Garden of Love Movie Review-Available Now on Blu-Ray via Unearthed Films

Being this close to Valentine's Day and with the title of the movie, you might be expecting a love story. Well, there is a bit of love in the story, but this is not a romance by any means.

In the first few minutes of the film, there is a brutal slaying of a family that takes me back to the brutality of films like Maniac(1980), and we will later see in the Terrifier series.

However brutal, I prefer the practical effects that were used here and how the lighting really helped with the aesthetics of the film, setting a dark, almost depressing mood over the film.

It's where our lead character is in a dark space, after all, she is the only survivor of the killings that left her an orphan, also in a coma for 2 years. 

Many years later, Rebecca is having flashbacks or sightings of ghosts, but she's not quite sure what it all means. She seeks help from others, but her boyfriend is less than empathetic and tells her there is no such thing as ghosts. 

A good number of the sightings she is having are through television sets. One such scene puts Dan Akroyd's skit of Julia Child cutting her finger on SNL to shame, in what is done in a brutal, but somewhat comedic scene, as seen above.

Her father and the rest of her family and friends are just asking one thing of Rebecca, is to find who did this and bring them to the family and let things be as they may. They mean her no harm, but unknown to Rebecca is that anyone she brings to the house is in danger of the wrath of their demise. 

The film has a satisfying end, and yes, there is love in the end, but you will have to see what that is yourself.

So, for all that I enjoyed about the film, the weakest point is easily the acting, but a lot of us don't watch a horror movie for that anyway, but this was next-level poor acting. However, James Pyecka stood out like a sore thumb amongst the rest. He was consistently good throughout the film as Thomas Munster.

The film is from 2003, now available on Blu-ray, and it is not remastered; it was shot and edited on 35mm film. It is very apparent in the low lighting, as there is a lot of grain throughout the film. Again, a preference I have to everything on digital, or being restored in 4K, it takes away a lot of what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish when they initially shot the film; quite often, it's all lost in a 4K upgrade to eliminate all that for modern audiences.

The Behind the Scenes video segment is great and really gives us a look behind the camera at how the effects, stunts, and some of the filming. In one scene where they are filming, so much fake blood was used that it sprayed all over the camera, the lens, and the cinematographer. It took them over an hour to remove it from the camera and lens.

During the interview with Director Olaf Ittenbach, he mentions that he believes he made the cinematographer sick two or three times, leaving him to question his reason for being there.

He also mentions that it was hard to shoot in the house they had to use, even though they had access to the entire house. When 25+ crew members gather in a room, you are suddenly limited by the amount of space available. It was scheduled for a 28-day shoot, but they did it in 27.

Below is the link to the press release, which includes information, the trailer, and details on how to obtain your own copy of the film if you are a fan or simply a horror enthusiast.

Garden of Love press release