoing, it’s a fun thrilled action horror. John falls into a pit in the church and discovers what lurks below is connected to a grave in the cemetery and an even darker part to relatives. The creatures are guarding a treasure beneath the catacombs of the church. Released recently by Wizard Video on DVD on Amazon or from Full Moon Direct, Lurking Fear is a must own and see for any fan of Full Moon Entertainment’s or any fan for a well made adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft.

White of The Eye (1987)

White of The Eye is set in the isolated deserts of Tucson, Arizona. The story involves a deranged killer on the loose who has a knack for torturing and killing rich beautiful woman. The killer tortures them before killing them to keep their eyes open so he can showcase to them in a vanity mirror, thus the title of the movie “White of The Eye”. The movie is more of a thriller directed by Donald Cammell, adapted by him and his wife China Kong from the 1983 novel “Mrs. White” by Margaret Tracy. During many of the stalking and killing scenes of the actual white of the killers eye is referenced as you can see the pupils of the killer become dilated. It is also referenced to be a saying that the Native Americans use to describe war and revenge. Detective Charles Mendoza (Art Evans) from the homicide department seeks out Paul White (David Keith), who is a specialist installing hi-fi sound systems in wealthy people’s homes. Paul has many special talents such as to make noises echo through the air in his head to show him where the sound of speakers should come from in a room. One problem with this is he can’t do his trick with his eyes open. He is married to Joan White (Cathy Moriarty) and father to a little girl, Danielle White (Danielle Smith). Paul can’t shake the past of his wife who had dated another troubled individual, Mike DeSantos (Alan Rosenberg). Paul has various flashbacks of how he and Joan first met and how it came to be that Mike had come to abandon her. In the first of the murders, the killer even takes a shower as he meticulously leaves a blood bath behind with no clues but signs of a ritualistic murder. Joan is later questioned by Detective Mendoza who suggests that her husband Paul may somehow be involved in the slayings. At Mike’s suggestions Paul and Mike go deer hunting trip together when he first noticed that Paul becomes brutally violent when he shoots and mutilates a deer, demonstrating his twisted fascination with killing. There is a love triangle between the three individuals when Mike comes back into the picture. The movie leaves us to wonder who is capable of the murders happening around Tucson. Distrust and abandonment meet each other again as the murders continue and become more vicious and brutal, even more methodically as concepts of committing these killings in a painted face as an Indian Brave and turning the murders into ritualistically killings. The White of The Eye is a shocking and yet brilliant thriller throughout the entire movie that keeps you guessing who is committing this terror in Tucson. White of the Eye was released by Scream! Factory and is available on Blu-Ray, DVD and Streaming on Amazon Prime.

The Guardian (1990)

For thousands of years a religious order known as the Druids worshiped trees believing that every tree has a guardian spirit. Most of the trees are associated with good but many trees embodied powers of evil and darkness.  In this folktale, The Guardian by director William Friedkin is his first horror film since The Exorcist. The Guardian is based on a parent’s worst fear, losing a child. Parents of two children, Alan (Gary Swanson) and Molly (Natalija Nogulich), decide to take a trip leaving their two children in the care of a guardian, Camilla Grandier (Jenny Seagrove). Camilla’s intentions are quickly revealed as a battle for the child’s soul begins, based on the popular novel by Dan Greenburg, “The Nanny.” As the parent’s leave for their trip, Molly, the wife realizes she left her glasses at home. She returns home to find her youngest child missing and had been taken away by Camilla. Camilla sacrifices the baby to the tree in the woods which leaves the imprint of the baby’s face in its roots. Fast forward to three months later where the story continues with a new couple Phil (Dwier Brown) and Kate (Carey Lowell), and their baby boy Jake who moves into the same house. The parents hire Camilla, as a guardian to look after Jake so they can continue with their advertising jobs. Camilla quickly becomes a part of the new family. Things begin to get strange when the husband begins to have weird dreams about Jake and Camilla that begin to come true. As the story continues, Camilla is caught trying to steal Jake from the hospital after a minor injury. A detective investigating the baby’s injury tells the parents that Camilla doesn’t exist. Camilla begins to turn into part tree and attacks Kate, while Phil attempts to cut down the demonic tree with the embedded baby’s face. As he cuts down the limbs of the tree, pieces of skin start to fall off Camilla and she loses her entire leg after Phil cuts down an entire branch of the tree. The Guardian is an action packed horror film with lots of folklore on the Druids who sacrificed human beings to trees for centuries, and includes ancient evil, and the occult. The film is clearly another well directed movie by the famous William Friedkin, which makes the film a must see for horror fans. Released on Blu-Ray by Scream! Factory is now available for purchase also as DVD on Amazon.