Garden of Hedon (2011) User Reviews

Well short of its potential.

[travislhendrix · 4/10 · 20 July 2016]

I watched this expecting the debauchery mentioned in the plot summery, unfortunately like everything about the movie the debauchery was more hinted at then supplied. Would I watch this again, no. Do I regret having watched it, no. Basically it is a great plot idea that was not executed on.

Plot: I actually liked the plot for this movie. A house where anything goes and everything is possible. Put a cop in the house and have him try to solve the murders happening there. Unfortunately there were so many things they could have done with this to turn this plot into an amazing movie and they didn't. The scenes are more like random skits tied together.

Characters: The characters weren't bad, but like everything in this movie they just lacked depth. No real back story and so you didn't feel for any of the characters.

Acting: The acting in this movie wasn't the worst, but would not win any awards. Most of the acting wasn't totally wooden but still sounded like they were reading queue cards.

Intangibles: There was only one scene of nudity in the movie and it was a girl in a strip club. There were numerous scenes showing sex toys or spanking a person clothed in a skimpy outfit, but no real pull from that angle. There was some gore but it was not over the top and did not drive the movie. Really just not much going for this movie in this type of area.

Want to go to a party?

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 4 November 2017]

About 9 minutes (more or less) into the production you realize this is an existential film.Normally I like these Sarte on steroid long winded clever masterpieces, unfortunately I am still waiting for someone to make one. Owen (Richard Cutting) finds himself in a house of hedonism where anything goes. Here he starts to investigates murders and discovers the secrets of the manor.

I will say the acting and dialogue were stiff, If you have a room with women in various stages of dress and something that looks like a kid's volcano science project made out of cocaine, and spankings, I would have expected better characters and dialogue. Conversations turn weird on coke (so I heard) and this would have been a good time to exhibit some crazies, as long as you are wasting two hours of good film. The head crushes looked like rubber. There was no skull fragments, just red gush.

The idea was good, it just needed someone else to do it and someone who can afford a decent sound track.

Guide: F-word, nudity.

No Garden detected

[kosmasp · 4/10 · 27 May 2022]

It is metaphorically speaking anyway. Because the movie plays inside a house ... a big house. Actually the idea is pretty neat - and it has some interesting twists and ideas. Unfortunately a lot of things are not done in a really good way. I know that when I sometimes tell people that a movie looks really good visually, they say something along the lines of "well every movie looks good nowadays". While this was made over a decade ago, I would still include it into the "nowadays" section. And while it isn't too bad looking, you can tell there was not a big budget when it comes to the set/location and the overall production design. Add to that some mediocre acting (if you are being nice) and you have something that most people will not really be into.

Also because I am seeing that poster or picture that is being used to promote the movie. Do not buy into that. It displays things ... bigger and better than you may encounter in the movie itself. Of course that should not make a difference anyway - though Kudos for playing the sex appeal card here. And there are some good looking people in this - they are not playing a major role though. The detective is almost left alone to solve the mystery ... and he is obsessed with it. That may be one of the saving graces of the movie - if you'll excuse the pun.

Interesting

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 18 September 2021]

Kevin Kangas (Fear of Clowns) directed and wrote (along with Luke Theriault) this film, which concerns a detective who awakens to find himself in a pleasure palace where all manner of decadent pleasures last eternally, from the simple act of eating to - you guesses it - any fetish there is. But when a dead body shows up in what seems like heaven, this become a mystery that needs solving.

This flirts with the giallo and has some great ideas, even if the costumes suggest Eyes Wide Shut on a Spirit store budget. Actually, isn't that what we want so often? A movie that has ideas that are bigger than the money on hand to film it and the willingness to dive right in and try to make something great?

So yeah - you may not have seen anyone in this movie before. You may never see them again. But the central idea in here - is this heaven or hell or just somewhere strange on Earth and there's a murder that needs solving - is solid.

Now, if you just gave it a more giallo-esque title instead of the punny Garden of Hedon, we'd be getting something. Ensnared in the Arms of Heaven? The Case of the Perverted Eternity? Autopsy of an Angel?

Now, don't get me wrong. It's shot on digital, it could definitely use another pass on the script, some better acting, improved audio and less of that piano tinkling over and over and well, over. But hey - what have you done today? Did you convince a bunch of people to dress up and traipse about a mansion and make a horror movie for less money than some people make in a year?

Maybe I was in the right mood for this. I think watching forty giallo movies in two weeks kind of numbs you to reality which is exactly how I want to live my life.

Hedon Collision

[arfdawg-1 · 1/10 · 21 April 2024]

This movie could quite possibly be the worst movie ever made.

And I'm not joking.

It's two long boring hours of the worst acting you cold possibly imagine. In fact now that I think of it, I doubt you could imagine just how bad the acting is.

But then the script is no doosey either. It's the pits. Moronic dialog and a story that makes no sense.

And do I really need to say anything about the directing? How could it be even remotely good when the rest of the movie is just horrible to the nth degree?

And to add insult to injury, the director actually had the nerve to make a documentary about the making of this train wreck fiasco! Really? Like we didnt have enough after seeing this garbage, which, BTW looks like it was filmed from a smart phone.