Explaining the Albania Part to Castle Freak. When we started filming Castle Freak in Albania, there was one thing that niggled me a bit. I’ll avoid any kind of spoiler alerts, but the main character inherits a castle which has been in the family for generations. Now whilst this would not be a problem in say Italy, where the original Castle Freak was set . Albania has a somewhat different past
Why is Albania so different?
If you know anything about the history of Albania it was communist from 1945-1991 and not just communist, but VERY communist. During the Sino-Soviet split they sided with the Chinese and were even buddies with the Khmer Rouge .
During this time any large estate was taken over by the government and there really was almost no such concept as private property.
For most watchers of a horror films, suspense can be shelved for the duration of the movie and of course it is fantasy. I’m a communist geek, so it irked me, and so it appears some other people that watched the movie. Although to be fair not all that many.
I’ll also add that Pioneer Media did suggest adding one line to the script to explain this, but were overruled! No names mentioned…
How to go about explaining the Albanian part to Castle Freak?
Every communist country had its ruling elite, despite their intended role being the equality of all. Albania despite its eccentricities was no different. Places such as “The Block” being a prime example of this/.
The following is NOT Cannon
The following is not canon, I did not write the movie after all. I was but a mere cog, but were I given the chance I would have explained it thus.
The Whateley family being occultists had friends in high places. I feel even throwing in a line about that could have worked. And thus during the communist regime Mr Whateley was the leading Albanian Party of Labour politician. With the village also being remote and run by occultists, it would have also been left to its own devices to some extent.
And that is how I would go about explaining the Albanian part to Castle Freak.
To read what I did on the movie click here
To read about great Albanian cuisine click here
