The Garden (I) (2006) User Reviews

It looked great, didn't it?

[gearhart · 5/10 · 15 July 2006]

I totally agree with you about the production values. Some scenes were breathtaking, and the camera shots were very well done. Very interesting, visually. Nothing cheap or slipshod in the cinematography, that's for sure.

The movie needed a better story, or a more clear story, or maybe some exposition scenes (the four horsemen, for example) should have been earlier in the movie.

When you spend the first two-thirds of the movie wondering what's going on, it's easy to lose interest before you get it figured out.

10 stars for the directing, editing, cinematography; 5 for the plot. It's worth a rental.

The Garden

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 1 January 2010]

I think ultimately, the viewer must decide whether or not what you are watching is a complete fantasy concocted by the delusions of a disturbed child or a religious battle between good and evil with the world's lives hanging in the balance. Henriksen has one of his better roles of the last several years as an enigmatic farmer who might just be Old Scratch himself perhaps seducing a child's father into taking the bite of an apple, reversing the apocalypse, giving away his soul since God has supposedly turned his back on him. Adam Taylor Gordon, in a mature, subdued performance, is Sam, a kid plagued with night terrors, portraiting his nightmares on paper. His father is David(Brian Wimmer, displaying a tormented soul), a somewhat reformed alcoholic hoping to bond with his son as they return from the hospital to his ex-wife waiting for Sam. Henriksen goes by Ben in the film, but director Don Michael Paul established upon his introduction something sinister and mysterious about this man. It seems that Sam has fallen prey to his troubled mind, but the movie remains ambiguous as to if Ben is Satan or not. Images of importance include a specter with a damaged face who beckons Sam, the hanging fruit just about ripe for the plucking, a wicked dead tree, dead victims(..who supposedly died at Ben's hands)who return to visit Sam, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, a serpent, and a flaming sword. Ben makes it clear that he will have David's soul and get revenge on God, with Sam threatening to stop him. Other supporting roles include Claudia Christian as Sam's psychiatrist who wished for him to remain at her hospital for further examination(..and perhaps suffers a horrifying fate when she comes to visit him)and Sean Young as a bible school teacher Sam befriends. The plot is chock full with religious overtones, and it's up to our determination as to if what Sam experiences is real or illusion. The finale where everything plays out like a spiritual warfare between both sides, is rather hokey, unless it's all in Sam's head..a final image, might contradict this theory, however. Every now and then, Henriksen acquires a role with some meat on it and he's quite creepy at times here. Some moments of startling violence, but the film is mostly a puzzler to evaluate.

An Almost Good B-Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 29 July 2011]

The boy Sam (Adam Taylor Gordon) is tormented by dreadful visions and nightmares and self-inflicts injures to his body. After a period in the hospital, Dr. Cairns (Claudia Christian) tells Sam's father David (Brian Wimmer) that the boy is affected by the divorce of his parents and a period together with him will make good to Sam.

David travels with Sam in his truck but Sam sees a spirit on the road and pulls the steering wheel of his father, provoking a car accident. Out of the blue, the farmer Ben Zachary (Lance Henriksen) rescues them and offers a job to David in his farm. He accepts the offer and enrolls Sam at the local school.

Sam has Bible classes with Miss Grace Chapman (Sean Young) and sooner he leans that Mr. Zachary is the devil and the place is the Garden of Eden. Further, Zachary has an evil plan for David.

"The Garden" is an almost good B-movie. Lance Henriksen is great in the role of an evil being, the cast has good performances and the atmosphere is sinister. Unfortunately the story is flawed and messy, with a disappointing conclusion. The motive why Zachary has chosen Sam and his father to accomplish his goal is not clear. And why David and his wife did not talk about Dr. Cairns, if she had sent the doctor to the farm to bring Sam back. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Jardim do Mal" ("Garden of the Evil")

For those looking for highly symbolic good vs evil

[wrlang · 15 July 2006]

A Blockbuster rental, I chose it mainly because of the seasoned character actors in it.

It was basically as I expected and the actors definitely made the movie better than the ancient story line would allow.

A 'very special' boy named Sam (Adam Taylor Gordon) is struggling with his parents divorce due to his father's alcoholism and other issues not apparent. This pushes Sam to self mutilate, but it seemed that there was more to Sam's self mutilation than just the divorce.

Sam's father David (Brian Wimmer) takes Sam traveling during his summer with the boy and they have a car accident caused by Sam's hallucinations, seemingly brought about by the will of Ben (Lance Henrikson) close to Ben's remote country home. Ben nurses them both back to health, but David is taken in by Ben's logical approach to life's problems and agrees to stay with Ben as a handy man until they can afford to leave. Sam and Ben never hit it off as Sam detects something odd in Ben's outlook on life and the continued hallucinations make life with Ben uncomfortable.

As the weak father turns to self indulgence with the urging of Ben, Sam gains strength from the other key mother figures to forgive and protect his father from whatever Ben has planned for them.

The plot is very simple. The struggle of good and evil people constantly battle within themselves and how blind faith can simplify life's decisions when people are guided through life's choices by logical (but evil) arguments they are ill equipped to refute.

If you don't have a very good background in Christianity/Judaism you will not understand the high degree of symbolism, and the movie will seem very heavily edited. I can see it being a cultural classic for the evangelical crowd.

In the Garden of Eden, baby! Don't you know that I Love Youzzzz zzzzzzz zzzz....

[Coventry · 3/10 · 18 March 2006]

First and foremost, it's a VERY bad idea to schedule a mainly story-driven and atmospheric horror movie like "The Garden" at 3am during a Film Festival and after exhilarating movies like "The Hills Have Eyes"-remake or "Neighborhood Watch"! The subject matter "The Garden" brings forward is interesting, but too abstract and definitely not compelling (let alone exciting) enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. A divorced father and his psychologically troubled son are involved in a car accident and recover at the house of a mysterious old man (Lance Henriksen in his umpteenth inferior horror role). The old guy's garden turns out to be the genuine Paradise of Eden; the place where our whole existence began according to the Holy Bible. Through the re-occurring nightmares of young Sam, the apocalypse can be inflicted in this exact same garden (don't ask me how as I somehow must have missed that part) and maybe that even is what the old man desires to achieve! Don Michael Paul's second film as a director starts out surprisingly stylish with elegant camera-work and a patient drawing of characters and settings. The first murder-sequence also comes at the exact right timing and it's quite bloody, especially considering the tone of the film so far. For reasons I fail to comprehend, "The Garden" then turns into a confusing and painfully dull mess that eventually reverts to annoying clichés and predictable plot twists. The only elements left to enjoy near the end are the creepy music and young Adam Taylor Gordon's impressive acting performance which easily surpasses the quality of his lines.

A horror movie with an identity crisis

[killarmy2001belgium · 3/10 · 18 March 2006]

I saw this movie at the BIFFF (Brussels international festival of fantasy film) and found it struggling with it's plot material.

A young boy suffers from nightmarish visions and as a result has a tendency to put his body full of razor cuts. The boy resides with his father who is recovering from alcoholism and fails to be of support for his troubled son.

When father and son end up having a car accident caused by a vision the boy has, they get rescued by an elder man named Ben (Lance Henriksen).

Ben has a spooky air around him; vanishing and appearing at random pace throughout his ranch, always the sharp answer or life lesson on his tongue.

Ben has a weird agenda as he manipulates the father into alcoholism again and the boy into experiencing weird visions.

The movie tries so hard to build up the Christian undertone (think tree of life, adam & eve, apocalypse themes) but fails at each occasion.

The visions of the boy are the only up tempo sequences as the rest of the movie focuses on Lance Henriksen talking in Chinese fortune cookie lingo.

A shame, because the production values are there, the star (Henriksen) is wasted with this kind of script and the editing tries to contrast every moment of suspense with random actions (like heating up a stove, cleaning a fish, ...) This is B-movie material, a rental for the Henriksen fans, others should wisely avoid.

And I Beheld Another Boring Bible Cartoon

[jet66 · 3/10 · 4 October 2012]

Really great actors bring the only grace to shine on this apocalyptic poppycock on a horse farm. Even discounting plot holes and logical inconsistencies, this utterly incoherent mess tries to re-frame the Book of Revelations as a dysfunctional family affair smelling of alcohol and cow-dung. Christian platitudes replace dialog (eg, "Love the sinner, Sam. Hate the sin"), and the competent cinematography is otherwise awash in gratuitous symbolism. But don't mistake this movie for a bible class. Like most movies of this genre, it's a mash-up of lurid symbolism from Genesis and Revelations, with little relevance to anyone who hasn't stocked up their basement for the End Times.

Somewhat generic and predictable...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 27 August 2022]

When I sat down to watch the 2006 supernatural thriller "The Garden" here in 2022, it was without ever having heard about the movie. I stumbled upon the movie by random luck and saw that Lance Henriksen was on the cover. So of course I opted to sit down and watch what writer Samuel Vartek and director Don Michael Paul had to offer here.

The storyline, as written by Samuel Vartek, was fair enough. I mean, the story was well-enough paced, but the script did suffer from being somewhat generic and overly predictable. And sadly so, then there wasn't any surprises or any major ups and down throughout the course of the 92 minutes that the movie ran for. Don't get me wrong here, because "The Garden" is not a bad movie, it was just not an outstanding movie.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and I liked that they had cast Lance Henriksen for that particular role, especially since he was rather nicely cast for that role and pulled it off quite entertaining. I wasn't particularly familiar with the cast ensemble here, aside from Lance Henriksen, and I do believe that I might have seen Claudia Christian in a movie or two somewhere.

Visually then "The Garden" was okay. This wasn't a movie that was working heavy on the special effects, and the ones that were in the movie played out well enough.

There is a really good atmosphere in the movie, and that definitely helps to drive the movie forward.

My rating of "The Garden" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Finally, a movie I liked

[Xex-Arachnid · 6/10 · 24 August 2006]

You don't have to have big budget production and CGI FX coiling out the rear to make a great movie, and movies like this proves it so.

The movie is basically about a problem young boy named Sam as in Samuel as in 'Judgement of God', turning his vices then into virtues within himself.

It has to do with the imperfections of his father and the trials that he has to overcome within himself once he's found a cause (the love for his father)to come out majestically to defeat the devil's plan to reverse the apocalypse.

Lawrence Hendrickson (who's a great actor) plays an excellent devil. He's odd, but old, he's calm but cunning but for the most part, subtle in his plans and not fire blazing like Al Pacino's portrayal (btw, The Devils' Advocate was an excellent film in its own rite).

The movie is very symbolic in a lot of ways, bloody at times, and a lot of one eyed, lip sewn shut specters, flaming swords, and horses.

The movie do kind of get's annoying with the ghosts whispering his name but plays out in the end for me. All in all, the plot isn't very complex but original and played out well.

I suggest you go to your local crap-buster's and rent a copy and judge for yourself.

the garden

[kirk_bones · 8/10 · 28 December 2006]

i saw this film on the horror channel which at last is beginning to show some intelligent movies and less of the brainless slasher movies that it is so fond of. so to the plot A young boy with deep psychological problems,played brilliantly by Adam Taylor Gorden, and his dad go on holiday to a small ranch,owned by the very creepy Lance Henrickson in one of his better roles. It turns out that Lance Hendrickson is the devils disciple and the boy has to defeat him and prevent the reversal of the apocalypse. This movie is shot brilliantly in vivid colours,the death scenes aren't many but the ones there are ,are very well executed(no pun intended) Being of a religious persuasion ,i found this film also had some deep fundamental truth's like love the sinner hate the sin and some greater being having to have been in charge of the big bang. Add to this some deeply moving images ,the most moving being a horse crying and u have a very intelligent well thought out horror movie. The only real complaint is that it took a bit long to explain the plot and the final scene was a bit confusing.These are only minor details and don't take anything away from this movie. This film is definitely worth 8/10

Great movie

[atinder · 7/10 · 14 July 2009]

This movie start just like The Shining and sometime it's feels like you are watching The Omen! Plot: A troubled young boy and his father on a road trip stumble upon a rural farm where the elderly owner has sinister plans for the both of them involving witchcraft and evil

This movie is not great but far far far away from being a really bad movie I did enjoy this movie, there were some great creepy scenes this (This did NOT have those silly scares scenes) i love bathroom scenes and Mirrors stuff (Least that one scene from this movie better the movie called Mirrors) and Farther get angry with son (it might be a bit of the The Shining again) but it works very well with the rest of the movie

Acting was not bad at all it was actually really good!

Some might say this is a The Shining rip of It far from it.

7/10 Good movie

LOST IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN!!! Yeah.. Seriously I was..

[pooky_rules · 8/10 · 9 February 2007]

In my opinion, this film was innovative and compelling yet at the same time it slightly lacked the ability to grip me as a spectator. Mind you, I watched the entire film and thought it was a good concept. The metaphor of the fathers drink addiction and his temptation for the devils urges was very well done. Adam Taylor Gordans superb acting performance was very well needed in this film. The ending was perhaps a little confusing, but, who knows, perhaps it was the best ending possible.

Storyline - 8/10, acting - 8/10, Cinematography - 8/10

I rate this film overall 8/10.

I recommend this film to anybody who's a fan of the genre, even though the genre escapes me right now. Try not to get confused by the plot like I slightly did.

Good idea, indifferent script

[moviemanic07 · 22 July 2006]

A troubled father and son find themselves staying farm that was the site of the Garden of Eden, and their evil host wants them to repeat history's first mistake in this interesting misfire. I find myself in a bit of a quandary with movies like this. I have given worse films better reviews because of a varied level of expectation. If, for instance, "Dark Town," had the same production values and the level of acting talent on display in this film, I would have been thumbs-down on it. However, as it was, I recommend it on what it was able to accomplish on a shoestring. "The Garden" looks great and features real actors and therefore has to stand toe-to-toe with the "real" movies I see in the theater. Sadly, it falls short on that level. The main problem is the script. It is a very interesting idea, but the internal "theology" ultimately doesn't make sense and therefore it isn't especially compelling. For instance, how is Sean Young able to "call" the sword protecting the tree? Is the Apocalpyse a good thing meant to help man that Satan is trying to stop? Why would another human eating from the tree through the moral universe upside down? Those are just a fraction of the questions I had that the film left unanswered. I should perhaps congratulate the film for making me think, but, I think I would have preferred to be entertained instead. A little sharper writing would have made all of the difference.

This is the third of the recent Stephen J. Cannell horror films which I have seen. (The other two being "Room 6" and "It Waits.") All three featured good production values, acting and make-up effects. Sadly, I didn't find any of the three particularly compelling. Hopefully that will change as Cannell continues to make these films. I admire the fact that he is attempting to tell interesting stories and not just offering up more blades and babes films. I am relieved that someone is trying to tell horror tales that someone over twenty can watch. He just needs more compelling stories. I hope he finds them.

Not a bad movie but Lance Henriksen rules.

[ak6702 · 8/10 · 22 November 2006]

Justed watched it very confusing but has great ending.A bad script but great acting from Lance.He made it watchable.You actually feel bad for his version of Satan because he acts so well.Sean Young is great as well.Kinda slow till the last half hour or so but not bad.Adam Taylor Gordon is brilliant he be awesome as he grows up.Some good scares but needed to explain more of what Lance's role was trying to do.Great biography on Lance +interview with him.Maybe with sequel the could expand what he was really trying to do.Bit of trivia did you know Lance was in the Omen 2.Good for rental if nothing else available or just like Lance.Also I can't really see this being a movie for christians it's too gory + to conveluded,and talks about reversing the apocalypse I don't really think it talks about that in the bible.Nice imagery of the four horsemen thats it.Sorry but as so called Christian theme it really misses the mark.For a good scary Christian movie rent The Vistation.That's a good scary movie for Christians or any one else.

Good photography, one good portrayal

[noe112001 · 22 May 2007]

Beside good photography, the only other good thing about this movie was the skillful performance by veteran Lance Henriksen, (as old man Ben). Unfortunately, painfully, the other main characters seemed to have absolutely no sense of timing. This I attribute to directing/editing deficiencies. So many of the scenes are drawn out like taffy. Even parallel scenes belabor alternating imagery, least the audience miss the meaning of the juxtaposition I guess? Once the story got going I was optimistic that a provocative pay off was in store. Alas, it ended the way so many movies do, offering nothing more than borrowed meaning, delivering no message or perspective of their own.

Seen it before

[Petie3-2 · 8/10 · 7 March 2011]

A variation of 'Shadowbuilder' even including the eclipse. No priests though. A small boy battling Satan himself, even though he has faults/weaknesses. Like being considered psychotic because of his bad dreams and cutting. Daddy is failing alcoholic with tenuous parental bonds to the kid, until Satan compels him to beat the crap out of him with a belt. Satan beats the horse simultaneously, which is apparently evil enough to loose the zombies with lips sewed shut. Then the four horsemen show up but it's Sam who finishes the deal. If you come across Satan, it's prudent to somehow lose the body; otherwise they may charge you with something.

Very good for that kind of movie

[Pinouchipop · 8/10 · 17 March 2022]

Again the endless story, how many thousands of times repeated...

It is always absolutely ridiculous to present THE devil, opposed to ONE individual - one family, one group - as if this grain of sand in the entire cosmos, in a story of an hour and a half or a little more, could tell the tipping of the said cosmos into the Apocalypse.

Except that... Like Faust, there can be some successful fables. I'm not saying that this film is a stroke of genius of the caliber of The Divine Comedy, but it is very well done.

So if you like this kind of dichotomous opposition brought to the screen, in a metaphysical reflection sauce, you will like it.

It's nothing like the great movie Seven, but it's well done enough to watch to the end... That's why I gave it 8 stars. (And Lance Herrikson is as good as ever...)

Watch Out For That Tree...

[azathothpwiggins · 14 February 2022]

THE GARDEN is an allegory with religious imagery and symbolism. It's also a pretty good horror movie.

Lance Henriksen plays an old farmer named Ben Zachary. A young boy named Sam (Adam Taylor Gordon) and his dad (Brian Wimmer) are stranded on Ben's farm after a terrible accident.

Ben has a tree on his land that bears some particularly important fruit. He spends most of his time tempting Sam's recovering-alcoholic dad with booze, as well as some rather hot women. Ben also torments Sam and commits various acts of deviltry.

Sam soon sees through Ben's rather thin facade, and tries to convince dad that he's not what he appears to be.

THE GARDEN is a freaky thriller with well-handled mystical aspects. Henriksen is exceptionally menacing in his infernal role, and Taylor Gordon's character is believable and never becomes annoying, unlike many such characters.

Watch for Sean Young as Sam's teacher, and Claudia Christian as his psychologist. Their roles are pivotal...