Hot Picks
|
|
|
Flowers in the Attic
USA 1987
produced by Thomas Fries, Sy Levin, Charles W. Fries (executive), Mike Rosenfeld (executive) for Fries Entertainment/New World
directed by Jeffrey Bloom
starring Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson, Jeb Stuart Adams, Ben Ryan Ganger, Lindsay Parker, Marshall Colt, Nathan Davis, Brooke Fries, Alex Koba, Leonard Mann, Bruce Neckels, Gus Peters, Clare Peck (voice), V.C. Andrews
screenplay by Jeffrey Bloom, based on the novel by V.C. Andrews, music by Christopher Young
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
After the death of her husband (Marshall Colt) it's only a matter of
time until Corinne's (Victoria Tennant) money ran out - after all, she has
four mouths to feed, her teenaged children Cathy (Kristy Swanson) and
Chris (Jeb Stuart Adams), and the young twins Cory (Ben Ryan Ganger) and
Carrie (Lindsay Parker). So as a last resort, she and the children move
back with her parents (Louise Fletcher, Nathan Davis). Sure, she has grown
distant from her parents ever since her marriage, to an extent that she
has been disowned, but she figures they won't just let her and her
children die out in the streets - and she also figures her dad is
terminally ill, so if she can win back his love on his death bed, that
might mean a bright future for her and the kids. Thing is, Corinne's
mother detests her children, as they were born out of sin (she claims),
and thus locks them away in the attic, and only feeds them once a day. The
kids don't like it, but Corinne assures them it's alright and only for a
short stretch of time anyhow. But days turn into weeks, weeks into months,
all the while Corinne's visits to the children grow fewer and fewer until
they just stop. And grandma forgets to feed them more and more often as
well. The twins grow sick after a while, and Cathy and Chris do the best
they can do to look after them, but they're themselves mere teens with a
lack of basic resources. Having found a secret way down from the attic
though, they start to find out a little of what's going on: Seems their
mother leads a luxurious life downstairs, and is even engaged to a lawyer,
Winslow (Leonard Mann), a man her mother very much approves of. They also
find out their grandfather has long died, while his will states Corinne
will inherit his estate only if there are no children from her marriage to
their father - meaning she has become an accomplice in locking them up and
hiding them away. Then Cory dies, and he might have been poisoned, and the
kids learn that Corinne is going to get married to Winslow - thus they
have to act now or perish forever ... Flowers in the Attic
sure is a powerful piece of psychological horror that is allowed to
develop its full and rather gruesome potential due to its slowburn
build-up. Actually, the film's first act shows little promise (and maybe
intentionally so) other than a well-acted and slickly filmed but
outdated-before-its-time historical drama, with its true level of terror
only gradually growing out of the set-up situation. And while the
direction might seem old-fashioned at first, it really serves the story
later on while remaining subtle enough to not give too much away at once.
And a strong cast of course do their part to make this work. Recommended
for sure.
|
|
|