The Gardener

"When her beautiful partner mysteriously disappears, Detective Kelly Jones (Angie Everhart) traces her to the Garden of Eden Nursery. There, she meets the master gardener (Malcolm McDowell) who is elegant, brilliant, and deliciously sinister. Everyone thinks she's crazy to hunt for evil in such a peaceful place, but horticultural horrors await for those brave enough to dig beneath the surface," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis, "in this incredible unearthing of a madman's mind."

If you want to make a case against film preservation, dig up "The Gardener" (re-titled "Garden of Evil" on my DVD). The hammy starring duo can't get their lines to match, and nobody notices. The props are awful. At one point, Mr. McDowell is presented as a teenager, an age group notable for aged faces and bad wigs. Ex-"21 Jump Street" resident Richard Grieco and ex-"Juliet" Olivia Hussey are upstaged by President Clinton's brother Roger and "Dynasty" regular Pamela Bellwood.

** The Gardener (1998) James D.R. Hickox ~ Angie Everhart, Malcolm McDowell, Richard Grieco, Olivia Hussey

I would say this Movie is Almost Superior To The Silence of the Lambs, I should say it was better, except the fact that i think this movie was inspired by It. It is the Gardener's Absolute Genius, lack of Sanity, and Twiztid Sense of Humor that make this movie a must see for all Serial Killer Movies. I would Recommend it for Fans of: The Psycho Movies, The Hannibal Lectors Thrillogy, and Ed Gein (considering the fact that is not Gory or a dumb fakey slasher movie; but it can Deliver a good scare or to.) You should also consider that it took VERY little money to make this movie that instantly became one of my favorites. INSTEAD OF TAKING MY WORD FOR IT, RENT IT, THEN BUY IT!!

I got this flick at big lots for two dollars. and after watching it, i fell as if they owe me twenty. This movie is like a study in bad acting, scriptwriting, acting and sets. First off the casting was atrocious. Grieco looks as if he doesn't belong within 500 feet of this movie, playing the lieutenant, a role that seems to have been written for a much older actor. Everheart has no range, no emotion and is as stiff as richard simmons staring at stone phillips. malcolm mcdowall, well he looks as if he has to keep repeating in his head, "i'm being paid for this, i'm being paid for this." Poor malcolm, he has so much talent and spends all of is time in awful movie after awful movie. the dialoge seems as if it was written by a group of spider monkeys on payotee, lines seem to be thrown in grabastically without rhyme or reason. the worst thing though, has to be the directing, actually the complete lack of direction, Greico's character stays angry through the entire flick because he's not sure about the point of the character. Everheart is pointless, and francis ford coppala couldn't drag a decent performance out of her. there is a complete lack of connected storyline, and because of that, the bad acting is all the more evident. there is really nothing i can say that can relate the awfullness of this movie. i'm afraid that to understand you will actually have to watch this poor excuse for a film. i almost forgot about the cheaply done and completely out of the blue cgi effects. i apoligize, the movie has fried my brains.

This is unmistakably the worst movie I have ever had to endure watching. This movie was bad all around. The director clearly thinks that a moving camera is what makes a film great. Unfortunately the constant moving only helps the existing nausea. The DP was real bad, no other way to put it. "Day for night" shots were poorly matched to day shots and so on. I don't know what that other person was talking about regarding Angie Everheart. She is a terribly bad, bad, actor. It's no suprise this movie has no distribution after a whole year. If I were a distributer I would run as far away from this "film" as possible!

Oh please…this film really mocks the intelligence of its audience. It's a complete pile of garbage and a giant waste of time. Not one little aspect in this film makes the slightest bit of sense, the acting and directing are abominable and – which is the worst thing – it takes itself far too serious. I wanted to give it a change, because I always liked watching Malcolm McDowall. Ever since `A Clockwork Orange', I liked his vicious style and macabre personality. I hope he had fun while shooting this film, because the rest of the world sure didn't. Malcolm plays a genius florist who uses kills young, beautiful women to turn them into plants! He's on a mission from God to recreate women. Ha ha ha… It's all in the fertilizer, let's say… Angie Everheart is the yummy female police officer who's after him…The whole thing becomes even more stupid when McDowall seems to suffer from a disease that makes him look older than he is (we're led to believe that is character is only 35 years old) and that he had a traumatic childhood and depressing collage years. Not only does the story STINKS, Garden of Evil also suffers from the worst casting job in the history of cinema! Richard `Booker' Grieco as the angry, boisterous police-lieutenant?!? What fertile (?) mind came up with that? Grieco looks utterly ridiculous and his voice sounds like a cheap Bruce Willis imitation. As always, Angie Everheart is gorgeous to look at, but that doesn't necessarily means she has got the required acting skills. Few blood, no comedy, not even an attempt to build up tension…. All we receive are pointless and endless speeches about Mother Nature and the beauty of flowers. `Garden of Evil' (or The Gardener, as IMDb likes to call it) surely is one of the worst films I ever saw. I should have known…it's from the hand of the Hickox-clan. The director's brother Anthony once messed up the Hellraiser-franchise with Hell on Earth. Now he has a tiny role in his brother's piece of junk. Avoid it, people…I'm doing you a favor!