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6.1/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Garden Murder Case remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like old-school detective yarns where everything gets solved by someone sitting in a chair talking, you’ll dig The Garden Murder Case. If you need pacing or, you know, actual action, stay away. It’s a bit of a relic.
The whole thing hinges on this idea of hypnosis. It feels pretty dated now, but back then, I guess it was the go-to excuse for 'how did they do it?'
Edmund Lowe plays Phil Vance. He has this smug way of looking at everyone, like he’s bored of their lies before they even start talking. It works for the character, I guess, even if it makes you want to smack him.
There’s a scene about halfway through where they’re all gathered in this drawing-room—the usual suspects—and the dialogue just drags. It’s like the writers forgot they were making a movie and thought they were writing a stage play that would never end.
Specific thing that bugged me: Everyone is so polite while talking about people killing themselves. It’s weird. Nobody actually acts like a human being grieving.
The sets look like they were built for a different, much richer movie. It’s all very shiny, but it feels hollow. It lacks the grit you might see in something like The Banker's Daughter, which at least had a bit more weight to it.
It’s not a masterpiece, and it doesn’t try to be. It just exists to fill an hour or so of your day. Sometimes that’s enough. Other times, it just makes you wish for something with a bit more… soul.
The ending comes out of nowhere. It’s like the writer got bored and just picked the first person he saw on the cast list to be the killer. Don’t try to guess it; you’ll just get a headache. 🕵️♂️