“Garden of the Dead”
Day 6 of the 2025 31-Days of Horror
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Convicts on a chain gang sniff experimental formaldehyde fumes to get high. When they attempt a prison break the are killed by the guards and buried in the prison garden. Later, they rise from the dead in search of more of the experimental formaldehyde.
This one is pretty short, just under an hour, and takes some time to get to where it’s going. Though I do appreciate the effort to flesh out the main characters.
It is truly a “B” movie and distributed as the second feature on a double bill on its initial release. I can see why it was picked up by Troma, with it’s gritty, exploitation style and subject matter. While not a traditional cautionary tale, this film’s narrative can be seen as a dark, albeit silly, warning against drug abuse and the consequences of reckless behavior, with the protagonists’ addiction leading to their violent resurrection and continued quest for the substance that lead to their death.
While I likely won’t revisit it, this was a fairly entertaining watch and a worthy entry in this year’s self-challenge.
