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There is a Flowers in the Attic remake based off the orginal book being made by Lifetime, which aired on January 18, 2014. It stars Kiernan Shipka as Cathy, Mason Dye as Chris, Heather Graham as Corinne, and Ellen Burstyn as the grandmother. Unlike the 1987 original film, the remake closely follows the content of the novel, including the incestuous relationship between the two eldest siblings.
Summary
In the year 1957, 12-year-old Cathy Dollanganger lives an idyllic life with her family, which consists of her older teenage brother (Christopher), 5-year-old twins (Carrie and Cory), and her parents (Corrine and Christopher, Sr.) in Pennsylvania. The family is well-known and loved for their blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair complexion which everyone compares them to the Dresden Dolls.
On the day of her father's birthday party, however, her young life changes forever. Christopher Sr is killed in a car accident which devastates the entire family.
Because their father was the only one financially supporting them and due to overwhelming debt, Corrine writes to her mother in Virginia, asking for shelter. After four months, Corrine receives her mother's blessing to come live at the family mansion, Foxworth Hall.
She then explains to Cathy and Chris that she has been distant with her family due to a disagreement, but with their father dead and them losing their home, her family, who is wealthy, will be able to provide for them. Also due to living on credit, the house, the cars and many of the children's toys were not fully paid for and are going to be seized by the bank. She also tells them that their true last name is Foxworth.
That night, the family take the train and arrive in Virginia in the early morning hours, and walk a long way to Foxworth Hall, where they meet with Corrine's mother, Olivia, at the door.
She escorts them into a small room that is connected to the attic, and tells them they will be residing the room so that their grandfather, who is dying from a heart disease, will not find out about them. Olivia takes Cathy's promise ring away and forbids the children from ever mentioning their father again.
Corrine explains that she did something when she was 18 years old that her parents didn't approve of, so she was disinherited, but she intends on winning his love back and then will introduce the children to them.
The following morning, Olivia gives them a list of strict rules, such as keeping the room and themselves clean, eat all their meals, hide away in the attic when the maids clean the room every last Friday of every month, stay quiet so no one will hear them (except for in the attic), never mention their father, and forbids them from even looking at each other.
The children explore the attic and begin turning it into a garden so that the twins will not be afraid of it. Olivia expresses suspicion that the children are doing things she considers sinful, such as questioning Cathy what she does with Chris, which scares and confuses them.
When Corrine visits with them, the twins demand to be released, but Olivia violently pushes them away to quiet them down and makes Corrine show the children what punishment they will get for disobeying her; Corrine has been horse-whipped by her mother a total 38 times (18 for each year she "charmed" her father and 20 for each year she was married to her husband).
Corrine tells them that her husband was actually her half-uncle; he had been her father's half-brother and when they eloped, they were both were banished and cursed by her parents. She promises to them that she will convince her father to forgive her and bring them to meet him. The children, particularly Chris, believe her, even though Cathy has a little bit of skepticism.
A month goes by as Corrine's visits decrease and the children try to pass the time by playing in the attic and taking care of the twins. Corrine begins to enjoy her new found wealth and begins a relationship with her father's attorney, Bart Winslow, although she, at first, tells the children he is helping her get her father write her back in his will.
Eventually, Cathy becomes convinced that their mother is losing interest in them, although Chris continues to defend her and Corrine makes excuses for her absence, such that she is too busy caring for her father. She later tells them she can never introduce them to him because he forgave her on the condition that she never had any children with their father, which means they have to stay in the attic until he dies.
On their first Christmas at Foxworth Hall, Corrine showers the children with expensive gifts and announces that her father is giving her a large Christmas party. Cathy and Chris beg to attend with the promise they will hide away so no one will see them. Corrine gives in and hides them in a space above the staircase. There, Cathy and Chris see their grandfather, Malcolm for the first time. She witnesses their mother share an intimate moment with Bart, who expresses a desire to be with Corrine forever, just the two of them.
Cathy is troubled by this, although Chris tries to shrug it off. He decides to explore more of the mansion and finds his mother's Swan Room. Corrine goes to the children's room and awakens Cathy, demanding to know where her brother is. She proceeds to slap Chris and threatens to whip him for risking of him being caught.
The next day, however, she apologizes and offers to leave Foxworth Hall with them if they like, but the children decide to stay, still wanting to trust their mother.
A year passes, and Corrine's visits with them has become almost less to non-existent. By now, the children have grown, except for the twins, who have stopped growing due to them not getting any sunlight and fresh air.
Cathy and Chris enter puberty and Cathy catches Chris reading an adult magazine, which confuses her about him wanting to look at girls. Corrine explains the physical changes of becoming young adults, and gives Cathy her first bra.
As Cathy is trying it on, Chris accidentally walks in on her and finds himself enchanted. Olivia catches them and calls them sinners for looking at each other when Cathy was almost naked.
Olivia tries to cut off Cathy's long, blonde hair as punishment, but when Chris tells her not to, she threatens to have the four of them starve for a week and orders Chris to cut her hair off. The resulting starvation leads Cathy and Chris to leave their remaining food to the twins while they rely on mostly water and Chris suggests they eat mice in order to survive.
Then, Olivia leaves them a basket of food. Later that night, Cathy awakens to find tar in her hair and asks Chris to cut her hair off. As he does so, he tells her that he couldn't resist looking at her because she is beautiful, but he knows it is wrong to think that way about her.
After another year passes, Corrine hasn't visited with them in several months, leading the children to suspect their mother no longer cares about them. Cathy and Chris have become parents to the twins, who no longer trust or know who Corrine is anymore. Finally, Cathy and Chris begin contemplating an escape due to the twins' declining health.
One night, they use a rope to climb from the attic window and explore the lake, and talk about where their mother is and why she has not visited with them. When Corrine finally returns, she happily announces she has remarried to Bart and was away on her honeymoon in Europe.
This angers Cathy and Chris that she was away on vacation while they have been suffering in the attic, but Corrine fails to understand why they are angry at them. Olivia starts to bring them sugar-powdered doughnuts which she says are from their mother, but attempts to refrain the children from eating them. When Olivia discovers Chris looking out the window, he orders her to call him by his name and not "boy."
She then beats him with a leather belt for talking back at her while Cathy comforts the twins in the attack. As she tends to his wounds, Cathy expresses her fear of losing him and he assures her nothing will happen to him, and this leads them to share a kiss. Cathy appears to be mesmerized by the kiss and tells Chris that although she knows it was wrong, she thinks it was wonderful. Chris appears disturbed by it.
When Olivia comes in to deliver them their food, he says she was right about them being the "devil's spawn" and pleads for her forgiveness. She tells him only the Lord, not her, will forgive him before walking out of the room.
Chris reveals the whole thing was a scheme to get an impression of the key in soap and he carves a wooden copy. He explains they need money in order to escape on a train and get out of Virginia.
At night, while the twins sleep, Cathy and Chris begin stealing money from their mother's room. During one expedition, they discover a graphic exotic book, which makes them curious. On another night, they separate and Cathy encounters Bart sleeping in the Swan bed. Being curious, she kisses him.
Chris later sees his mother and Bart talking about taking a vacation to get away from Olivia, and Bart mentions that he had a dream of a young, blonde-haired girl kissing him. Chris realizes that it was Cathy who kissed their stepfather.
Enraged and jealous, Chris berates her for doing something so risky and is angry that she kissed another man as he violently grips her arms. When Cathy cries that he's hurting her, he moves away from her and she says the kiss meant nothing to her. She then kisses Chris, leading to them sharing a more passionate kiss and they have make love.
Cathy suggests they move to Florida and they will have to forget what they have done. Chris, however, says he loves her and can never love anyone else but her for the rest of his life. Carrie comes in and tells them that Cory is sick. Olivia and Corrine come in to see Cory, and when their mother hesitates to help him, Cathy demands that Cory be taken to a hospital and asks her mother if she cares whether Cory lives or dies.
Corrine angrily smacks her and Cathy smacks her back, threatening to get revenge on her mother if she doesn't help Cory. Olivia agrees with Cathy that Cory needs to go to the hospital and they take him away. The next day, Corrine comes in to tell them that Cory had pneumonia and died which devastates the three other children.
Fearing that they will die next, Cathy tells Chris they need to take whatever money and valuables he can find, and leave as soon as possible. Cathy and Chris go that night to steal values, however, they find that their mother and Bart have left Foxworth Hall, leaving behind a framed photo of Christopher Sr, the small locket he gave her before he died and Cathy's promise ring.
On their final night at Foxworth Hall, they come up with an escape plan and Chris is becoming sick. During his last search for values, Chris hides in the study to avoid being caught by the butler, John Amos, and a maid. He overhears them talking about mice in the attic and how Olivia has been leaving poison to kill them off and the grandfather's death seven months ago.
Chris tries to get back to the room when he finds his grandmother in her room and is shocked to see that she wears a wig to cover her nearly bald head with long, white hair. She sees him running away and he tells Cathy they need to leave now because he suspects their grandmother has been poisoning them.
Cathy shows him Cory's pet mouse, Mickey which has died after eating a piece of doughnut. Chris realizes that the poison was on the doughnuts and Olivia comes in to take their key. Chris is too sick to fight back and Cathy is unable to bring herself to strike the old woman. Olivia promises to show them mercy if they give her the key, but Chris tricks her into getting close enough so he can restrain her and give Cathy and Carrie enough time to run to the attic.
Olivia chases after them, but reveals her fear of the attic when Chris shuts the door and turns the lights off. Cathy says it is her punishment for what she did to them and Cory, but Olivia insists that it was their mother who poisoned them.
Not caring who was responsible for the poisoning, the three siblings climb out of the window and flee on foot. They run into John Amos, who mistakes them as intruders and Cathy reveals that they are Corrine's children. Shocked, he tells them to run while he will cut off the electric fence.
They manage to board a train to Florida and Chris assures her it is over; however, Cathy knows they will have to confront their mother again and vows revenge against her. Meanwhile, their grandmother looks out the attic window before walking away.
Cast
- Kiernan Shipka - Cathy
- Mason Dye - Chris
- Heather Graham - Corrine
- Ellen Burstyn - Olivia
- Ava Telek - Carrie
- Maxwell Kovach - Cory
Reviews
The new Lifetime film promises to go there. Yes, there. “The script is faithful to the book,” says director Deborah Chow. Or, to put it more bluntly: “Will there be incest? Yes,” says Mason Dye, who plays elder brother Chris. “We stay very true to the book.”
We’ll have to wait till January to see just how dark this thing gets, but Ellen Burstyn, for one, says she was surprised at how exhausting it is to play a woman as evil as her character. “I’ve been completely drained by the end of the day,” the Oscar winner says. “I’ve been sleeping 11 hours a day. My psyche must be trying to clear it.”
Lifetime has already posted the trailer on Facebook.
Reference Links
Complete V.C. Andrews Flowers in the Attic Page