El jardín del amor

The only survivor of a horrific massacre when she was six years old, Rebecca Verlaine (Natacza Boon) has blocked out all memory of the terrible event, so she is understandably shocked when she begins to experience visions of her dead father and his mutilated pals, urging her to find those responsible for their deaths so that they can seek retribution.

Garden of Love? Don't worry… Olaf Ittenbach hasn't gone soft on us and made a romantic drama; despite the soppy sounding title, it's business as usual for the German splatter director, meaning extreme gore by the bucket-load, with heads squished, bodies torn asunder, guts ripped out, and blood splashed all over the place. The only problem is that, in order to get to the good stuff, one has to endure those other Ittenbach movie traits: iffy acting (English dialogue with a strong Teutonic twist), questionable direction, and uneven pacing—in this case the film takes an age to get going, explodes into violence for the film's standout scene, drags again, and then gets nice and bloody for the ending.

Still, fans of the director's other work should be well aware of what they're getting into and will no doubt hang on in there though the less eventful bits, safe in the knowledge that, when Ittenbach does open his bag of special effects, it is guaranteed to get very messy indeed.