Killer Garden

A Film of Obsession and Possession

A group of twenty passionate gardeners belong to an organic community garden in Los Angeles. The garden plots reflect the great cultural diversity of the city. The garden has several strict rules, the primary one is that commercial fertilizers are strictly forbidden — any perpetrators will immediately be asked to leave.

Unknown to all but one gardener, several families of gnomes live under the garden. They are the sentinels of the Underworld and watch to make sure that no commercial fertilizers are used, as they are deadly toxic to the gnomes.

The Competition

The gardeners are extremely competitive, and each one has a secret for growing prize-winning produce with exceptional flavor. During the summer, the main garden event is TOMATOMANIA — an actual event in Los Angeles — where different heirloom tomatoes are grown by every gardener. There are over 10,000 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, many originating from the gardeners’ ancestral countries.

One Sunday during TOMATOMANIA, an executive from a major Agri-Business corporation attends the Farmer’s Market and marvels at the extraordinary size, appearance, variety, and especially the taste of the tomatoes. She decides to sponsor a competition to find the most flavorful and beautiful heirloom tomatoes, which will be grown on a mass scale. The winner will receive one million dollars, with options to grow other prize-winning produce.

The Revenge

The competition sets up a fierce battle amongst the gardeners, several of whom are cash-strapped. These gardeners decide to secretly use commercial fertilizer — and tragically, one of the daughter gnomes dies.

The gnomes are devastated; nobody has ever died an unnatural death in the Underworld. The Council of the Elders decides to take revenge. One by one, the culprits are killed using garden tools and other, darker means.