Gardens of the Night (2008)

50% of critics liked it
(14 reviews)
69% of users liked it
(1,309 ratings)

Abducted by two men and forced into child prostitution when she was just eight years old, a homeless San Diego street teen is finally reunited with her family only to find that the traumas of the past may have scarred her for life. Leslie (Ryan Simpkins) was walking to school when her neighbors Alex… More Abducted by two men and forced into child prostitution when she was just eight years old, a homeless San Diego street teen is finally reunited with her family only to find that the traumas of the past may have scarred her for life. Leslie (Ryan Simpkins) was walking to school when her neighbors Alex (Tom Arnold) and Frank (Kevin Zegers) pulled up alongside her and asked for help finding their missing dog. After scouring the neighborhood with the young girl to no avail, the men offer Leslie a ride so she won't be late for school. Along the way, the men tell Leslie that they work for her father. After school, Leslie is surprised to find the two men waiting to drive her home. Claiming that her parents have been called away on urgent business, Alex and Frank coerce Leslie into the car and give her a drink. Later, after dozing off in the backseat, Leslie awakens in a tiny bedroom with eight-year-old Donnie. Like Leslie, Donnie has been drugged and kidnapped. Donnie is led to believe that his parents have sold him for drugs, while Leslie is told that her parents want nothing to do with her anymore. Now, as the two innocent children are forced into prostitution, they use their imaginations to escape into a wondrous world of light where anything is possible.Years later, Leslie and Donnie are struggling to rebuild their lives on the streets of San Diego. Donnie is deeply in love with Leslie, but Leslie's perception of love has been completely destroyed by her harrowing experience. One day, Leslie walks into a children's shelter and begins the painful process of reconnecting with the past. Though she is soon reunited with her parents, everything is different now, and it gradually becomes apparent that any hope she had for a normal life evaporated the fateful day she placed her trust in two monstrous strangers. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 50 min.
Directed By: Damian Harris
Written By: Damian Harris
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Nov 7, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Mar 24, 2009
Studio: City Lights

Critic Reviews

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
Do these heartbreaking stories exist in the real world? Yes, yes, they do. Does dramatizing these stories with nothing to add except a certain cruel wallowing in the existence of unspeakable human depravity serve any real purpose? No, no, it does not.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Writer-director Jared Harris (and actor and son of the late Richard Harris) claims to have spent 10 years researching this sordid milieu, yet, for all the detail, it ends up playing like an especially lurid '80s TV movie.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Gardens of the Night is a harrowing story of kidnapping and forced child prostitution that conjures a world entirely populated by predators and prey.
Rex Reed, New York Observer
Good acting and sincere direction by Damian Harris act as beacons to light the haunting corridors of an underworld spook house.
Ed Gonzalez, Village Voice
The film never quite recovers from writer-director Damian Harris's dithering way of shooting things.
Brian Orndorf, DVDTalk.com
Gardens doesn't always hit its desired mark of profundity. It's a wobbly plunge into grotesque acts of inhuman violation, with the patchy acting often blocking the true horror on display.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
A haunting tale which very convincingly conveys the overwhelming sense of helplessness and dread which undoubtedly afflicts impressionable souls unfortunate enough to be sexually exploited while still in the bloom of youth.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
"Gardens of the Night" is a powerful and provoking film about a disturbing and all too real subject. There's a bitterness here that will not go away.
Nick Schager, Cinematical
The tendency to exploit lurid material for dramatic purposes is something [director Harris] can't avoid.
Stephen Garrett, Time Out New York
Ferociously queasy-making for its first half before flatlining into banality.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
A haunting tale which very convincingly conveys the overwhelming sense of helplessness and dread which undoubtedly afflicts impressionable souls unfortunate enough to be sexually exploited while still in the bloom of youth.
Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve
Tom Arnold turns in a solid performance as a "nice guy" who abducts children.
Richard Mowe, Boxoffice Magazine
An impressive directorial debut.
Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine
Gardens of the Night leaves me wondering if it is finally possible to make a non-exploitative portrait of sexual abuse.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Randy T

Abducted by two pedophiles at the age of 8, Leslie is led into a life of prostitution, drug addiction and self destruction. If you have children, and even if you don't, this is a hard watch. <i>Gardens of the Night</i> is a good film about some very, very bad stuff.
Robert F

MIFF '08: I liked the characters, and it had some pretty strong themes about family, but I left the cinema feeling unsatisfied. The first half kept me interested because it was ambiguous as to what was going to happen to the children, but then it skipped ahead to when they were… More
MIFF '08: I liked the characters, and it had some pretty strong themes about family, but I left the cinema feeling unsatisfied. The first half kept me interested because it was ambiguous as to what was going to happen to the children, but then it skipped ahead to when they were older, and I was thinking, "Well, how did they escape? What happened to Alex and Frank?" So basically, the film makers omitted what would have been the most interesting part of the story. It was also a little predictable that the traumatic childhood of Leslie and Donnie led to a life of prostitution. And because so much time was spent showing their street life, the ending felt rushed - a shame because it was only then that I began to understand what this film was actually about. Sigh.