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Imagine early Tim Burton without the irony, or the wide-angled frenzy of a Terry Gilliam film. Now mix in a bit of world building from The NeverEnding Story and Labyrinth. Add a sentimental dash of Beasts of the Southern Wild. Darken it all with some of Phil Tippet’s Mad God. Wrap it all in a mid-’90s Marilyn Manson music video, throw in Mad Max: Fury Road’s War Boys and some goth-era Nick Cave. Dunk it all in David Lynch’s subconscious. Then imagine Poltergeist shot entirely from Carol Anne’s perspective—inside the portal.
Now you’re close to understanding Moon Garden, which is currently screening at Cinemagic.
Moon Garden, the fantasy horror film directed by Ryan Stevens Harris, was shot on expired 35 mm film (Cinemagic is showing it on celluloid) and eschews the use of digital effects in favor of handmade, practical effects. It’s this aesthetic that transports us to the fantasy and horror of the ’80s and ’90s, back before villains were made of 1s and 0s.
The film is the story of Emma, a cherubic little girl with red hair and bright blue eyes, full of unyielding hope and optimism. Emma is played by the director’s daughter, Haven Lee Harris, who performed the role from ages 4 to 7 over the course of the shoot.
Her mother Sara (Augie Duke) keeps Emma’s spirits high, doing her best to hide the fact that her marriage to Alex (Brionne Davis) is ripping at the seams. Sara’s depression, coupled with Alex’s workload and literary ambitions, nearly explodes one night when an argument reaches a violent fever pitch. Unable to ignore the fighting any longer, Emma intervenes, before she tumbles down the stairs into unconsciousness, plunging into a dark netherworld to begin her journey.
Emma is thrust into an epic nightmare where she must outrun a Slenderman-like figure with chattering teeth—aptly named “Teeth”—who’s developed a taste for her tears. Along the way, she encounters a series of benevolent characters who help her on her journey.
The world of the film is a steampunk fever dream, an analog graveyard filled with dusty musical instruments, crackling television sets, a Polaroid camera and a talismanic transistor radio that holds a tenuous link to the world above. Emma follows the radio’s signal, a direct line to the hospital room where her parents keep vigil over her unconscious body.
Moon Garden rewards viewing on the big screen. In addition to the rich celluloid blanket of teal and gold that infuses every frame, the sound design shines as one of the unexpected stars of the film. Deep crunches, static hums, the metallic clangs of industrial machinery, and a rhinoceros groan that would dwarf a humpback whale—the sound design burrows into your bones. It’s bolstered further by Michael Deragon’s rich, heavy score, giving us equal parts droning horror and bittersweet longing. And, throughout, Badfinger’s “Without You,” famously covered by Harry Nilsson, is the heartbeat of the film.
Moon Garden transports us to a nightmarish world that is both claustrophobic and expansive, a realm full of horror and struggle, grounded in the aching acceptance that life keeps moving forward, and the best way to experience it is by facing it head on.
SEE IT: Moon Garden plays at Cinemagic, 2021 SE Hawthorne Blvd., thecinemagictheater.com. 7 pm Monday-Tuesday and Thursday, 4:30 pm Wednesday, 4 pm Saturday, through June 10.