I've suffered through enough SEED PEOPLE's and SUBSPECIES to know what kind of shit Charles Band is capable of pulling. But, he also brought the superb talents of Stuart Gordon to our attention, so I am eternally grateful.

Gordon returns to the director's chair in this his seventh feature film outing (the others being the brilliant RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, DOLLS, ROBOJOX, FORTRESS and THE PIT &THE PENDULUM). Luckily, it also reunites key members from his early successes, namely screenwriter Dennis Paoli and stars Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs (who has appeared in every Gordon flick except DOLLS). The Lovecraftian flick is also boosted by the Italian locations and Gordon's willingness to throw in an unconventional, un-Hollywood, downbeat ending.

Combs and Crampton star as an estranged husband and wife checking out the Italian castle he's inherited. Along for the ride is their blind teenage daughter, handicapped in the accident that also killed her baby brother. Toss in Combs' guilt at causing the accident due to his booze-jockeying, and you've got enough family guilt and repressed psychosis for fifteen whole minutes of 'The Jerry Springer Show.'

It's not long before the titular castle freak shows up, causing mischief, making Combs a tad kooky, and murdering some locals (including the best cinematic nipple-rip scene since the Italian zombie flick BURIAL GROUND). Granted, the story ain't much, playing like an extended version of 'Night Gallery'. But, Gordon, Combs and Crampton make it work. (Especially Crampton, who keeps her clothes on -- dang! -- and makes her character sympathetic, instead of a whiner.) The actors lend a certain credibility to the proceedings, maybe because of our familiarity with them, while Gordon isn't shy about piling the gore on when it's called for.

Like much of Gordon's recent work, the flick isn't on the level of his Lovecraft efforts (RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND), but it's superior to most of the straight-to-video horror clogging video store shelves.