Caught in an uneasy yet atmospheric space behind Eraserhead and Pi, you’ll find writer-director Matthew David Roe and co-writer Kimberly Britt’s Garden of an Angry God. And like Lynch and Aronofsky’s early works, this picture is a raw experience of sharp cuts, stark images, and unsettling subconscious suggestion.
Joan (Chelsea Roe) is the groundskeeper of a vast cemetery, a loner, psychologically damaged, as well as a bit of a kleptomaniac. She wanders the grounds, plying her trade and attention to stains, trash, or overgrowth in this picturesque garden of remembrance. Joan also watches the mourners come and go silently, finding comfort in visiting the last resting place of their loved ones. They each leave tokens of their passing, which Joan, once the visitors have departed, examines, then steals.
“…turns out, she won’t be eating alone. Waiting for Joan with a steak dinner surprise sits Bas, a malevolent, well-dressed cat…”
Retreating to her creepy little domicile, our light-fingered caretaker further inspects the pleasing trinkets she pilfers throughout the course of her day. There is no one to greet her but shadows, there is no one to share her meals but silence. Irritated by anxious demons, one night, Joan flees the cemetery for the solace of a solitary meal at a local diner. But, turns out, she won’t be eating alone. Waiting for Joan with a steak dinner surprise sits Bas (William Shelton), a malevolent, well-dressed cat that sips casually on his espresso. Joan has been working hard and enjoying the fruits of her labor. But, as her mysterious friend is about to foreshadow, all’s not well in Joan’s world. And it’s about to get worse.
Garden of an Angry God comes across like a perpetual nightmare noir, during which an ordinary person’s closet of skeletons can no longer keep her inner darkness trapped inside. For Joan, the terror walks on demonic feet, and guess who’s coming to dinner?
"…a perpetual nightmare noir..."
