tomgillespie2002 The Dollanganger children - the elder Cathy (Kristy Swanson) and Chris (Jeb Stuart Adams), and young twins Cory (Ben Ryan Ganger) and Carrie (Lindsay Parker) - live an idyllic life with their photogenic mother (Victoria Tennant) and caring, successful father (Marshall Colt). That is until the day of their father's birthday brings the devastating news that he has been killed in a car accident, leaving the four kids without a father figure and their mother with dwindling savings. When their money runs dry, Mother takes them to their grandparents' mansion in the country, where she hopes to reconnect with her dying father in the hope of being written back into his will. When they arrive, they are met with disdain by Grandmother (Louise Fletcher), who has long felt that her daughter's marriage and family was an abomination. As Mother attempts to crawl back into her parents' good books, the children must be locked away unseen in the attic to be told over time by their only remaining parent to endure the isolation just a little while longer.V. C. Andrews' novel Flowers in the Attic was incredibly successful when it was released in 1979, selling over 40 million copies worldwide, gathering a huge following of young readers, and spawning no fewer than three sequels. The author wisely insisted on script approval when selling the rights for a film adaptation, turning down a number of screenplays before settling with Jeffrey Bloom's version. The producers had already turned down Wes Craven's violent and disturbing vision, deeming it too disturbing for a mainstream audience, despite the director's recent success with A Night on Elm Street. Bloom's script stayed true the novel's controversial themes of incest, but the final product, also directed by Bloom, did not play well with test audiences, who were freaked out by the sexual activity between the two oldest siblings, and unsatisfied with the climax.The production was a notoriously troubled one. When the producers got nervous after the test screenings and insisted on re-shooting the ending, Bloom stepped away, and an unknown replacement was brought in to helm the new scenes. The result has one salivating at the thought of a juicier, more harrowing version with Craven behind the camera, as Flowers in the Attic is a tame, frustrating and ultimately boring affair. It is a film completely disinterested in detail, choosing instead to force us into accepting the children's predicament with no real understanding of how they took so long to figure it all out, and why don't simply make a run for it. Cathy and Chris come across as idiotic, irresponsible and weak, despite the best efforts of Swanson and Adams. Fletcher, evoking her intimidating presence from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, gives it her very best, but she can't save this damp squib from instantly fading from memory.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

thesar-2 Truly, when I was very young, way back in the eighties…my older sister introduced me to this book, Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. Following my first read, I read it another 3½ times along with the three follow-up books and one prequel book. I loved every minute of that series and remember the events and journey of Cathy, Chris, Cory and Carrie to this day.When the movie first came out in 1987, my sister – another huge influence on my childhood – just had to take me to the movie. Not that I was complaining; 1987 was just when I grew and fell in love with movies (my passion for cinema would only grow tenfold from there.)Since we were both familiar with the story of the "flowers in the attic," we walked away disappointed and felt betrayed. So much had changed from novel to screen. Especially….that ending. That horrible, terrible, misplaced, no good and actually laughable climax.I believe I saw the movie just shy of a handful of times later on home video, but not for twenty years would I watch it again. 2014 announced to me a Lifetime (TV) film version of this and it sparked my interest into seeing this again after two decades away from Foxworth Hall and the Four Cs.Okay, the movie was very 80s, and had some way overacting – namely by Kristy Swanson and that ending – Oh, dear God, that misleading, incorrect and unintentionally hilarious finale – was just as awful. But, I must say: the movie still held true (for the most part) to the original idea behind the V.C. Andrews story.Yes, they changed details, events and made it, incredibly, less violent, claustrophobic and shorter than the events in the book, but the key plot points and motivations were present. And Director/Writer Jeffrey Bloom did all he could to bring a phenomenal book to about 90 minutes of footage. Still not sure how he came up with the last few minutes, though I suspect studio interference for that blunder.The story revolves around four young siblings who get locked up in a room/attic while their recently widowed mother fights for the love of her dying rich father from which she previously fell from grace. Mother's visits to her eventually neglected children become scarce as the weeks and months go by, but they have more to worry about as their hyper-religious and angry Grandmother's punishments increase.With that synopsis, I only touched on the tip of the iceberg with this tale of suspense, love, hope, horror, danger, yearning, greed, despair and future. As did this movie. Watching this should be like reading the back description of the book on the back cover. Then you should read the whole thing, and don't stop until you read all five books in the series. It's truly a great read and never lets the reader down.I digress. This movie, for any of its shortcomings, will always have a special place in my heart. From what it meant growing up, and being with my sister. No matter what they changed, I can still get that feeling, albeit summary, of the book I read nearly five times.* * * Final thoughts: The first line, up to the "…" of my review is the first line of the book, though "eighties" replaced "fifties" for accuracy in my story. To this day, from all the countless books I read, this first book I ever read's first line will stay with me to my end days. I loved it as I did the rest of the book. I don't know why I remember it so well or fondly, but I always will. Think what you will of this movie, but if you had my experience with these… Flowers in the Attic…you might actually love this movie more than what it deserves.

jfarms1956 "Flowers in the Attic" is geared towards nobody, except horror movie buffs. However, it is not your typical horror movie. It is a film with an interesting story, totally unbelievable and extremely memorable. To me, it was virtually a horror movie. However, this horror is all too real to understand why such a situation would ever happen. This movie is ONLY FOR ADULTS. Children should NOT WATCH the movie. I still remember the movie and the feeling it game me even after several months of watching it. This is the only reason I give it a higher rating than normal. I was totally blown away by this movie. Flowers in the Attic is a movie that appears to move slow, however, don't let the pace deceive you. The movie draws you in and does not let you go. This is a movie that will haunt you for a long time.

gavin6942 They have come to a house where secrets are kept....where the future is haunted by the past.....where the innocent live in the shadow of sin.....where a dark legacy awaits to destroy all who defy it...While I have not read the book, I sincerely hope it is not as bad as this film (though, after reading "Twilight", I know that you do not need to be a good writer to sell millions of copies). Absolutely terrible dialogue litters this film, and it is poorly delivered, only exacerbating this shortcoming.Another script was written by Wes Craven, but was turned down because of the violence and incest. I would much rather watch his version (this one all but removes the incest subplot that made the original novel so controversial). At least horror fans still have the music of Christopher Young ("Hellraiser") to listen to.Apparently the sequel was to be "all sex" but never got off the ground. The bigger mystery is: where is the remake? A book this successful that made a critically-failed movie? That is a perfect excuse to give it another go. By now, Kristy Swanson is old enough to play the mother...