I think ultimately, the viewer must decide whether or not what you are watching is a complete fantasy concocted by the delusions of a disturbed child or a religious battle between good and evil with the world's lives hanging in the balance. Henriksen has one of his better roles of the last several years as an enigmatic farmer who might just be Old Scratch himself perhaps seducing a child's father into taking the bite of an apple, reversing the apocalypse, giving away his soul since God has supposedly turned his back on him. Adam Taylor Gordon, in a mature, subdued performance, is Sam, a kid plagued with night terrors, portraiting his nightmares on paper. His father is David(Brian Wimmer, displaying a tormented soul), a somewhat reformed alcoholic hoping to bond with his son as they return from the hospital to his ex-wife waiting for Sam. Henriksen goes by Ben in the film, but director Don Michael Paul established upon his introduction something sinister and mysterious about this man. It seems that Sam has fallen prey to his troubled mind, but the movie remains ambiguous as to if Ben is Satan or not. Images of importance include a specter with a damaged face who beckons Sam, the hanging fruit just about ripe for the plucking, a wicked dead tree, dead victims(..who supposedly died at Ben's hands)who return to visit Sam, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, a serpent, and a flaming sword. Ben makes it clear that he will have David's soul and get revenge on God, with Sam threatening to stop him. Other supporting roles include Claudia Christian as Sam's psychiatrist who wished for him to remain at her hospital for further examination(..and perhaps suffers a horrifying fate when she comes to visit him)and Sean Young as a bible school teacher Sam befriends. The plot is chock full with religious overtones, and it's up to our determination as to if what Sam experiences is real or illusion. The finale where everything plays out like a spiritual warfare between both sides, is rather hokey, unless it's all in Sam's head..a final image, might contradict this theory, however. Every now and then, Henriksen acquires a role with some meat on it and he's quite creepy at times here. Some moments of startling violence, but the film is mostly a puzzler to evaluate.
Review of The Garden
