Oddly Compelling Despite Some Major Flaws; Great Creepy Atmosphere
Translating novels to the screen is a tricky business; most authors have been mistreated in one way or another by Hollywood, with the possible exception of Ira Levin, whose film adaptations are usually eerily close to the books.
V C Andrews's first novel, FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC, notorious for its theme of incest, comes to the screen limping with half broken legs. One of the novel's major themes is incest. The Dollenganger family are the product of a vaguely incestuous union (Mother married her father's much younger half-brother), and during their imprisonment in the attic, the older brother and sister actually have sex once, but in the book this all has its own peculiar logic and actually makes sense.
Director Jeffrey Bloom and the production team backed off of the incest; the mother's marriage is mentioned once and the two older siblings have a closeness that is vaguely suggestive but otherwise the theme of incest is never really developed.
At the beginning of the film we meet the Dollanganger family: Mom Corinne (Victoria Tennant), father Christopher (Marshall Colt), and their four children: Christopher (Jeb Stuart Adams), Catherine (Kristy Swanson), and the twins Cory (Ben Ryan Ganger) and Carrie (Lindsay Parker). They are a close family; almost too close, but their world is
shattered when the father is killed in an automobile accident.
Mother, grief-stricken, is unable to cope with life, and eventually they find themselves penniless and on the street, so Mother decides to take the children to the home of her parents, grandparents the children have never seen. On the way there, Mother reveals that her father disinherited her for something she did years ago, and this "pilgrimage" is a mission to win back his love and reenter his good graces.
We finally arrive at the Foxworth Mansion and are greeted by Grandmother, played by none other than Louise Fletcher. Fletcher is great here, as she always is when she plays a type of evil woman who wields power, but I did find myself thinking the poor woman should have had a word with her agent; ever since the 1976 Oscars Fletcher had been playing variations on the Nurse Ratched theme. But no matter. No one did it better than she.
The other actors were savaged by the critics, but I thought they were quite good. Victoria Tennant and Kristy Swanson, who both took a major shellacking in the reviews, deliver in fact the two performances (along with Fletcher's) that drive the narrative forward. In fact, all four of the kids deliver fine work.
No, the actors are not the problem; they work hard and are mostly effective. What cobbles them is an extremely awkward script; people simply do not speak the way these kids do most of the time (Cathy has a habit of constantly repeating her older brother's name, for example). Tennant as their mother does come across as stilted and stiff at times, though this may be her way of indicating that Corinne is under the spell of her mother. Only Fletcher seems to have the gift of flinging about the rather purple dialogue; her character is a religious fanatic, half Nurse Ratched and half Margaret White from CARRIE, and she has a field day with her role.
In the end, it is Kristy Swanson's Cathy who proves to be her grandmother's (AND mother's) nemesis. Swanson is fierce despite the awkwardness of some of what she has to say, and all four of the kids make a believable family.
I am not going to reveal the plot. It's something that should be experienced. Some will probably hate it, but I was most impressed. They ripped half the guts out of what was a truly excellent book in the Gothic tradition, yet still managed to produce something eerie and frightening.
In spite of what the film lacks, they managed to give it a somber and creepy mood that is not only impressive but hard to forget. Christopher Young's moody score helps the film greatly.
But if you see the film, do read the novel as well; it's great.
Oh God. There's nothing more inconvenient than an old queen with a head cold!