I tend to dislike reboots with a passion because – more often than not – they tend to either be cynical money grabs or retreads of what we’ve already seen.

In other words, typically wastes of time.

For instance the reboot of Total Recall (2012) wasn’t terrible but the original, directed by Paul Verhoeven (Robocop), was at certain points so bizarre and over-the-top that a remake that isn’t equally as idiosyncratic – and at times plain weird – would likely pale in comparison.

Which it did.

Another that I saw recently was the remake of Point Break (2015), which also wasn’t bad, though compared to the original? It not only didn’t hold up particularly well but the new lead made Keanu Reeves almost seem alive, which is a feat in and of itself.

So going into Tate Steinsiek’s Castle Freak, a reboot of Stuart Gordon’s film; a high bar to clear, to say that I was not exactly optimistic would be underplaying my hand.

I expected a retread of movies like Friday The 13th, with a thin veneer of Stuart Gordon’s original – and a thinner veneer of H.P. Lovecraft.

And having seen the movie…I was wrong.

Castle Freak is without a doubt the most deliberately H.P. Lovecraft movie ever made and in fact it’s problems – as minor as they are – arise when Steinsiek attempts to mimic the more exploitative tendencies of Stuart Gordon.

Though as I said, the problems are minor and Castle Freak is brilliant.