4/5 Gardens of the Night - A Review
  by Glenn L. Millerd (Midwest USA)
The movie was well done, although disturbing. Ryan Simpkins, Gillian Jacobs, Jermaine Scooter Smith, Kevin Zegers, and Tom Arnold were excellent in their various roles. This is one of those films I believe every parent and therapist should see with time set aside after watching for returning to normal. The first half of the movie surpassed the second half, although terrifying for any parent of young children due to the content. The movie is one of those that comes along every so often that can easily twist and wrench one's heart as one sees the abhorrent result of child abduction and defilement. The director's comments do help in clarifying some aspects of the film.





5/5 I want to believe that something like this isn't really happening...
  by S. Wu (New York, NY USA)
...in this world, but it is. The acting in this movie is phenomenal all around, especially the kids. Despite the sad and depressing subject matter the cinematography is beautiful and masterfully lit.

If you're looking for a Hollywood movie then this is definitely not it. Move on. But if you love great and genuine movie making that comes from a true passion to tell a real story, and isn't just fluff and superficial nonsense, then you will find that and more in this movie.

By the way, these traffickers of children as sex slaves should get the death penalty. No mercy.

5/5 great movie
  by B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania)
Gardens of the Night is a film that deals with the unfortunate circumstance involving a little girl going to school who happens to be the victim of a man who decides to kidnap her. There's a sad kind of build up that happens in the kidnapping process that shows what's about to happen to the girl as soon as she makes the choice to get inside that car.

This of course, changes the girls life drastically, because she's too small to run away from the guy for fear of her life (even though the guy acted very polite towards the girl and treated her like he would his own daughter, he definitely had his issues obviously) and she's too small to do anything other than cry, be afraid, and feel a dreaded sense of uncertainty.

Now the poor girl has to live with the guy who kidnapped her along with another man who had a serious attitude problem. I think the other man was someone who was kidnapped many years before and grew up respecting the guy like a father.

While living with these two guys, the little girl soon realizes there's another boy around her age living with them, and the little girl becomes friends with the boy. The friendship they develop sticks with them for many years, well into their adult life.

This movie is shocking to me because kidnapping is an unfortunate and horrible (and downright frightening) thing that happens in reality, and the film shows it from the perspective of the little girl who is kidnapped.

Gardens of the Night will have you wondering and attached to your TV screen anticipating what will happen next for the poor little girl.

The ending of the movie is spectacular and made me cry a little bit. I kind of knew it was coming, but it still hit me pretty hard. You really feel for the girl the entire time and want her to pull through all the obstacles that lay before her. Will she survive? You'll have to find out.

5/5 Had to comment after reading other reviews
  by young guns (San Diego, CA)
Only my second time commenting on Amazon, but after unexpectedly turning on this movie, I just had to set the record straight on this very depressing yet impossible to look away movie.

First of all, this is an incredibly well done, even if disturbing film. As another reviewer wrote, "what you don't see is the most disturbing." Secondly, without ruining the ending, I believe there are few unanswered questions. The film shows you how the protagonists part ways with Alex and Frank, and the final scene hints at what the future holds for Leslie and Donnie. However, any truly unanswered questions might be intentional. The story fast forwards a few years, but what happened during those years is irrelevant after watching the first half of the movie; you know how they lived their lives for so many years leading up to that point.

As another reviewer said, it would be difficult to re-watch, but a powerful story nonetheless. Ryan Simpkins did an amazing job playing young Leslie.

4/5 Wow.
  by J. Rodebaugh (WA, USA)
This movie is a difficult but riveting watch. It's not often you find a movie that you can FEEL through the emotions of the actors, and even more rare to be sucked in by an actress all of 8 years old.

The first part of the movie dealt with the abduction and subsequent lives of two young children in a ring of sex slavery. This was by far the most powerful part of the movie for me. The young girl that played the part of Leslie blew me away. The older girl that played her in the latter part of the movie couldn't measure up.

I gave this movie 4 stars on the strength of the emotion it contained, and the incredible acting in the first half. I 'only' gave this movie 4 stars because the second half was weaker in acting and in story line. There are a lot of holes in this story - too many unanswered questions.

I wholeheartedly recommend this movie for adults, but the content is too extreme for children. Even though there is absolutely no graphic depiction of what is happening whatsoever. It's what you don't see that is the most disturbing.