The Garden
(IDT/Anchor Bay Region 0 NTSC DVD)
(2004)
review by Catwalk

Sam (Gordon) is a troubled child, suffering from horrible nightmares and hurting himself after his father (Zimmer) and mother (Mrs. Not-Appearing-In-This-Film to paraphrase Monty Python) divorce. When Sam and his father arrive unintentionally at the ranch of the odd Mr. Zachary (Henriksen), they encounter far more than just visions in Sam's head.

Mr. Zachary offers Sam's father some work, and pays him well, all in a ruse to keep the boy around. Of course, Sam is the only one bothering to look deeply into Zachary's intentions, since his dad instantly jumps to the booze, loose broads and chain-smoking. Sam meets the prissy school teacher (Young), a potential girlfriend, and a bully. None of these characters, as small a role as they may play, is ever outside of Zachary's scheme.

In the end, the story is rapped up in a nice, neat package, with a few notable exceptions. The pieces mentioned most often at least find a home, and there's the parting shot which opens things up for a sequel.

Henriksen pours himself into the character of Mr. Zachary with a passion. He creatively embodies the old Victorola, chessboard, gritty clothes and dusty furniture. Zimmer hits the mark as a short-sighted man too obsessed in the superficial pleasures he's been away from for too long. He's played for a chump by Zachary for the duration of the story. (Part of me wanted to blast the writing for the quick pace that he just jumped right into those things, but given Zachary's true nature, it felt justified.)

Gordon puts in an excellent performance, taking the best portions of wide-eyed permanent surprise used by David Dorfman in The Ring, and understated maturity of Hayley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. Sean Young is superbly understated in her teacher's role.

When I saw Claudia Christian's name on the credits buried halfway down, I knew I'd only be treated to a few minutes of watching the talented actress. Sure enough, her role is far too short, but she portrays the compassionate psychiatrist with a soft wisdom and warm heart.

The sounds supporting the film continually ramp up the intensity and the editing was top notch. At any point in time, viewers are exposed to multiple levels of building noises and music, providing more that a simple baseline for the film. This usually means full and deep strings with the breathing of characters or the sounds rampant throughout an old farm house.

The film ties closely to the stories in Genesis and Revelation, the creation and future as told in the Bible. With this sensitive material, as well as the graphic violence towards children and animals, it's easy to see the difficulty in releasing the film to a wide audience. Combined with its reliance upon certain imagery and a child lead which already have made their place a standard in the industry, the film may be best served by targeting a very interested, smaller audience. Samuel Bozzo's story is solid and well-represented by the actors, including his comic book tie-ins.

Extras included a handful of previews, including the intriguing Masters of Horror and Left in Darkness. Also previewed are It Waits (with Cerina Vincent), The Tooth Fairy, and Room 6 (with the talented Christine Taylor).

There is a Director's commentary track, a Behind-the-Scenes featurette on making the film, as well as a trailer and a Bio on Henriksen. The film is presented in 1.77:1 format with Dolby 2.0 sound.