Color, 2003, 89 mins. 16 secs. / 85 mins. 34 secs.
Directed by Olaf Ittenbach
Starring Natacza Boon,James Matthews-Pyecka, Daryl Jackson, Bela B, Jean-Luc Julien, Donald Stewart, Alexandra Thom-Heinrich
Unearthed Films (Blu-ray) (US R0 HD), MTI (DVD) (US R1 NTSC), Fox (DVD) (Australia R0 PAL), Metrodome (DVD) (UK R0 PAL) / WS (1.78:1) (16:9)

Though he Garden of Lovewas never a critical favorite, scrappy German filmmaker Olaf Ittenbach earned a lifetime pass among a certain generation or two of horror Garden of Lovefans with his early shot-on-video gore epics The Burning Moon and Black Past which spread like wildfire on the VHS-trading scene. Since then he continues to keep the torch burning by heaping lots of impressive practical gore effects in most of his projects but has upped the ante by shooting on film and mixing in elements of other genres like fantasy or psychological suspense. An example of the latter is the offbeat Garden of Love, better known under its home video title The Haunting of Rebecca Verlaine, which easily qualifies as one of the goriest ghost stories ever filmed but also tosses in some eccentric dark comedy and a twisty whodunit for extra fun.

On Christmas Eve, a commune is brutally slaughtered by a masked intruder who knifes everyone in their beds or showers-- except for little Rebecca, who is spared for reasons unknown but languishes in a coma for two years. A decade later, the adult Rebecca (Boon) has been adopted and raised by her uncle and aunt, Don and Rebecca Creedon (Stewart and Thom-Heinrich), who helped her cope with "retrograde amnesia" that has "erased her former self." Of Garden of Lovecourse she ends up Garden of Lovedating college professor David Riven (Jackson) who gives lectures on paranoia, shock-induced trauma, and amnesia, which seems like a great idea. Tormented by TV apparitions of her slashed-up father (Die Ärzte's Bela B.) and other victims, she realizes something horrible in her past is most definitely not buried and could be endangering her life. Meanwhile the primary cop in charge of the investigation, Thomas Munster (Matthews-Pyecka), is also subjected to recurring nightmares and comes into play when Rebecca decides to revisit the scene of the crime... where the ghosts most definitely have a violent agenda.

If you've seen any Ittenbach films, you already know that the grisly makeup effects are the real star of the show. That's certainly the case here with the generous grue balanced by some very effective, zombie-style designs for the ghosts, all of which outshine the typically iffy performances with everyone sporting a different accent. The clunky dialogue is part of the charm if you know this territory well though, and Ittenbach injects a hefty amount of style where it counts including that terrific curtain raiser and a show-stopping splatter showdown halfway through involving a lot of cops. The plot itself is fun enough with a few surprises; you can't help but notice the setup's similarities to films like Lord of Illusions and Bad Dreams, but this has enough new wrinkles to keep you on your toes.

Unfortunately this Garden of Lovehas been a tough film to really appreciate for decades since its DVD releases were all taken from a drab master that muddied all Garden of Lovethe primary colors, that bright red stage blood in particular. On top of that the U.S. DVD was interlaced, and since it was taken from a PAL master with no time adjustment, it ran fast like all of its European counterparts. That MTI DVD featured 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital English audio and bonus trailers (The Chambermaid, Experiment, Live Feed, Magus). In 2026, Unearthed Films premiered the film on Blu-ray under Ittenbach's preferred Garden of Love title with a superior main title sequence compared to the video-generated one we had before. The quality here is a colossal upgrade with much better color grading, finer detail, more image info... you name it, everything here is better. The English DTS 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks both sound excellent with more clarity and heft than before; those are both accessible from the menu but Dolby Digital options (5.1 and 2.0) are also on the actual movie for some reason. English SDH subtitles are provided, and the extras kick off with "Making of Garden of Love" (22m41s) featuring extensive production coverage with a focus on makeup effects and Ittenbach's remarks in German with subtitles scattered throughout. "A Look Behind Garden of Love" (18m14s) features EPK-style interviews with the cast and crew, followed by a batch of silent gory outtakes (32m18s), the original home video opening sequence (6m47s), a 3m57s behind-the-scenes photo gallery, and a trailer.

    Unearthed (Blu-ray)

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    MTI (DVD)

    Garden of Love Garden of LoveGarden of LoveGarden of Love Garden of Love

Reviewed on February 4, 2026