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| Garth family | |
| Type: | Family |
| Status: | Defunct |
| Leaders: | Virgil Garth; Raymond Garth |
| Members: | Andrew Garth; Lillian Garth; Margaret Garth; Morris Garth; Raymond Garth; Suzanne Garth |
| 1st appearance: | Hell Night |
The Garth family is a fictional organization. They are largely referenced in the 1981 horror movie Hell Night, which was directed by Tom De Simone and written by Randolph Feldman. Two of the surviving members of the family, Andrew and Morris Garth comprise the central antagonists of the film.
History[]
In 1850, gold mine magnate Virgil Garth constructed Garth Manor using the gold acquired from his mines. The house was built with a network of tunnels that ran beneath the estate and spanned the entire property. Four generations of Garths lived there from the time of Virgil Garth.
In the early 1960s, the head of the Garth family's estate was Raymond Garth. Raymond was very fanatical about his privacy, and as such, he never equipped the manor with modern utilities such as electricity, gas or telephones.
Raymond had married a woman named Lillian, who has been described as a hopeless simpleton. Their first child was named Morris, who suffered from Down syndrome. His condition brought great sorrow to the Garths and they immediately set out to have another child. Their second child was a daughter, which they named Suzanne. Suzanne was born so horribly deformed that it was impossible to tell if the child was male or female. She was born with a clubfoot and used to drag herself about the house with her one good leg.
A year later, the Garths gave birth to Margaret Garth, who was born deaf, dumb and blind. Raymond and Lillian decided to have one more go at child-rearing. Lillian endured a ten-month long pregnancy and finally gave birth to Andrew. Andrew did not speak for the first fourteen years of his life. All he did was grunt and growl like a wild animal.
Raymond Garth could stand no more and attempted to murder his entire family. He bashed Morris across the head with a fire poker and then used the same poker to impale Suzanne before slitting her throat. He then strangled his wife to death before hanging himself. When the police arrived they found Raymond's suicide note, which also detailed what he had done. However, they only discovered three dead bodies. Andrew was nowhere to be found, and the fatally injured Morris turned up missing as well.
Members[]
- Virgil Garth - Founder
- Raymond Garth - 1960s patriarch
- Lillian Garth - 1960s matriarch
- Morris Garth - 1st child
- Suzanne Garth - 2nd child
- Margaret Garth - 3rd child
- Andrew Garth - 4th child