Shadows in the Garden (2002) User Reviews

Low budget does not mean low quality

[dankeene549 · 10/10 · 4 April 2004]

A while back I attended "Shadowfest", a film festival organized by Wayne Spitzer and Andy Kumpon. The festival screened many clever and unique horror shorts that most of the audience had never even heard of before. Among them was Spitzer's Eerie Lovecraftian "Shadows in the Garden". I was (and still am) a big fan of Wayne's (and Andy Kumpon's) low budget sci-fi series "Dead of Night", but I must say that this film is a step, well, maybe three steps up from his earlier efforts. This is one of those movies that prove that filmmaking is all about imagination and not budget (for example, look at the $55 million that made such trite garbage as "American Wedding"). "Shadows" is also a visual buffet that leaves the eyes hungry for more haunting images of that Guardian Demon and it's shadows. In fact the whole story is told visually without perverting the creepy feeling by verbalizing it. Well, the Newspaper headlines do some speaking, but don't exactly speak for the characters, which is why Spitzer gets away with it. The worst part of the film is that it ended too soon. Hopefully we'll see a sequel or something even better very soon.

The "Citizen Kane" of backyard indie horror films...

[filmgeekgirlstacyy · 10/10 · 26 July 2007]

The "Stairway to Heaven" of cheap horror shorts, at least. I saw this at a small benefit film festival in Spokane, not the big one organized by Andy Kumpon, and they threw everything but the kitchen sink at this thing film-making-wise...there's rain, there's fog, there's steam, there's shadows of course! Plus it has a really cool story which doesn't hit you fully until the very end. The only real problem with Shadows in the Garden is that it's so painfully obvious that Spitzer had nothing to work with, money and materials-wise that is. But this movie has a charm and an honesty that just sort of makes all that irrelevant. It's a Hollywood-quality production on a pauper's budget. I highly recommend this little diamond in the rough. Author! Author!

Parts HP Lovecraft & The Swamp Thing.

[guestar57 · 8 January 2011]

This well made film is about a hero monster that sometimes looks like the DC Comics character SWAMP THING, Was it Marvel Comics MAN-THING. The mood of filming,With lighting and effect ( Keep in mind,No Budget here).

I really could have it run longer the bad guy (a human albeit serial killer) has little set up to his evil… Except newspaper headlines, A cost cutting effect, Probably.

Wayne Spitzer did the majority of work on film with Eric Gollinger doing a nice supportive turn. * Kewl monster- 3 stars. * Dog House scenes,HUH ? - 3 stars. * Locations and Mood - 4 stars.