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V.C. Andrews' Gates of Patadise - Film Review

A new generation face the Casteel Curse

By Ted RyanPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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A new creative team tackle the fourth instalment of the Casteel Family Saga - Gail Harvey takes on the directorial role (also making her the first female director on the Casteel series) and screenwriters Richard Blaney and Gregory Small pen the adaptation.

This films jumps eighteen years ahead and centre on Heaven’s daughter, who is left paralysed and orphaned after a car crash and is soon under the sinister and controlling care of Tony Tatterton.

Harvey’s vision is truly stunning and really captured an eerie tone to the cinematography. Small and Blaney’s screenplay focus on a new generation of characters and captures a consistency with the novels and although it doesn’t line up with the scripts written by Scarlett Lacey previously, Annie is written as a compelling heroine who comes of age under real threat in dark and vulnerable circumstances. Whereas the previous films felt more like a family drama, the writing and cinematography captured a very Gothic Horror tone to this film.

Lizzie Boys takes on the role of Annie Stonewall, the protagonist of this story. Although she starts off as innocent, she matured as dark family secrets are revealed and she literally has to fight to survive. Boys leads this film with surprising depth and plays the many sides of the role with an authentic portrayal. The disability side of this narrative was actually dealt with sensitive and addressed her vulnerability and frustration without victimising her.

Keenan Tracey and Ben Sullivan take on the older roles of Luke Jr. Casteel and Drake Casteel - Annie’s half-brother and step-uncle, but ultimately her sibling figures due to closeness in age. Tracey had that boy-next-door charm that made his character endearing without trying to force it and he had good chemistry with Boys. Sullivan was a good casting choice, but it felt like he was playing two different characters - in the beginning, he was quite flamboyant to the point I thought he’d taken the choice to play his character gay and I took it as an interesting character interpretation. However, he completely changes when he’s seduced by money and power and abandons his only sister. There were no traces of the Drake from before and this was slightly disjointed, but the betrayal was played well between both actors in a good scene that I chose to overlook it. The new main cast were strong actors and had great chemistry.

Now the returning actors, see the elderly Tatterton brothers back at Farthy. Jason Priestley returns as the even more disturbed Tony, making his character seem even more sinister and this film it worked really well. Jason Cermak reprises his role as Troy - now a shut in recluse haunted by the past just as much as his brother. They worked well with Boys, but their dialogue was clearly more inspired by the books - and yes, I am still disappointed we didn’t get a horse riding into the ocean with Troy. But alas it was referenced here. I also appreciated the addition of Rye Whiskey the cook and was disappointed the actor wasn’t featured in Dark Angel or Fallen Hearts as he was great.

Newer additions to the cast includes the recasting of Heaven (Johannah Newmarch), Fanny (Pauline Egan) and Logan (Michael Karl Richards). All three were good, I would’ve liked to see Egan in more scenes as she had a slightly bigger role in the novel. Newmarch was great as Heaven, I weren’t so sure about Richards as Logan - his character was a pretty embarrassing dad figure, which actually worked really well. Before their final scene, it would’ve been nice to see the conflict and tension between Heaven and Logan during the car scene.

Daphne Zuniga as the manipulative and antagonist Nurse Broadfield was excellently cast, she played the dark and controlling character superbly and the unpredictability of her character made for a compelling antagonist alongside Tony.

Although this didn’t totally line up in terms of consistency with Lacey’s previous films, this was a superb Gothic horror adaptation and Gail Harvey brought the world of Virginia Andrews to life in a compelling drama.

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About the Creator

Ted Ryan

When I’m not reviewing or analysing pop culture, I’m writing stories of my own.

Reviewer/Screenwriter socials: Twitter.

Author socials: You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Goodreads as T.J. Ryan.

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