Garden of the Dead

Garden of the Dead (1972)

** (out of 4)

A group of convicts on a chain gang are doing a job when they come across some formaldehyde, which they begin to sniff so that they can get high. Later than night the group plan on breaking out of prison so that they can steal some of the drug but they're killed in the process and buried. It doesn't take long for them to return from the dead seeking revenge against the prison guards as well as looking for the drug.

John Hayes' GARDEN OF THE DEAD isn't a masterpiece and it's not really a good movie but at the same time it's an interesting piece of low-budget cinema and there are enough interesting moments to make it worth watching. This is obvious a take-off on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and I thought the director did a good job at creating a weird atmosphere that will remind many of the one in CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS.

As far as the film goes, it certainly shows its low-budget with some of the performances and the lack of any real effects but as I said there's a pretty good atmosphere here and the director feels the screen with fog, ghouls and some weird death scenes. The film also benefits from running a short 58-minutes so there's really no wasted time on dumb subplots.

Again, if you're looking for a masterpiece then this certainly isn't it. If you're a fan of low-budget movies then this one here offers up some interesting ideas and it's certainly much better than you'd expect.