Le jardin de la terreur

A trio of separatist hillbillies devise a plan to halt the development of a campsite in their deep-woods homestead. What begins as a harmless scheme to scare "the city folks" away quickly turns deadly.

There's little question that GOD'S BLOODY ACRE is a product of loose-change funding and a three-day-weekend shooting schedule. Despite the transparencies of an indifferently overseen production, however, there's good potential for shameful gratification in this frowzy little regional exploitation quickie. The first half hour is a plodding bore, but if you can get past that, the story does eventually grease the wheels and keep a steady beat(putting forward one of the most drawn-out, strangely choreographed fight scenes I've ever witnessed).

This is a lazy concoction from folks who have done far better work(see: SOMETIMES AUNT MARTHA DOES DREADFUL THINGS), but it does have a certain something...just not a whole lot of it.

5/10

When a group of developers threaten the land of three backwoods mountain-dwelling brothers Ezra,Benny and Monroe,the homeless rednecks must resort to murder to defend their property.However the trio starts killing not only construction workers,but also camping vacationers...Very enjoyable exploitation trash with nasty drawn out rape scene,rampant misogyny and racist overtones.This low-budgeter is surprisingly tense due to its nasty subject matter.Almost all the characters are despicable,the acting is bad and the gore is amateurish.Still if you enjoyed such redneck terror movies like "Trapped" or "Hunter's Blood" you can't go wrong with "God's Bloody Acre".I'm really surprised that this film didn't achieved cult status yet.

This Floridian "hicksploitation" flick doesn't have a hell of a lot going for it, but does prove to be genuinely amusing at times. It begins with three brothers, Monroe (William Kerwin of "Blood Feast" and "Two Thousand Maniacs!"), Ezra (Daniel Schweitzer), and Benny (Sam Moree), who are fiercely dedicated to Mother Nature. So much so that when construction workers begin clearing their forest in order to start creating a park, they see red. After an altercation with one of the workers, the poor schmuck is chopped in half with his own bulldozer blade. And the brothers feel that now that they've killed someone, there ain't no turning back. Soon they're intent on wiping out the two couples that have had the audacity to enter their domain. Now, the star, and co-writer of both the story and the screenplay, Wayne Crawford, has the biggest character arc, playing the young man grown disillusioned by working for a weapons manufacturer (he's a pacifist) who's gonna have to find some sort of fighting instinct inside of him. But the best actor in the thing is definitely Kerwin, whose character is more likable than anyone else here, and certainly the least abrasive. Most everybody else is flat out annoying, although Benny is such a hoot the way that he rocks that enormous white man's Afro. Director / co-writer Harry Kerwin (William's brother, who also directed William and Wayne in the eco-conscious conspiracy thriller "Barracuda") includes enough sleazy elements to try to maintain the interest of drive-in movie fans, particularly sex, bare skin, and rape. The main problem here is that the movie is rough going for a while, setting up characters but taking too long to get them where they're going. Some of those tunes are catchy, but after a while the music gets to be a bit much. Only in the last 20 minutes or so do things get more interesting, with the backwoods brothers determined to eliminate the city folk. An interesting, crude 'n' cheap, yet oddly entertaining little flick, "God's Bloody Acre" is no classic of its particular sub genre, but fans of this sort of thing may still want to check it out. Six out of 10.

God's Bloody Acre (1975)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Really bizarre backwoods "horror" film has three mountain men walking around in their woods when they come across a construction crew. The crew are tearing down the woods so that a camping spot can be made for tourists. This here sets off the mountain men and soon enough murder happens. Also on hand are a fighting married couple who end up trying to stay at the location and soon they too are dragged into the battle.

GOD'S BLOODY ACRE is a film that I'm sure the filmmakers meant well with but the end result is just a giant and boring mess. The film was obviously meant to try and cash-in on the success of movies like DELIVERANCE as we're taken into the "deep woods" of Florida where these mountain men must resort to violence and rape to defend their land. This film might have meant to be something serious but it's awful direction, poor acting and laughable plot makes it rather hard to sit through.

The film seemed confused as to what it wanted to be. It seems that it was going for the drive-in/exploitation crowd, which is fine. The filmmakers through in some brief nudity here and there as well as a couple death scenes but there's nothing here that makes the film stand out. This type of film was rather common back in the day so without anything fresh or original here you're really not left with much. The rape scene happens out of nowhere and features the woman beginning to "enjoy" it and I'm sure this here is something that will leave several people upset.

In all honesty, the film is so poorly made and so boring that it would be rather silly to get offended by it. The biggest problem with the film is the fact that none of the story-lines are interesting and I'd argue that the characters are just as boring. I'm guessing the film wanted to send a message that nature should be left alone but are these three murderers and rapists the "heroes?"

Incredibly weak exploitation effort that fails on almost every level. Start with some of the most amateurish acting. Add some editing that looks like it was put through a blender, including ridiculous flashbacks .Next be sure the songs are of no interest. Finally make the last third of the movie so dark that it is impossible to tell what's going on. Even if all of the above complaints were forgivable, you are still left with a third grade level screenplay, very little violence, and hardly any nudity, all of which adds up to a very boring film. Seek out the far superior "Hunter's Blood" or "Trapped" if you are into hunted in the woods type movies. - MERK