'Flowers in the Attic' Remake Recap & Review: Lifetime's Reboot Highlights Incest, Bad Parenting and More [Watch Trailer Here]
The 1987 thriller flick has been remade for television - and it now features what the old film decided to vanish out.
Andrew Romano of The Daily Beast wrote about the new Lifetime reboot, thanks to an advance copy of the TV film dished out to him. He notes that the Lifetime remake was more faithful to the 1979 young-adult novel of the same name with which it was based from compared to the 1987 version.
Specifically, The Daily Beast says that the 2014 'Flowers in the Attic' movie featured the incest portion of the novel. The report further notes that the incest theme of the plot was one of the many reasons the V.C. Andrews novel was such a hit, in the first place.
However, the incest theme was reportedly portrayed quite mildly according to The Daily Beast. It even points out that Chris (Mason Dye) and Cathy's (Kiernan Shipka) "first roll in the hay is a lot more rape-like in the novel" compared to the TV film version.
"The rape element is gone, and we only see the siblings kiss and lie next to each other in bed," NBC News said similarly about Lifetime's 'Flowers in the Attic' adaptation.
Ellen Burstyn, who plays Grandma Olivia, deserves praise though, as she tastily portrayed scandalous scenes that, according to The Daily Beast involved tarring hair, slapping pretty faces and threatening to starve her very own grandchildren.
'Flowers in the Attic' is a story about the "Dollanger kids (Chris, Cathy and twins Carrie and Cory), who after the unexpected death of their father, are convinced to stay hidden in the attic of their ruthless Grandmother," says IMDb. In the movie, mother Corrine is portrayed by Heather Graham.
The 2014 TV film adaptation of the V.C. Andrews novel is directed by Deborah Chow, with script written by Kayla Alpert, notes IMDb.
According to NBC News, 'Flowers in the Attic' airs January 18 at 8:00 pm on Lifetime.
Watch the trailer for the 2014 TV film below.