Lifetime's VC Andrews Movies Topic (Flowers In The Attic, The Dollangangers, The Casteels, etc) - General Discussion

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I am laughing/cringing at the fact that the Lifetime promo describes V.C. Andrews as "writer of Flowers in the Attic." I guess their promo monkeys have never heard of the word "author."

 

Good to know they're keeping the scene where Audrina tries to dig up the grave. Is that supposed to be Audrina and Arden having sex? The woman is wearing a wedding ring so it can't be Vera. It's obviously not Billie. And I can't imagine that it's Lucky or Ellie. i am trying to figure out what is supposed to be happening in the shot with the older lady and a brunette woman (Audrina?) with a bloody hand reaching up.

 

I can't wait to see this! I guess I should get my initial "details that are not faithful to the book" complaint out now. The 12 year old girl in me is APPALLED that movie Audrina is a brunette. What about her magic chameleon hair? I am less disappointed that Damian is not the dark and handsome man described in the book. And I'm even more disappointed that he seems devoid of Damian's charm and menace (which I'm basing on James Tupper's portrayal of Amanda's father on Revenge). But hey, maybe he'll surprise me! I really hope that this movie is as cheesy and soapy and gothic and creepy as the book.

[TattleTeeny]

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! This will be the best shit-show ever!

[Avaleigh]

When I saw the trailer for the new FitA I actually got excited because I thought it might be good in that bad and cheesy way. It had its moments but it was mostly boring. With this one...I'm already deeply unimpressed. And yes, it's crazy to me that both movies missed out on casting a lead with magic hair. Audrina's hair was so magic it wasn't even one color. 

 

Vera also already seems miscast. Oh well, I'm still going to be all over it when it comes out lol.

[bluvelvet]

I just watched the trailer, almost forgot about this movie and it's airing this weekend.

[Queena]

According to the ghostwriter, if MSA does well, there very well may make Heaven! I'm begging you, please watch! I need to see Fanny on screen!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Lifetime has released some promo photos which you can view here. The movie airs in a few days so you'd think that Lifetime would be promoting the crap out of it, but I guess they're just assuming that we are going to watch it regardless of how much effort they put into advertising it.

[Greta]

Apparently Lifetime knows me well then.  This Saturday evening by myself calls for opening the good wine!

Edited January 9, 2016 by Greta

[Queena]

Are we allowed to talk about the movie while it's on?

[Greta]

Don't know but now it's safely over:) That was like 3 seasons of a telenovela crammed into two hours- bravo, Lifetime!

Audrina? Girl? It's totally okay to begin your healing AFTER you have your rape-facilitating skank sister-cousin's corpse eaten by feral dogs.

I was not surprised they tweaked the ending- no way would that have flown.

[OnlyMeSuz]

Where was Billie?  And Sylvia?  (And her aquamarine eyes?  C'mon if we can't have chameleon hair and Vera's apricot hair and bone disease, I at least wanted Sylvia and her crystals.) Oh, yeah, this was a Lifetime interpretation...

 

And what was up with Audrina's lips?  Guess she's never heard of Chapstick.

Edited January 10, 2016 by OnlyMeSuz

[Queena]

Tedious. They could've made stuck to the book a bit more. No Billie, or Sylvia? Vera was almost true to the book.

Please bring on Heaven. Fanny on screen would be a trip.

[Madding crowd]

It's been many years since I read the book but I thought it suffered from them trying to make it old fashioned and modern looking at the same time. The girl that played Audrina looked really young throughout the film and I thought Arden was quite handsome. What was the real ending in the book? I can't remember. 

[Maharincess]

I spent the entire movie wanting to reach into the TV and slather Audrina's lips with Chap Stick. The actresses lips were the same way on that teenage mother show she was on.

Sorry, I know that's petty but it distracted me.

[GHScorpiosRule]

It's been many years since I read the book but I thought it suffered from them trying to make it old fashioned and modern looking at the same time. The girl that played Audrina looked really young throughout the film and I thought Arden was quite handsome. What was the real ending in the book? I can't remember.

Arden and Audrina got back together and though it's been years since I read it as well, I do remember the last lines being along the lines of how she would keep trying until they got it right. Or some such.

And since I do NOT plan on watching the movie, I'm assuming they didn't get back together?

[Luciano]

It's been many years since I read the book but I thought it suffered from them trying to make it old fashioned and modern looking at the same time. The girl that played Audrina looked really young throughout the film and I thought Arden was quite handsome. What was the real ending in the book? I can't remember. 

 

That graveyard scene in the book is different - Arden basically forces himself on her while she's fighting with him and screaming. After a bit of this, she starts enjoying it and they have sex on the fake grave. Movie Arden was a lot better than Book Arden, who I remember coming across as a massive asshole - he makes her have sex with him on their wedding night even as she is crying and clearly traumatized and he has an affair with Vera, telling Audrina that it happened because he wasn't getting what he wanted from her.

 

At the very end, Audrina was like, "Fuck y'all, I'm leaving with Sylvia," but Sylvia doesn't want to go so she ends up staying with the shitty-ass men in her life in that house of horrors.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Luciano

[nenya]

OMG! I loved the book, as it was not only crazy, but the Audrina's discovery on who she actually is was perfect. At least, my 11 or 12 year old self totally didn't see it coming, and when I reread this after that, there were still only a few clues.

On the other hand, I feel like the movie was miscast. I know they didn't go into the details (and I don't mind that they did not include the domestic violence part) but there was no stark difference between the beauty that was supposed to be Audrina's mother, and her sister, no unexplained bickering between them, etc. And Damian was supposed to be tall, dark, and imposing, and incredibly charismatic, but there wasn't a sense of that.

In some ways, the movie could have actually benefited from being a 2 part series and longer! And usually, I want lifetime to edit down their movies!

[TattleTeeny]

Ehhh...I'm underwhelmed. I'm betting that people who never read the book might think, "Holy hell, this is some fucked-up shit right here!" but, haha, they won't know the half of it--and there was even more stair-falling in the book.

Vera's broken leg was dumb. I mean, no matter how diabolical and terrible a person is, can she (and would she?) really guarantee she'd get a broken leg from hurling herself off a stool? Since the movie never went into Vera's weird delicate bone issue in the first place, why wouldn't Vera just pretend to have some invisible affliction for attention? Plus, if what she wanted was Arden sex, a broken leg is certainly not going to enhance that experience if she were to get it. AND...OK, how in the hell did a broken-legged girl carry the dead weight of a grown man from one room to another?!...after waking him up to tell him to go to sleep.

I wish they'd shown the scene of the mom and the aunt having tea with the photo of the dead relative. I remember being completely baffled reading that when I was 10 or 11.

Edited January 10, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[Luckylyn]

I was happy they made adjustments to Arden so he wasn't a garbage human being like in the book. I didn't entirely like movie Arden but didn't hate him. Still not happy with any ending that has Audrina stay in that house.

[tomorrowgirl]

It's been a long time since I read the book, which I read more than once and loved. Even though the book is far from fresh in my mind, the movie was too different from what I remember. It was disappointing and didn't capture the mood and essence of the book.

[walnutqueen]

Ehhh...I'm underwhelmed. I'm betting that people who never read the book might think, "Holy hell, this is some fucked-up shit right here!" but, haha, they won't know the half of it--and there was even more stair-falling in the book.

You'd win that bet, TattleTeeny, because I never read the book and am not only questioning what the hell I just watched, but wondering why I watched at all! ;-)

[TattleTeeny]

Get thee to a library (or a bookstore...or your nearest Kindle)!

[walnutqueen]

Get thee to a library (or a bookstore...or your nearest Kindle)!

Not a chance in hell! :-)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I know it's after the fact, but here is one of the promos, which for some reason was never posted on Lifetime's YouTube channel. I think it does a good job of showing why the adaptation wasn't as good as the book in many ways. For me on the biggest problems was the casting. As someone who remembers all of these characters, when I watched this scene it wasn't easy to figure out who was who until the voiceover specifically pointed out Ellsbeth and Vera. They all look too similar. I mean, I guess that's good from the point of view that they could believably be related but still.

 

[briochetwist]

I've been trying to figure out what the worst part of this two hour crapfest was, and I'm going to have to go with James Tupper's acting.  Damn, that was just embarrassing...

[hilaryvm]

I never read the book, but it sounds like it's in the same campy/crazy vein as all of V.C. Andrews' work.  So, it's amazing to me that Lifetime could take something like that and make it boring.  Also, the older Audrina?  Looked about 15 the whole time, so it seemed a little skeevy, especially because Arden seemed about 25.

[TattleTeeny]

It just could have been so much darker, man.

[gunderda]

Still pretty cheesy but about 10x better acting than the Flowers in the Attic series.  

But I hope the girl playing Audrina was of adult age to do the semi-porno scene.  Good grief. I felt like I was watching teenagers. 

[cynic]

According to IMDB, adult Audrina's actress was born in 1993, so she'd have been 21/22-ish at filming. Thank goodness. I was all kinds of skeeved out for a bit there. I almost wish she was played by a different actress due to that, but her performance was good.

 

I liked this so much better than the FitA movies (low bar). I do think it needed to be a two-parter though, because the second half was rushed as hell and there was tons of stuff left out and/or unexplained. I liked the creepy feel of the first half though and I thought the acting overall was far superior to FitA. I barely remember the book, so any changes didn't bother me. Also, Arden was not an ahole and was hot as hell, so that's a plus. I can't believe that's the kid from the Narnia movies. 

Edited January 11, 2016 by cynic

[jenrising]

Caught this last night and I was kind of disappointed. Like others have said, it started out nice and creepy. But somehow ended up boring. I'm never going to complain about making VC Andrews less rapey, but there really wasn't much tension in the second half. And the ending was way too rushed. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Somebody, please Tell Me, why I read this book, not once, not twice, but THREE times when I was a tween/teen! 12, 13 and 15! And that it was my favorite! I feel sick now.

[Maharincess]

I've been reading VC Andrews since Flowers in the Attic cane out when I was about 14. I love every book that was actually written by her, except Audrina. I've read all of the early books ten times but I've only read Audrina all the way through once. I tried to read it again last year but couldn't get all the way through it. I just didn't like it and even as an adult it was confusing to me.

[Greta]

The movie was just creepy and trashy enough for me, since I've apparently forgotten a lot of the book. I don't remember who Sylvia is, although now that someone mentioned Vera's brittle bone disease, that part is vaguely surfacing in my memory. (Curses, that memory probably just pushed out some important fact about my actual life that I should actually remember.)

 

In the book

didn't Arden turn out to be one of rapists? And Andrina stayed with him anyway? Or did I just add that in myself and figure it must be true since it's certainly VC Andrewish enough? 

[GHScorpiosRule]

In the book

didn't Arden turn out to be one of rapists? And Andrina stayed with him anyway? Or did I just add that in myself and figure it must be true since it's certainly VC Andrewish enough? 

 

No.

He just watched and did nothing.

 I don't know which one is worse.

[Darlin]

No.

He just watched and did nothing.

 I don't know which one is worse.

 

 

I watched the movie but never read the book.  Were Arden and Audrina the same age? 

 The movie  

made it appear that Arden was too young/too weak to help Audrina. I take it that the book depicted the complete opposite?

Edited January 12, 2016 by Darlin

[PinkRibbons]

On the one hand, I'm glad that movie Audrina got something of a happy resolution despite still being saddled with her fucked-up father. That's mainly owing to the extreme rehabilitation of Arden's character, I think. (I never did finish the book but from the extensive spoilers I've read, he's probably one of the biggest shits V.C. dreamed up? Maybe not. Hard to say with her.) On the other hand I bought this from iTunes and for my $5, I feel I was owed a lot more sleaze.

 

The one thing getting me right now is how messed-up Ellspeth's corpse face was -- like she'd been beaten before getting hurled down the stairs. And then there was that scene immediately afterward that directly seemed to point to Audrina having pushed her in some kind of fugue state (she went from the rocking chair to suddenly waking up, and she had those lapses in memory that she knew about). But then it went nowhere.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I've apparently forgotten a lot of the book. I don't remember who Sylvia is

Sylvia was Audrina's younger sister who was born prematurely and was developmentally disabled (Audrina blamed this on Damian beating her mother with a belt while she was pregnant). Their mother died giving birth to Sylvia and then Damian kept putting off bringing Sylvia home, claiming it was because she was so weak from being born too early. Audrina finally convinced her dad to bring Sylvia home when she was almost three years old and he didn't tell her anything was wrong until Audrina actually saw Sylvia in person and then basically told her that it was her job to take care of Sylvia for the rest of her life.

 

I watched the movie but never read the book.  Were Arden and Audrina the same age?

In the book, Arden was a little over four years older. Her family tried to keep her confused about how old she was in order to keep up the ruse, but when Audrina turned 11, Arden was 15 and Damian told Audrina that Vera was almost four years older than Audrina. In the book, Audrina was raped on her ninth birthday which means that Arden was 13 when it happened.

 

I never did finish the book but from the extensive spoilers I've read, he's probably one of the biggest shits V.C. dreamed up? Maybe not. Hard to say with her.

I think the biggest shit VC Andrews created in her original books was either Tony Tatterton (from the Heaven series) or Malcolm Foxworth (from the Dollanganger series), both of whom were creepy predatory rapists. Tony raped his 12 year old stepdaughter Leigh while Malcolm raped his stepmother Alicia. Tony is slightly grosser in this category because she was so young (the Dollanganger timeline is totally screwed up in Garden of Shadows but Alicia was at least 18 when Malcolm started raping her). On the other hand, Malcolm was even grosser because of his super weird mommy obsession (calling her a whore, saying her name while he had sex with his wife on his mother's swan bed, and then naming his daughter after her) and loved to hide his disgusting sins behind going to church. At least Tony wasn't a pious hypocrite. I also thought Cal (from the Heaven books) was really gross too.

 

Don't get me wrong - Arden is a piece of shit in the books. He knew she had been gang raped and he did nothing to stop it. Even though Audrina's family didn't explicitly tell him that they were brainwashing her, he obviously had an idea what they were doing based on the things that Audrina told him. He knew that Audrina felt like she was going crazy but he never told her the truth about what happened to her or what her family was doing to her. When they got married and she was freaked out on their wedding night, HE KNEW WHY but he acted like he didn't understand because he just wanted to get some. Then he cheated on her with the sister that he knew she hated while she was in a coma and almost pulled the plug on her. And then he guilt tripped her into not leaving him! Even if you overlook him doing nothing to help her when she was being raped, he was still a horrible husband. "Sorry for fucking your sister while you were in a coma, but don't go because I loooooooove you!"

Edited January 12, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ClareWalks]

After seeing all you guys talking about this one, I had to watch it, even though I sadly never read the book. I am aghast that the book could be so much more messed up than this movie. I wrote a recap of sorts about this (http://whatelseison.tv/blog/2016/01/12/mysweetaudrina/ if you're interested) without really knowing anything about it, and I feel like I missed out on so much. 

 

Question: why did Vera try to flee down the stairs at the end when she still had a cast on her leg? And why, of all the insane things in this movie, does that stand out for me?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I was really disappointed that they cut so much of the beginning of the book. I guess they thought it would be really difficult or cheesy to portray that stuff onscreen? But it's too bad that we barely saw Audrina's mother before they killed her off. And no tea time with Aunt Mercy Marie - unforgivable!

 

I don't know why they bothered casting the younger Audrina and Vera. Both of them looked way older than they were supposed to be. The younger Audrina looked like she was 13-14 and the older Audrina looked like she was 14-15. ITA that older Arden looked about 25 which made him asking her out seem really creepy. I also hated how they put everything on fast forward. In the space of a week, Audrina takes her first piano lesson, Arden asks her out the same day, they go to the lake a few days later, Vera starts taking piano lessons, Audrina and Arden go on their first date, Vera has sex with the piano teacher, Audrina kisses Arden, and Vera runs away with the piano teacher. I guess that explains why they left out Vera being pregnant since she wouldn't have known that she was pregnant the same day.

 

I totally laughed when Audrina said the coroner ruled Aunt Ellsbeth's death an accident, not a suicide. What kind of person commits suicide by falling down the stairs?

 

One minor change I disliked was that in the book, Ellsbeth dated Damian first but in the movie Ellsbeth got pregnant when Damian was already engaged to Lucietta.

 

One change that I kind of liked (from a story point of view) was the way they pumped up Damian's creepy obsession with Audrina. It helped explain why she was so eager to marry Arden to escape her father. But where the movie failed is that James Tupper had none of Damian's charm. He just came off as an abusive bully who was obsessed with his daughter in the creepiest way possible. But I think they took Damian's obsession with Audrina a little too far because at the beginning, it was verging on an incesty vibe. And James Tupper's acting was embarrassing to watch. When he yelled, "DAMN IT!" I totally laughed because it was so hammy and hacky. And why was he always in silk pajamas? What kind of a father gives his young daughter (who was previously suicidal) a straight razor so she can help him with his grooming? Which must be done shirtless, of course.

 

At least this Arden didn't insist on having sex with Audrina on their wedding night. I really hated that in the book. I appreciate that they tried to make Arden more sympathetic because book Arden was THE WORST. Having him demand that Damian tell her the truth seemed a bit much, but at least this Arden didn't sleep with Vera and agree to pull the plug on Audrina. I noticed the actor's natural accent coming through a few times which was a bit distracting.

 

It was nice to see Audrina briefly stand up to Damian. Too bad that it was just to stick up for Vera.

 

I was disappointed in Vera. She wasn't nearly as mean or slutty as she was in the book. But she did almost make up for that by saying, "I think there is something deeply erotic about babies. They suck on your boobs all day long." WTF, Vera? That is definitely not dinner conversation!

 

One thing that was a huge improvement from the Dollanganger series was the set and the house. I really expected a huge mansion for Flowers in the Attic and plush rooms. Instead we got a house that wasn't even McMansion sized. To be honest, Whitefern wasn't all that impressive but it still captured the gothic feel (although I didn't like how modern the kitchen was because it was such a contrast, especially considering that the house was supposed to be in such a state of disrepair). As Snow Apple pointed out last year, the house in Crimson Peak looked a lot like Whitefern as described in the book:

Edited January 12, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[CeeBeeGee]

William Moseley, damn son. From the Narnia franchise to this? How the mighty have fallen.

[bluvelvet]

Just watched this, and as expected it wasn't very good. However as long as Lifetime keeps making VC Andrews I will keep on watching.

 

Definitely liked the change they made to the Arden storyline, I remember liking Arden and Audrina and hated when they turned him into a douche.

[Glade]

This was really bad, though the book isn't anything great itself. The transition between the two Arden's was really bad; they looked the same age in their first scene and then suddenly he's in his mid-twenties and she looks the same? It seems like an alternate title for this could have been 'people who fall down the stairs.' And apparently that tiny flight of steps causes not only death but horrible disfigurement for most people. Audrina is really stupid and wrapped up in victim mentality to keep giving Vera the pedophile rapist second chances. I don't really see how that scene with the pornography suddenly led to all of her behavior being Malcolm's fault, but whatever. I had to fast forward towards the end because it was mostly boring crap and since I read recaps I knew what the book was about anyway. This definitely isn't great cinema that's worth watching for reasons other then the craptastic plot.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Vera the pedophile rapist

I never thought I would ever defend Vera, but I have to say that she was many things (a crazy, jealous, vindictive bitch covers most of it) but she wasn't a pedophile or a rapist. Lamar had sex with her willingly and he was older than Vera. She did roofie Arden in the movie (which didn't happen in the book) but they didn't actually have sex so creepy but not rapey. In the book, Arden was more than happy to have sex with Vera. Arden was the same age as Vera (I think he was less than a year older than her in the book).

[Glade]

I'm just reffering to what I saw on screen.  In the film, she attempted to rape Arden, and only stopped when he woke up and ran out of the room so I think it's fine to refer to her as a rapist.  And I call her a pedophile due to her disgusting  remarks when she kept going on about how "babies are so erotic."  She also arranged for a young child to be raped in the woods, further adding to her credentials as a sex offender.  She was clearly an abuser who didn't respect other people's boundaries at all. 

[Queena]

I was really disappointed that they cut so much of the beginning of the book. I guess they thought it would be really difficult or cheesy to portray that stuff onscreen? But it's too bad that we barely saw Audrina's mother before they killed her off. And no tea time with Aunt Mercy Marie - unforgivable!

I don't know why they bothered casting the younger Audrina and Vera. Both of them looked way older than they were supposed to be. The younger Audrina looked like she was 13-14 and the older Audrina looked like she was 14-15. ITA that older Arden looked about 25 which made him asking her out seem really creepy. I also hated how they put everything on fast forward. In the space of a week, Audrina takes her first piano lesson, Arden asks her out the same day, they go to the lake a few days later, Vera starts taking piano lessons, Audrina and Arden go on their first date, Vera has sex with the piano teacher, Audrina kisses Arden, and Vera runs away with the piano teacher. I guess that explains why they left out Vera being pregnant since she wouldn't have known that she was pregnant the same day.

I totally laughed when Audrina said the coroner ruled Aunt Ellsbeth's death an accident, not a suicide. What kind of person commits suicide by falling down the stairs?

One minor change I disliked was that in the book, Ellsbeth dated Damian first but in the movie Ellsbeth got pregnant when Damian was already engaged to Lucietta.

One change that I kind of liked (from a story point of view) was the way they pumped up Damian's creepy obsession with Audrina. It helped explain why she was so eager to marry Arden to escape her father. But where the movie failed is that James Tupper had none of Damian's charm. He just came off as an abusive bully who was obsessed with his daughter in the creepiest way possible. But I think they took Damian's obsession with Audrina a little too far because at the beginning, it was verging on an incesty vibe. And James Tupper's acting was embarrassing to watch. When he yelled, "DAMN IT!" I totally laughed because it was so hammy and hacky. And why was he always in silk pajamas? What kind of a father gives his young daughter (who was previously suicidal) a straight razor so she can help him with his grooming? Which must be done shirtless, of course.

At least this Arden didn't insist on having sex with Audrina on their wedding night. I really hated that in the book. I appreciate that they tried to make Arden more sympathetic because book Arden was THE WORST. Having him demand that Damian tell her the truth seemed a bit much, but at least this Arden didn't sleep with Vera and agree to pull the plug on Audrina. I noticed the actor's natural accent coming through a few times which was a bit distracting.

It was nice to see Audrina briefly stand up to Damian. Too bad that it was just to stick up for Vera.

I was disappointed in Vera. She wasn't nearly as mean or slutty as she was in the book. But she did almost make up for that by saying, "I think there is something deeply erotic about babies. They suck on your boobs all day long." WTF, Vera? That is definitely not dinner conversation!

One thing that was a huge improvement from the Dollanganger series was the set and the house. I really expected a huge mansion for Flowers in the Attic and plush rooms. Instead we got a house that wasn't even McMansion sized. To be honest, Whitefern wasn't all that impressive but it still captured the gothic feel (although I didn't like how modern the kitchen was because it was such a contrast, especially considering that the house was supposed to be in such a state of disrepair). As Snow Apple pointed out last year, the house in Crimson Peak looked a lot like Whitefern as described in the book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oquZifON8Eg

Geeat recap!

In the book, the kitchen was the only modern room. That was part that they had right.

I tried to reread the book in anticipation of the movie. I couldn't do it. It was very tedious, and I think that it's the worst book V.C. herself wrote.

[Zanne]

I hadn't realized this had been on yet, so I just saw it last night on-demand. I was disappointed in this adaptation. While VC Andrews is not a literary genius, I know if I want a batshit crazy family, incesty familial relations (literal and figurative), and completely inappropriate menfolk (even the supposedly nice ones), she's the one to read. The movie wasn't nearly close enough to that level of insanity for me. They did not go deep enough into how messed up Audrina's childhood was. The book really made it much more clear how lost in time Audrina was, but I understand how that would be difficult to portray cinematically. I am glad they attempted to make Arden less abhorrent in the movie, but they didn't make Vera abhorrent enough. She was awful, sure, but not to the level she was in the books, in my opinion. This should have been a two day event, at least, so they could have spent more time on her childhood.    

[DangerousMinds]

I hate that Lifetime keeps trying to shoehorn these books into 2 hour (with commercials) movies. The only way to do them justice is by making them miniseries.

[psychoticstate]

I caught this on On Demand - - damn Lifetime for not advertising enough.

 

So . . . I think TPTB did a much better job "casting" Whitefern than they did with Foxworth Hall.  Foxworth Hall looked like a hunting lodge and not even that impressive.  Nowhere near what was described in the book.  The movie's Whitefern captured what Andrews described.

 

I was very disappointed in the casting of Audrina at first.  I thought we would have someone with magical hair and unbelievable eyes.  While I do think the teenaged-adult Audrina was right in the face, the dark hair was distracting. 

 

As others have pointed out, the actress playing Vera was too old and she didn't have the special apricot colored hair.  In the book, Vera seduced the piano teacher when she was 15 and ran away at 16.  The movie made it clear she was roughly 21.  Book Vera had also seduced a teenaged Arden, which the movie ignored or denied, as well as getting involved with him while Audrina was sick/in a coma/whatever.   I agree that she was far more vile and disgusting in the book; the movie fell down on that.  We weren't supposed to be sympathetic toward Vera.

 

Movie Arden was most definitely rehabbed but I don't have a big issue with that.  The quick changes between "young Arden" and "teenaged Arden" and "adult Arden" was distracting, especially given that Vera and Audrina didn't appear to age.  I also noticed that toward the end the actor's real accent kept slipping out - - again, distracting. 

 

The actor playing Damian (Audrina's father) was not at all what I expected.  He was physically wrong.  Book Damian was tall, imposing, dark headed - -did he have a mustache?  Movie Damian came across as creepily obsessed with his daughter and with no boundaries with regards to Ellsbeth.      

 

Leaving out tea time with Aunt Mercy Marie was deplorable. 

 

I'll chime in with saying this should have been a 2 parter, with the first part pretty much dedicated to Audrina's childhood so the viewer could really get a feel for how effed up it was, along with the confusion over time and the oddities at Whitefern.  There could have been more evil things to show concerning Vera, as well as noting how brittle her bones were (something we knew about Book Vera.)  The second part could have picked up with the adult Arden, adult Audrina, etc. 

 

I noticed this with the FITA movies too but it seems that TPTB weren't sure when this was supposed to take place.  In the 50s?  60s?  70s?  The outfit Vera was wearing while seducing the piano teacher at his house looked like something that would be worn in the late 60s to early 70s although the car parked outside his house looked like an early 80s model.  Damian's car looked like a mid to late 70s Lincoln, or something like it.  Audrina's clothing made it hard to tell.  Her bathing suit looked like something from the 50s.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

To be honest, I was surprised she had a bathing suit at all! Given how overprotective her father was, I thought he would just refuse to buy her one on the grounds that she didn't need one and bathing suits reveal too much.

Edited January 20, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Avaleigh]

I didn't realize that this aired until a friend of mine mentioned that she saw it. 

 

I'm adding comments to this post as I watch. 

 

I'm already disappointed in the girl they cast as Audrina. Before we saw them speak or anything I was hoping that the actress who plays Vera was playing Audrina even though neither looks the part. 

 

The actor playing Damian is handsome but he certainly doesn't look the way I pictured him. Most of these people aren't good looking enough to me. I was under the impression that Audrina was a knockout. Like a Cathy Dollanganger knockout. Somebody who is just impossibly  beautiful and they got a girl who is totally average. I'm not knocking the girl's looks, she's cute, I just don't get that aristocratic southern inbred delicate vibe from this actress.

 

I will say that I like the tone that was set for this and with the FitA Lifetime movies in terms of the lighting and the way that they're shot. As far as the look that's the best thing I can say about these adaptations. The houses are always, always disappointing but there's something atmospheric about all of the productions that I appreciate. The outdoor scenes tend to work well for me looks wise. I feel like the woods are appropriately creepy. 

 

I like Whitefern more than Foxhall but that wasn't much of a challenge and both are underwhelming overall.

 

The actress who plays Vera is pretty good even though her accent seems closer to being British than southern American.

 

The first rocking chair scene is so fucking creepy. If I didn't know how the story goes I'd have been convinced that Damian and Audrina were about to have sex in that first scene which would of course be incestuous rape. Jesus, that was disturbing. It made me wonder how many young kids likely watched this movie because it's on Lifetime. Even the line "That's all that Daddy wants" sounded totally weird.

 

Even the way this movie does blood is disappointing.  

 

So no Sylvia, I guess. 

 

The guy who's giving her piano lessons seems slimy but not in the way I imagined. I thought he'd be older too but I won't trust my memory here. 

 

Vera made me lol when she said she wanted piano lessons too because the guy is not all that. He looks like a goofy, nerdy version of Charlie Sheen. 

 

I have no idea what year this is supposed to be so I guess that's a good thing? 

 

Damian seems like a sexually abusive guardian. The whole thing with him forcing Vera to eat those pages and saying that Vera was abusive to Audrina and I'm just like, what? Isn't it obvious who the abusive person is here in this set up? 

 

The actress playing Vera (btw were there different actresses playing the sisters during the graveyard scene?) seems a lot older to me than the actress playing Audrina. 

 

It's even more obvious that Vera is Damian's daughter in the movie than in the book. 

 

What the hell, Damian is supposed to be sexy. That's the one thing he has going for him and this guy just looks like he was allowed to buy a suit down in the lobby somewhere in Reno, NV.  I do wonder about the production values and what the people in charge can be thinking. 

 

I feel like I need to start a drinking game every time Audrina runs back to her rocking chair. 

 

Lol, at the gravediggers just being there on standby with the freaking shovels as though they're part of the mourning party. 

 

Again, Damian somehow seems even creepier than Malcolm Foxworth or Tony Tatterton---how can that be??????!!!!!!!

 

I'm guessing this is supposed to be set in the 70s? I'm going by the cars at this point. It's not easy to tell. 

 

Arden and Audrina coming back to the house felt almost out of nowhere. I'm just like 'how old are these people?' 'They're already married?' 'Damian already knows?' Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention--entirely possible. 

 

When Damian is talking about how it would be nice if they'd live there it totally reminded me of Tony trying to talk Heaven and Logan into moving into Farthinggale. (Or maybe it was when he wanted Heaven and Troy to marry before everyone realized that their relationship would be impossible.) Either way I definitely remember Tony wanting them to be one big soap opera family where everyone is living in the same house. 

 

The actress looks like she could be a cousin of Emilia Clarke during the wedding night scene. 

 

Arden is still a jerk even in the movie. It would be very different if he didn't know what she'd gone through or if he talked to her about what he knew she'd gone through in an effort to just talk to her and understand as opposed to willing it to happen. 

 

Vera isn't as awful in the series so far. My opinion might change since she hasn't fucked Arden yet but right now she seems okay. 

 

Arden seems like he fought harder than I remember it being in the book. In the book I feel like he just ran away once he realized what was happening but I might be misremembering. 

 

I didn't feel anything when Vera died and I'm assuming that I was supposed to feel shock or remorse or pity but mostly I was just happy that she was off of my screen. 

 

The ending wasn't *as* horrible but it wasn't much better. 

 

More than anything I guess, I'd just say that this was boring. It wasn't horrible it just wasn't memorable in any sense. 

 

ETA:

 

I can't recall whether or not the line was included in the book that Audrina was named after Damian's sister but if that isn't a VC Andrews detail then I don't know what is. ;)

Edited February 4, 2016 by Avaleigh

[backformore]

I recorded this when it was on, and started watching it today.  didn't finish.

 

I got stuck on -   Over-protective father doesn't let his daughter go to school, or have friends, or ever leave the property. 

THEN -  she asks for piano lessons, having heard that there's a new piano teacher in town (HOW did she hear this?)

 

ANd then over-protective dad lets her ride her bike alone into town, and go to a man's house and be alone with him? 

 

there's just no middle-ground, is there?  Like driving her to the music teacher's house, meeting him, and sticking around for the first lesson? 

 

I read all the VC Andrews books when I was younger.  Pure escapism.  And I always wondered what kind of fucked-up childhood VC must have had.