Garden of the Dead (also known as Tomb of the Undead) is a 1972 horror film directed by low-budget film director John Hayes and stars Phil Kenneally, Duncan McLeod, Lee Frost and Susan Charney.
Plot
A group of prison inmates in a chain gang obtain some experimental formaldehyde, and get high off of it. They later try to escape and are shot dead. They are buried, and rise again to kill everyone in their path, and to find more formaldehyde from which to get high.
Cast
Phil Kenneally as Warden
Duncan McLeod as Dr. Saunders
John Dullaghan as Sgt. Burns
John Dennis as Jablonski
Susan Charney as Carol Johnson
Marland Proctor as Paul Johnson
Tony Vorno as Mitchell
Lee Frost as McGee
Virgil Frye as Braddock
Jerome Guardino as Gravedigger
Production
The AFI mentions that "some modern sources claim that the film was shot in ten days in Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles County" from May to late June 1972.
Release
The film premiered in August 1972 by Entertainment Pyramid, and was later distributed on VHS by Troma Entertainment. In 2004, it was featured on a 3-in-1 Troma DVD. In 2006, Troma released it as part of a 15-in-1 pack.
Reception
Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle said, "This scruffy low-budget production anticipates the pointless and depressing amateur zombie movies of the early '90s by almost twenty years." Glenn Kay, who wrote Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide, said, "It's all incredibly silly, campy stuff." On Evil Dread, the website rated Garden of the Dead 2/10 stars.
Bloody Disgusting included the film's poster in their list of the best posters for bad films.