Flowers in the Attic Blu-ray Review

Following the sudden death of her husband, Corrine quickly falls short of money and faces no other choice than to take her four children and move back home to her estranged parents whom she hasn’t seen in seventeen years. She is desperate enough to win back her dying father’s love and reclaim her place in his will that she will endure her domineering mother’s harsh rules. The children are to be locked away upstairs, at first in a bedroom, then in the attic. As Corrine’s daily visits decline in frequency and soon stop altogether, teen siblings Chris and Cathy become surrogate parents to the younger twins Corrie and Carrie. Grandmother runs the place like a prison, promising the children food and shelter but never love or acceptance. As their health deteriorates, Chris and Cathy devise a plan to escape the attic and search the house for answers, but they are trapped in an endless nightmare and do not like what they learn.

Best-selling author V.C. Andrews wrote a collection of novels chronicling the haunting adventures of the Dollanganger family. The first book, Flowers in the Attic (1979), introduces our heroes Chris and Cathy and their younger siblings abandoned by their mother and imprisoned by their grandmother. The story explores themes of family secrets, neglect and forbidden love as the children spend years locked away in an oversized attic. Incest is a powerful aspect of the older teens’ relationship, something that plagued the family in a previous generation. The book was adapted into this film in 1987, but all references to inbreeding were thoroughly removed.

Written for the screen and directed by Jeffrey Bloom (Blood Beach), Flowers in the Attic is something of a noble failure. The film is competently shot and is buoyed by strong performances, but somehow fails to connect. Louise Fletcher (Exorcist II: The Heretic) steals the show as the cold, unloving Grandmother who has no problem punishing wicked children. She is wonderful in the role and plays it beautifully, bringing a real sense of menace to this dark fairy tale. Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) stars as Cathy, the frequent target of Grandmother’s rage. She is sensitive and protective of her siblings and struggles with her changing attitude towards her delinquent mother. Brother Chris, played by Jeb Stuart Adams (Once Bitten), is supportive and patient and determined to help his family escape their confines. Most of his scenes are with Swanson and the two play well off each other. Rounding out the cast is Victoria Tennant (L.A. Story) as Corrine, the greedy mom who doesn’t receive a lot of screen time but leaves a lasting impression.

Forced to abandon the incest elements to receive a PG-13 rating, the film still has a lot to work with, including child neglect and imprisonment, but the material somehow grows stale. There are no longer any grey areas for the characters to explore, as they are simply either faultlessly good or mean-spirited antagonists. It is unclear why Corrine and the two older children didn’t take up jobs as money grew tight and instead simply resigned themselves to moving back to her unwelcoming parents’ house. Mom is also a bit too passive when it comes to her kids being locked away in an attic, but the story is theirs and not hers.

Test audiences were so underwhelmed by the lackluster finale that against the director’s wishes a new ending was shot to punch up the final confrontation. I guess it’s more satisfying in some regards, but the changes leave out Grandmother, leaving her character arc unfinished. The film was remade for television in 2013 along with adaptations of the other three books in the series.