Flowers in the Attic (2014) - Film Review

After reading the novel and being hooked from the first page, I was looking forward to seeing the film adaptation and would it live up to my expectations. I'm pleased to say that the film was not a disappointment and stayed faithful to VC Andrews' gothic-horror novel.

After the tragic death of her husband and in the height of debt, Corrine Dollanganger (played by Heather Graham) takes her four children to her estranged parents to win back her father's love so he would write her back into his will when he dies. On their arrival, they are met by their cold and cynical grandmother (played by the outstanding Ellen Burstyn) who locks them in a bedroom connected to the attic so their grandfather doesn't see or hear them and their mother assures them it'll only be for a few days then she'll let them out - however, this proves not to be the case as days turn into months and months to years.

The Dollanganger (actually Foxworth) family have a dark and twisted history and the children are subjected to physical and emotional abuse at the heads of their abusive at the hands of their abusive mother who believes they are the Devil's Spawn. As their mother becomes distant and the four children form a family unit of their own as they attempt to survive.

The cast were very impressive with some truly talented performances - Kiernan Shipka as Cathy (the second eldest daughter), develops from innocent young girl to a strong and selfless young woman and Shipka did a decent job with this complex role as the main protagonist for her age. Upon reflection of my 2014 review, there were some moments that Shipka seemed a bit unresponsive in the silent moments. Her emotions were difficult to read in some scenes, but others she was a lot more stronger in her delivery.

Heather Graham surprised me with her acting in this film as I had only seen her in comedies, I was doubtful she could portray the twisted mother Corinne - when I started seeing her transition from loving mother to twisted money obsessed murderer, I thought she did the role justice and honestly, still my favourite casting to this day.. Mason Dye was another fresh face who was good at playing the eldest son Chris (and Cathy's love interest), his acting was great and he gave depth to Chris's character which made me like a character I had character I had previously found irritating. Ellen Burstyn played the self-righteous, cold-hearted and religious grandmother Olivia - giving chilling performances that stayed true to her character, while also showing humanity to Olivia that made Corrine's character even more evil. The twins were played by Ava Telek as Carrie and Maxwell Kovach as Cory, both young actors and I thought Telek had the better acting skills in her scenes. Other actors that I thought did a decent job in their smaller roles were Bruce Dylan as Bart Winslow and Andrew Kavadas as John Amos to name a few.

The best part of this film was the writing, screenwriter Kayla Alpert did a fantastic job at penning a screenplay that has heart and emotion while also keeping the darker elements of the story. The theme of incestuous relationship between Cathy and Chris (which is a disturbing part of the story) was dealt with delicacy and it's subtly created a more genuine love story.

This film has many controversial and dark films and for a Made for TV feature, the cast and crew did a nice job.

As a fledging reviewer and a newcomer to the V.C. Andrews franchise, I rated this a five stars for its faithfulness to the novel and the general well-rounded cast.