TheBlueHairedLawyer I won't deny that this modern version of V.C. Andrews' 4th book in the Dollanganger series has a lot of cinematic style, highlighting the dark and ugly secrets of the rich and strange in a haunting and often surreal way. But Seeds of Yesterday just came across as lame and overdramatic. The acting was horrible for the most part, and the character of Cindy especially really got on my nerves. She's this wealthy, worldly dancer, almost an adult, so it makes sense for her to just blurt out "d!ckhead" at her brother like a five-year-old? The perverse sex scenes between siblings Cathy and Christopher were just shudder-inducing, disgusting and frankly silly. The film takes place in an earlier point in time, yet every character talks just like a 21st century hipster. All of them act like children. The constant lines such as Bart's "your wife can't stay off my junk" and the pretentious speech style of the immature and dysfunctional family seemed out of place and a little stupid.I honestly think that this film series has been stretched out much longer than it needed to be, and that it's just a cash cow for a company already known for making identical films about shallow cookie-cutter families. I never would've thought that Lifetime would be the company to revive this twisted series, and instead of focusing on giving the story some depth, they just kept on piling up the shock value of the incest, sexual phrases and violent theatrics. I just kept laughing the whole way through, because it's impossible to take Seeds of Yesterday seriously.

SnoopyStyle Corrine is dead and the Foxworth Manor has been rebuilt. It is expected that religious Bart is inheriting the family fortune on his 25th birthday after years of psychiatric treatment and poisoned by Malcolm's journal. His parents Cathy and Christopher Sheffield have been managing the money for him. He has changed his name from Sheffield to Foxworth. His brother Jory is a star ballet dancer and his wife Melodie announces her pregnancy. Adopted sister Cindy overhears Bart talking about insurance on Jory over the phone. Jory performs for Bart's 25th birthday and is paralyzed by a suspicious accident. Bart and Melodie start having an affair. An extra clause in the will leaves control of the fortune to Christopher for another 10 years.Sorry for the Star Wars reference. I like that Bart is fully Darth Vader. There is no more Anakin. It makes it much more fun. He is deliciously crazy and evil. He makes this better than 'If There Be Thorns'. As Lifetime movies go, this series is better than most. It's an overwrought soap.

dutchchocolatecake I haven't reviewed the other three movies and almost didn't review this one, simply because there is no way to correctly deduce the expected outcome of a V.C. Andrews adaption. This is for two reasons: one being that the books are practically a genre unto themselves; and two because there have been no serious efforts made to properly adapt them into visual media that can fully encompass the batcrap crazy rabbit hole that is the writing of V.C. Andrews.I say this with full respect to V.C. Andrews - she is by far, the most unlikely but gifted writer of her generation. Her books were meant to be notional, dramatic, and horrifying. V.C. Andrews books were marketed as horror books before they became franchised as family dramas. People say V.C. Andrews books are trash - I say they've sold millions copies so judge away, as Flowers in the Attic still enthralls every generation after it's initial publication.Back to the review. Being that the Dollanganger Saga are all produced by Lifetime, it was a safe guess that they would get the evening news treatment. There is simply no way to accurately adapt one of V.C. Andrews' books without making it into a week-long miniseries. V.C. was a writer extremely and emotionally invested in her books to the point of self-imposed isolation and grieving after one of the characters died. For that, it's almost an insult that Lifetime would slap together a script so they could take advantage a series of books so notorious that Hollywood should have theoretically bought the filming rights decades ago.But because they didn't, fans of the books will have to take what they can get. In this case, a separate movie for each book; the plot condensed and organized so that the viewer can follow along without having to think too much; with some titillating scenes sprinkled with 50 Shades of Grey mimicry.That about sums up Seeds of Yesterday, as well as all the other movies. Yeah, I know, no book adaption will ever be the same as the book itself, but Seeds of Yesterday really deviated from the book (as if deviance even exists in the world of V.C. Andrews). The movie is well made, and the acting is competent for the most part. It's no secret that Jason Maslow stole the show, and has great chemistry with Sammi Hanratty. However, in the book Cindy and Bart hate each other, and Cindy only provoked Bart because she hated him. Well, he did try to kill her as a child so is it really logical that Cindy would grow up and want to have sex with Bart? Not really. Not unless you fetishize dangerous and self-destructive behavior. In the book, I was never given a reason to believe that there was sexual tension between Cindy and Bart. Bart was too obsessed with getting the upper hand on Jory and Cindy displayed behavior that I can only describe as Borderline Personality Disorder. I also say that with respect, as your mother dying at an extremely young age and having a psychotic older brother that rejects you your whole life and even tries to kill you WILL, without a doubt, give you issues. For those who have never read the books, you are probably wondering why incest didn't occur between Bart and Cindy in the books as the movie makes it look like a great idea considering Bart is both insane and his mother is married to her brother. I suspect that at the point of Seeds of Yesterday, V.C. Andrews got tired of writing about forbidden love vis-a-vis brother and sister; decided it played out enough with Cathy and Chris and so threw in the towel and called it a day. And that's okay! There's two entire books devoted to forbidden incest, did we really need another installment? Personally, I don't think so.Then there's the absence of Joel Foxworth, who was supposed come back from the grave after being found and nursed back to health by monks in the Italian Alps where he would then live for the next fifty or so years (give or take a decade). Seeds of Yesterday, movie version, is bereft of the batty old man shuffling about Foxworth Hall making snide, undercutting remarks and sabotaging Bart's happiness which almost makes one want to feel sorry for him. Joel Foxworth humanizes Bart in such a way that the movie lacks, and so it's a loss to the movie series.In conclusion, I am giving this movie a 7 out of 10; mostly because of the shameless butchering of the plot and what feels like a thinly transparent attempt to appeal to 50 Shades of Grey fans.

dhainline1 I thought even without Corinne's religious brother, Joel making a sudden appearance like he did in the book, the ending of the Dollanganger series was satisfactory. James Maslow made an excellent Bart Foxworth (Dollanganger was a funny name Cathy, Chris, Carrie and Cory's father found in the genealogy). Foxworth was the real last name of this family. James was creepy, attractive, and rather scary as the ultra-religious Bart who thinks his family is mired in sin and will all suffer from hell's torment. The other characters were great and I thought the newborn twins who were Deirdre and Darren Marquet (older brother Jory's children) were adorable! Sammy Hanratty as slutty younger adopted Cindy was great and she and James Maslow had a love/hate sexual relationship. The last scene with Cathy going up to the attic of the mansion and yellow flowers appearing was a fitting closure to this series!