Flowers in the Attic

Flowers in the Attic is orignaly a book by author Virginia C. Andrews. In 1987 it was adapted into a film, a very dark film at that. The story is about the Dollanganger family. We have Corrine, the mother, and her four children Cathy, Chris,Cory and Carrie.hmm all their names start with a C. Interesting. Anyway,the family is heartbroken over the death of Mr. Dollanganger, who left them with no money whatsoever. The only way this family can survive is if Corinne returns to her wealthy father's and grandmother's huge house on a hilltop. The only problem is her father has dissowned Corrine for leaving home and getting married to Mr. D. She must stay in this house and win back his love and gain his inheritence once again. Once the family arrives at the house, the evil grandmother locks the four children away in the attick. The grandmother treats the children horribly, for she considers them all a sin since Corrine's marraige was a travesty according to her. The mother allows this and tells them to wait until she has done what she came there to do.Days become months and the mother's visits become less and less until she stops coming to see them all together. The children are brought food, but they become weak and pale and long to see sunlight. The children become angry. Why is their mother doing this to them? Then, the little boy Cory, becomes very ill.They soon discover that the cookies the grandmother brings them everyday have arsenic on them. Cory later dies and the children plan their escape. They finds away out of the room and discover that their mother has seemed to have forgotten all about them. She is planning a wedding with some wealthy man and only cares about starting her life over.Corrine wants her children dead, in order to achieve this.

I would put this film into the horror genre. It is extremely disturbing and the character of the grandmother is frightening. She is a monster. The whole time you really feel sorry for these children, who have done nothing to deserve this treatment. Even worse, throughout the film they all defend their mother's actions. You as the viewer know what she is up to, so you wish they wouldn't have so much faith in her. The film does a great job with Mis-En-Scene. Especially with makeup.Because the children have been locked in a dark room in the attic, they slowly begin to lose pigmentation in their skin. They become pailer and pailed until they become white as ghosts. You really see the affect this is having on them. They begin to almost dissapear. This is symbolic because this is what the mother wants; for them to go away.

I have to critisize this film for it's acting. The children's acting, especially Chris and Cathy, who are the two oldest, was terrible. It is very unnatural and over the top, almost like they were from a different time then when the movie takes place. It was very distracting and comical, and believe me, this movie is not supposed to be funny.

I do reccomend this film. It does evoke emotions from the viewer such as being disturbed and having sympathy for the kids. Is it the best 80's film? Not even close, but it is still worth going to blockbuster for in my opinion.