credit: www.amazon.com
Anchor Bay Entertainment presents The Garden. Written by Samuel Bozzo and Don Michael Paul. Running Time: 92 minutes. Not Rated.
Director:
Don Michael Paul
Cast:
Adam Taylor Gordon……….Sam
Lance Henriksen……….Ben Zachary
Brian Wimmer……….David
Sean Young……….Miss Chapman
The Movie:
David is a father recovering from alcoholism and recently went through a divorce. Sam is his son and isn’t dealing well with the way things have changed. He has nightmares and he cuts himself a lot. On the way home with four newly purchased horses David and Sam get in a car accident when Sam sees a freaky looking guy standing in the road. He freaks out and his dad crashes the car. A nearby farmer, Ben, finds them and brings them to his ranch to care for them. A lot of creepy noises and music let you know creepy things are afoot. Ben wins over Sam by showing him his Spider-Man comic collection (you know how much evil people like comics). Meanwhile he gets David back on the drink and he starts going out with women leaving Sam at home alone with Ben.
They end up staying on Ben’s ranch. Slowly but surely the spookiness begins. The doctor helping Sam deal with his issues shows up to check on him. While standing alone outside in the dark, Ben walks towards her. He sees a hatchet and calls it to him. You can guess what happens next. When Sam tells his dad what happened, his dad tells him it was all just a dream.
Lance Henriksen is best known as the android Bishop from Aliens. The only decent acting in the film comes from him. He does creepy well.
In between the somewhat creepy parts are a whole bunch of boring parts. Some chess playing, some more comic book talk, some really lame religious talk, even a bully.
What it all boils down to is Ben has the tree of life in his front yard, you know, the one in the Garden of Eden? Anyway, Ben is trying to get David to eat the fruit from the tree so the apocalypse will happen. It’s like watching a Sunday School class gone wrong. The four horsemen even show up.
It has an interesting premise and the potential to be something worthwhile but it fails ever step of the way. It seems like the only reason any minor character is introduced is so Ben can kill them and turn then into his zombie like slaves. What I really want to know is how he transported the Garden of Eden to America?
Story: 4/10
Acting: 5/10
Look/Feel: 2/10
Originality: 4/10
Entertainment Value: 1/10
FINAL SCORE: 3/10
The DVD:
The Video:
This film is presented in widescreen, 1.77:1 and is enhanced fro 16×9 TVs. The film looks fine, too bad what’s on the film isn’t any good.
Score:9/10
The Audio:
This film is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The sound effects in this film may be terrible but they sound fine.
Score:9/10
Extras:
Audio Commentary with Director Don Michael Paul: This is some seriously boring commentary, avoid if at all possible.
The Garden: Behind-The-Scenes: Continuing with the boring theme of this DVD comes the most boring Behind The Scenes I’ve ever seen. It’s all production footage with the theme music playing very loudly over it. No interviews no insights, nothing interesting.
Lance Henriksen bio
Still Gallery
Theatrical Trailer
Score:4/10
| InsidePulse’s Ratings for The Garden | |
