So, I ignored my better sense and watched this disaster of a film. It's not funny, and even the gore is ridiculous and shot so poorly you can't even enjoy that aspect.The acting is funny, it's horrific and not in a good way. I used to think freddy got fingered was the worst movie ever made - then I watched this. If I had't been on a plane with nothing better to do I would have stopped watching after the first 5 minutes. But I watched it to the end, and no it doesn't get any better.The story is stupid, the direction is pathetic, there are 6 year olds that act better than any of the "actors" in this movie, and the script is literally so dumb I was wondering if there is a country somewhere where people actually talk like the actors in this film.It's bad - really bad - like so bad I would rather have been cleaning toilets than watching this movie. Ignore the good reviews, it's crap - I only gave it 2 stars for the "plot twist" at the end and even that was cliché.

In 1990, all of the residents of the Verlaine Farm commune were brutally murdered with cleaver and a kitchen knife in the night except for young Rebecca, who survives in spite of also being attacked. Rebecca spends two years in a coma before being released into the custody of her relatives and seems to grow up relatively unscathed. After reaching college age, Rebecca starts seeing visions of disfigured corpses and begins to investigate the massacre. As she learns more about her past, she finds that the vengeful ghosts of her father and the other commune members are the least of her worries.I'll be honest here: I wasn't holding out much hope for this one simply because it was an Olaf Ittenbach film and I only knew him for flicks like Premutos. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this isn't a bad little movie. The acting is passable, the story moves along well enough, and the gore (of course) is over the top but fun and well-done. Of course there are problems, like too many plot conveniences and a couple of overly long "This is the exposition part of the movie" monologues, but I didn't have a bad time with Garden of Love.

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.

As I write this review, I have seen three other movies from Olaf Ittenbach so far, Premutos, House of Blood, and The Burning Moon, none of which I was all that impressed with. Premutos was rather boring and tedious with the gore and comical dubbing being its only saving grace, House of Blood was pretty satisfying on gore levels but was overall rather stale, The Burning Moon I actually liked but it is pretty over-hyped as far as gore goes and I admit I gave it extra points for a certain sequence towards the end. Garden of Love on the other hand was a very pleasant surprise from Mr. Ittenbach.Another problem I had with Premutos was how it tried to inject a complicated story, I appreciate the idea of combining story with splatter, but when I'm watching a splatter movie, I don't want to think, I want to sit back and enjoy the gore. This wasn't much of a problem here, the story was rather interesting and (mostly) kept my attention throughout. So much that I didn't mind withdrawals from gore, I wouldn't go so far as to say this would still be a good horror movie without the gore, though.Speaking of gore, it may not be constant, but when it's there, it's great. Faces are torn off, intestines are pulled out, fists go through heads, it's really nice.I do think knowing what to expect helped me enjoy the film a little bit more than I would have otherwise, but I would still recommend this one. I was rather impressed.7.5/10