The Gardener

My review was written in February 1981 after a screening at NY's Thalia theater.

Shot on location in Puerto Rico in 1972 under the title "The Gardener", "Seeds of Evil" is a failed indie horror film never widely distributed, and reviewed here for the record.

Uneventful story deals with Carl (Joe Dallesandro), a sinister but attractive young gardener whose wealthy His employers have a habit of suddenly dying. His current employer Ellen Bennett (Katherine Houghton) is stuck with an inattentive husband (James Congdon) and is attracted to Carl. Beautiful neighbor Helena (Rita Gam) also falls under the gardener's spell, leading ultimately to violenced and Carl's death. Writer-director Jim Kay unimpressively grafts onto this sexual attraction premise a ludicrous horror plot to which Carl's orchids and other flowers conspire to kill people. With no budget for special effects, film becomes camp in scenes of victims' terrified reaction shots to the innocent-looking (but supposedly lethal) flowers. At film's end the dying Carl turns into a human tree with makeup and design work that is laughable. Instead of being scary, film is simply pleasant, with endless scenes of the lead actresses chatting, going to a costume ball or just showing off their wardrobe.

Katherine Houghton (niece of Kate Hepburn and previously featured in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") is a very engaging personality here, surviving the lame material by playing each scene with spirit and no condescension. Rita Gam provides humor as her arch best friend. In his first starring assignment away from the Andy Warhol factory, Joe Dallesandro merely nonacts with a disinterested monotone delivery, but helmer Jim Kay does exploit thesp's male sex symbol status well in tasteful nude shots and arresting closeups. Tech credits (other than effects work) are professsional but undistinguished.

Katharine Houghton ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") stars as Ellen Bennett, a well-to-do American living in Costa Rica. She makes a big mistake when she hires the hunky but mysterious "Carl" (Joe Dallesandro, "Flesh for Frankenstein") as her gardener. The man has a "green thumb", to put it mildly, and soon the Bennett estate is overflowing with lush vegetation. However, Ellen finally wises up and realizes that there's something really "off" about this guy.

"The Gardener", a.k.a. "Seeds of Evil", is a flat, disappointing "horror" film from writer-director James H. Kay. It was the only feature film he ever got around to making, and it's no surprise. It's pretty much a dud, albeit one that I *wanted* to enjoy more than I did. It's rather a wash as a horror film, even in uncut form (although this is partly because it's too dark to really see the nastiest bits). And the horror really only occurs towards the end, when Ellen is concerned about the behavior of her visiting niece (Cass Fry, in *her* only film credit).

Houghton is sincere and fairly appealing, although the viewer will likely get annoyed over her clueless nature. Ellens' husband John (James Congdon, "4D Man") is at least more wary of Carl than she is, but he never really does anything about it. Dallesandro is of course as boring as always, although if one is a fan, they'll appreciate how well his physical attractiveness is played up - most of the time he parades around topless, and he even has a few nude scenes. The only real standout here is Rita Gam ("Klute") as Ellens' friend Helena.

Although pleasures to be had watching this are few and far between (Kay can't even deliver a great ending), it *does* have a haunting score composed by Marc Fredericks, some fun local color (it was actually filmed in Puerto Rico), and some amusing psychedelic touches.

It's not one I'd recommend, unless your curiosity gets the better of you.

Four out of 10.

SEEDS OF EVIL is one obscure film and the better for it. I love watching films that have been, for whatever reasons, forgotten or simply dismissed with time. Watching them always brings a special kind of feeling: that your watching something few people have seen. On rare occasions I "discovered" a couple of hidden gems by doing this. But most of the time there's a good reason why so many films are forgotten: they're just not good on any level.

SEEDS OF EVIL is one of those obscure films people have forgotten and though it's not a true hidden gem, it's a real find nonetheless. There's something unique about it which I've rarely seen in any film I've seen up to now: it basically creates a new genre, of the psychic connections between plants and humans and the potential for evil. It's forward thinking enough to be seen as contemporary and yet the film has a quaint charm to it which reminds me of movies of the past.

Though made in 1975, SEEDS OF EVIL is decidedly straddled between the films of sex and gore of the 1970s and the spooky, non-violent horror films made just a decade ago (like THE HAUNTING or THE INNOCENTS). The sex is provided in the form of Joe Dallesandro, who's shirtless and wearing barely there hip-huggers, or just plain naked throughout the movie. And the quaintness is mainly due to the fact that there's little violence in SOE and the soundtrack is very flowery and has that "whoo-hoo-hooo" kinda of feel to it, which is probably more suited for a horror film of the 1950s or 60s than one from the 1970s.

The direction is not bad. The camera glides around smoothly. The film is never boring even though nothing much really happens in the movie. The 1970s fashion and interiors are a sight to behold. The acting is surprisingly good for this kind of film, with Rita Gam stealing the show. The exception being Joe Dallesandro. Joe is one bad actor. So much so that the director consciously avoided having Dallesandro acting on screen for extended periods of time. Dallesandro, with his compact and sculptured body, was simply used as "special effects" for the film. And the genre (psychic attachment to plants, also explored in THE KIRLIAN WITNESS in 1978) is an interesting one and though not 100% successful here, it does bring a fresh outlook to where evil might lurk.

Anyone looking for gore or violence, or female nudity will be sorely disappointed with SOE. But for fans of obscure films, even though there's nothing earth-shattering about it, SEEDS OF EVIL is a nifty little find.

Warhol entourage beefcake Joe Dallessandro portrays Karl, a gardener in the employ of a wealthy but neglected housewife(Katharine Houghton, miles downstream from her earlier success in GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER). His command of the botanical arts is impressive, but his references are tough to check considering most of his previous employers have died. Suspiciously.

Houghton's garden is soon the envy of her upper-crust clique, and her reserved and perpetually bare-chested gardener becomes the object of much lustful flutter among her female friends. The household staff(native to the South American environs where this is set and filmed) are less enthusiastic about Karl's presence, and they warn their housemistress of his evil wizardry. Shrugging off this superstitious cautioning, she becomes increasingly drawn to Karl...but when people around her begin to die mysteriously, she comes to suspect a tenebrous connection to the flora cultivated by her brooding and sexually Svengali-like greenskeeper. The bizarre eventuality of this mystery is the manifestation of Karl's true nature. It seems he is...quite literally...a tree.

While THE GARDENER is a semi-creditable example of an under-the-radar horror film ethos, it's not likely to have strong appeal to a mainstream viewing integer. Sluggishly paced and lacking 'comme il faut' shocks and bloodshed, it does otherwise manage to build an obfuscous atmosphere of weblike mystique.

A mellow horror high for some, probably a harsh toke for others...5/10

This film has 5+ names so it took me a while to find it streaming on Prime. It's a hard film to review because most of the actors are actually good? They're accomplished stage actors and you can tell. The beautiful elephant in the room is a shirtless Joe Dallesandro who slinks through various scenes like he's in a porno...but I'm blaming that on the unexperienced director since we know Little Joe can/could do more than that.

Unfortunately the story is incredibly boring. Even the lowest budget film can be a fun watch if the plot moves at a good clip but this just meanders along, making it feel interminable. It's good acting with bad writing and directing.