A young woman’s murdered family begs for revenge in Olaf Ittenbach’s 2003 splatterpunk Garden of Love, on Blu-ray via Unearthed Films.
The Film
Let’s start with this: Garden of Love is a splatterpunk movie first, anything else second. If that’s your jam, you’re golden; if it’s not, move on. Any plot, and there is a basic and interesting one, is an excuse to set up a handful of slaughter sequences. It’s a simple movie at the outset, although I’m sure the massive amounts of murder scenes and the body ripping were far from simple (especially since the special feature shows us how the sausage gets made, we know it). Garden of Love is not a bad movie, but it won’t attend well for all but those who like splatterpunk. Me, I’m iffy on the sub-genre, so much of it is just empty edgelord kills made poorly. I like my gore flicks a little more like Brain Dead/Dead Alive. Luckily, Garden of Love, from Olaf Ittenbach, is a better example of it, one I was glad to check out.
Rebecca was a young child when all the residents at a commune in a sprawling country manse, 11 people in all, were brutally slaughtered, except her. Her brain caused her to forget the incident, but as an adult, played by Natacza Boon, she starts to recall weird things. This creates an opening for the ghosts, especially her father, to pester her into bringing the responsible parties back to the abandoned mansion for justice. She and her psychologist boyfriend go “home,” along with others. Too bad for the “others” as the ghosts are more focused on revenge to realize if those who tread inside are guilty or not. Too good for us, as that means another slaughter of a dozen folks. (and even more, the body count is quite high, including hallucinations).
So we’re all still here for the gore. As Garden of Love is from the director of Premutos: The Fallen Angel, you know that’s what you’re getting. And by golly, it’s damned good. Anything that could happen to a body does, with great detail and effort. Blood pools, sprays, covers it all. So many surprising murders, and I’ve been a horror fan my whole life. Gotta give it that. Dozens of the dead become that way with incredible effects; all practical. The special effects work by Ittenbach and Tommy Opatz is incredibly well done, nasty, and gag-inducing at times.
I do wish the through line to the kills was better presented. I like the story, but the execution was iffy. A German production with international actors, akin to Italian giallo style, the dubbing is weak and off-putting, with very obviously emotive faces. It’s a showy sort of acting that screams ACTING. I did have a big laugh at some of that, especially a villain “reveal” where the person expositing the reason for it all does the thing where the voice and manner of speaking change. I hate that. For a film so much in the dark, it’s very hard to see at times, resembling watching an old VHS tape. Those with a glare on their viewing method may have a hard time deciphering the details. Especially since most of the best details are in that darkness as the bodies get dissected for our enjoyment.
But along that route, there are some great gore continued to keep it interesting between the slaughters. I love the way the dead pester the living. A handful of ghostly interjections to the TV lead to a few imaginative, and imaginary, kills with a nice satiric wit. It’s in these scenes, better lit than the mansion, where one can really see the impressive nature of the ghost make-up, holding the wounds of their death. I also appreciated some neat camera tricks of ghosts and others coming and going in a scene without a cut (though one is laughably obvious in the setup)
Olaf Ittenbach’s Garden of Love exists mainly for the gore and the effects around it, whether it be the massive amounts of blood and death or the ghost effects sprinkled through. While the story connecting and the acting of said story are light, there’s more than enough to keep occupied for those into splatterpunk. You know the pool of blood you’re getting into, and a good swim within.
The Package
Unearthed Films releases Garden of Love in a single-disc Blu-Ray. The disc image is a record that is related to the film itself, and is situated in the normal place in the case. The slip features new cover art on the front and synopsis and disc details on the back. It has an O-ring slipcover with the same art and information.
The Presentation
As noted in the review, it’s a hard film to see at times, but what we can see (the sort of issue that stems from filming rather than transfer) looks pretty darned good. Can get into the details of effects without losing the fidelity of their nature. The audio is English only in 5.1 and 2.0, with English subtitles available.
The Features
Featurettes
Two featurettes, one with director Itenbach only (19m) and one with more of the cast and crew (18m), detail the creation of the film from start to finish, with a focus on the gore effects and how they are presented, but also the whole. Nice anecdotes of working in the quick and cheap conditions and getting something so grand of violence safely and stickily (so much fake blood). I loved seeing how they made the effects and the care to do them very well. My favorite thing about special features in gore/effects-heavy films is watching the “how did they do that?”, which we get nicely.
Outtake footage
Silent footage of multiples of several notable sequences, as expected, mostly death moments, but not always. (32m)
Photos
Three minutes of behind-the-scenes photos of the shoot.
Final Thoughts
Garden of Love is an enjoyable, if uneven, splatterpunk film. The many deaths and how they occur are the highlights with enough interest to keep it going. What a highlight, too. It looks damned good when you can see what is happening, and the features give a nice insight into creation of the film.