Le jardin de la terreur

Three redneck brothers get ticked off when a work crew starts clearing trees near the patch of land they call home. Through an accident they end up killing one of the crew and get real paranoid (the crew boss doesn't seem to mind so much). This is bad news for the two couples (one old, one young) who have both found their way to this neck of the woods. Pretty good regional (Florida) hicksploitation flick that seems to be throwing in some social commentary as well. Lead Wayne Crawford (who also produced and help write) plays a passive guy who quits his job designing machines of war who suddenly finds himself in a situation where he has to defend himself. Not too subtle, but it works. It definitely has some pacing issues though as it seemed to take forever for all the leads to finally meet up. The big brother redneck looked so familiar but I couldn't place him. Looked him up afterward and it is William Kerwin from BLOOD FEAST! Totally didn't recognize him because he wasn't in a suit with his hair slicked back.

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.

Lookin' for a little mean-spirited 70's Hixploitation? Same here. How about a little mean-spirited 70's Hixploitation which features only the most unlikeable of characters, along with about 0% comic-relief? Well, here it is. The most useful thing Harry Kerwin ever did. Welcome to God's Bloody Acre. Harry Kerwin and his equally useful brother, William (Thomas Wood) have had a hand in the making of everything from Two Thousand Maniacs, to Flesh Feast, to Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreamdul Things. The brothers Kerwin are the heart & soul of old school Florida Exploitation. God's Bloody Acre is about three mountain men, or hicks, or whatever the hell. The point is, they're brothers, and they've been livin' out in "God knows where" (the woods) for God knows how long. Livin' in a tee pee, livin' off the land. avoiding any and all human contact. And they're content doing so. All of this is about to change. The brothers are all ornery because a construction company has begun tearing apart their yard, to make way for a camping site. No reason to get mad enough to kill. I mean, it's not like they're gonna be building a mall. But too late. The more enthusiastic one figures now would be a good time to start killing construction workers. Meanwhile, we got a couple other stories that keep popping up. Neither of which are as entertaining, or likable. God's Bloody Acre is a racist, sexist, dysfunctional little gem of a movie, and I'm proud it's a part of my collection. Yet, I'm not surprised it took until 2010 for this one to get the official DVD treatment. But what I didn't expect was for every copy of this film to be recalled shortly after it was released. I have no idea. I'll be honest. There ain't a whole lot to love about this one, but it ain't all that bad, especially if you're not hard to please. And if you're looking for one of the last glimpses of vintage Florida Exploitation, have at it, hoss. 7/10

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?"

I saw this for the first time recently n generous with a 4 cos the film has solid character development, a very violent neck biting scene (which was ahead of its time) n a Nite of the Living Dead style shocking ending.

The film is a bit racist showing the African American as thugs n it has a put off scene of that of a rape.

Three yokels living their peaceful life in a forest gets disturbed by construction workers clearing the forest for picnic spot leading to the brutal death of a worker by one of the yokel. Unaware of all these circumstances, a job burnout man who recently resigned, a married couple and a young girl, all of their paths cross leading to mayhem.

The film gets boring cos nothing much happens initially apart from the bulldozer death scene.

Some viewers may be pleased to see the women in this movie without bras.

It has a very wierd rape scene where the female is shown enjoying the heinous act and she does a lot of overacting with her tongue out n wide eyeballs. May cos her character is shown as sex deprived and she tells her husband that its been ages they had sex.