When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

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.

I'd never heard of "Garden of the Dead" till I picked up a DVD at the dollar store which included it as a double feature with 1983's "Frightmare." I didn't think "Frightmare" was that great, but it looked a lot better after I sat through "Garden of the Dead." At least "Garden of the Dead's" running time was mercifully short (just over an hour!) so my suffering was minimal.This micro-budget early 70s zombie cheese fest takes place almost entirely inside a prison compound (whose fence appears to be constructed of plywood, 2x4's and chicken wire), where the evil Warden apparently has a side business manufacturing formaldehyde (?). Inmates are shown loading large barrels of it onto trucks at the beginning of the film, and later on are shown sniffing the formaldehyde fumes in order to get high (!) when nobody's looking. This formaldehyde must be some pretty powerful stuff, because when a half dozen of the fume-huffing inmates end up getting killed during an escape attempt, they've barely even been buried in shallow graves by the prison authorities before they're popping back up again as Undead Looking For Revenge. These are not your average slow moving Romero zombies either, they're athletic, can talk (though their dialogue is limited to "Reeeeeevenge on the liiiii-ving!" and "We want the girl! Send her ouuuuuuut!") and use shovels, pickaxes and other tools to murder their victims. I wondered at first why the film was called "Garden of the Dead" and not "Prison of the Dead," but I guess the zombies' use of gardening implements justifies the title.Anyway, once our monsters arrive on the scene, the remaining running time is then padded out by scenes of prison guards stumbling around firing their shotguns into the darkness before getting hacked (bloodlessly) to death, until a small group of survivors holes up inside the prison office. The zombies demand that they send out "the girl" (the hot girlfriend of one of the surviving inmates, who's hiding out inside), the guards throw open the door, blast the zombies all to hell with their shotguns, the end. Seriously. It's that abrupt. (Door opens) BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM! (Zombies all die, Girl cries, prison guard pokes one of the unmoving zombies with his gun, THE END title card pops up). I bet anyone who paid to see this thing in a drive in back in 1974 asked for their money back. Hell, I only paid a buck and *I* wanted my money back.The lone point in "Garden of the Dead's" favor (aside from the hot girl, whom we don't see nearly enough of) is its zombie makeup, which is pretty well done. Other than that, it isn't scary, isn't gory, and isn't even silly enough to be considered "so bad it's good." I would only recommend this title to obsessive compulsives who have to see absolutely every movie with zombies in it. Everyone else can find better things to spend their dollar on.

For about 2 years of my life this was easily the worst movie i had ever seen. I was always a fan of cheap, bad horror movies (frankenstein island, swamp of the lost monster) but this one took the cake. the dim lighting, if there was any lighting at all, overacting and ridiculous concept were enough for me to do something i have never done before, i returned this movie to the video store the very same day immediately after i watched it. i did this to save my family from seeing it and having the same horrible time as i have. ... Fast forward about 2 years and me and a bunch of friends are stuck with nothing to do on a new year's year in 1998. after hearing how bad it was my friends decided to watch it and i was forced to do so as well. it was perhaps the funniest thing i had ever seen on film, there were too many laughs to mention here so i will just say this. This movie has gone from the worst i have ever seen, to being a part of my DVD collection. (I had to buy it it was $2.50 Brand New)Great Film For Those Who Have Nothing Better To Do.

Well, I have to give these zombies credit for one thing. They are sure the fastest zombies I've ever seen. They like to run in really fast from the darkness, dance around for a little bit, swing a pick-axe in the general direction of a person, then dance away. I'm still not sure how, but the person always seems to die. They probably can't wait to get out of this bad movie. My personal favorite heckle was about the prison itself. Chicken wire does not count as a prison. LOL I like the part when the zombie has to cut a wire with the ax. I'm just thinking, "Oh come on, it is like spider web!" Nothing I can say can possible describe the horror that I felt when I watched this movie. I suggest everyone watch this movie at least once in your life. Don't worry, it is only like thirty minutes long.