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

[Chaos Theory]

Lifetime has been doing the Sunday new movie feature before their original tv show “You” which is kinda cool. I like most lifetime movies and the three  I watched were ok.  

I liked most of The Bad Seed The actress who pkayed the little girl was great.  I am not sure I liked the ending but other then that it’s was a good interpretation of a story I have seen a lot.  I think I have even seen the original.

No One Would Tell Was alirighy as well.  I saw the original so I was comparing it to that but they both told the story very well and I don’t teally have any complaints.

If Words Could Kill was better then I thought it would be.  I was unfamiliar With the case but I have no idea why but I like Bella Thorne.  I can’t exac place why.  I am not sure she has much range but I still like most of what she is in and this is no exception.   

[Daisy]

On 23/09/2018 at 9:53 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

OMG I just found out that the ghost writer released a sequel to My Sweet Audrina in July 2016. How did I not know about this until now?! It’s called Whitefern and it takes place several years after the original book ends. I haven’t read it but most of the reviews I read said it was horrible (no surprise there). 

Minor plot details:

  Reveal hidden contents

The book begins with Damian’s death. His will leaves 51% of his company to Audrina which angers Arden. If you hated Arden in the original, you will hate him even more now that he is a rageaholic who throws Audrina’s child assault in her face  

Sylvia is now a talented artist who can speak in complete sentences when the plot calls for it  

Audrina is unable to get pregnant  

 

The big twist:

  Reveal hidden contents

Sylvia gets pregnant, ostensibly by her art teacher, but it turns out that Arden is the father  

 

There - saved everyone the $7 and two hours you would have wasted on this book. 

 

According to everything I’ve seen at various sources, VC Andrews had nothing to do with Dawn or any of the later series. Despite the note from the family and publisher in the books published shortly after her death that said the ghost writer was using her notes to finish the Dollanganger and Casteel series, I found this info:

 

Geeze. LOL that's a soap-opera right there. 

ahh that's what i was remembering. I remember that note in the book. 

[Dr.OO7]

On 9/25/2018 at 9:41 AM, Snow Apple said:

Yeah Arden was terrible in MSA but I still can't imagine him being like that and doing that stuff.

Me neither. Arden was . . .pathetic, but not flat out evil. And if the ghostwriter wanted to make him so, he shouldn't have resorted to every clichéd VC Andrews trope.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Camille

[Queena]

They're doing the entire Heaven series, with Heaven coming on sometime in the summer. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadline.com/2019/02/lifetime-sets-full-cast-begins-production-on-four-new-movies-based-on-v-c-andrews-casteel-family-jason-priestley-to-star-direct-1202551299/amp/

[andromeda331]

11 minutes ago, Queena said:

They're doing the entire Heaven series, with Heaven coming on sometime in the summer. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadline.com/2019/02/lifetime-sets-full-cast-begins-production-on-four-new-movies-based-on-v-c-andrews-casteel-family-jason-priestley-to-star-direct-1202551299/amp/

That's great! Jason Priestly is going to be Tony? 

[Amtosbm]

Thanks for the link. This casting ugh! Heaven is not anything like her book character. Seriously is it that hard to find a heart-stopping beauty in Hollywood. And don't get me started on Leigh! Jesus at this point I could cast better. And they are really pushing the Cal/Heaven sexual relationship when its only part of the book! The big part is the SEPARATION from her family specifically her siblings. I literally have no interest in watching this I think. Though I do think Jason may make a good Tony. He's handsome and charming and can probably show a dark underside while at the same time playing the victim. 

[JAYJAY1979]

Kelly Rutherford as Jillian in Dark Angels... that I can see.

[qtpye]

On 3/23/2019 at 11:07 AM, Amtosbm said:

Thanks for the link. This casting ugh! Heaven is not anything like her book character. Seriously is it that hard to find a heart-stopping beauty in Hollywood. And don't get me started on Leigh! Jesus at this point I could cast better. And they are really pushing the Cal/Heaven sexual relationship when its only part of the book! The big part is the SEPARATION from her family specifically her siblings. I literally have no interest in watching this I think. Though I do think Jason may make a good Tony. He's handsome and charming and can probably show a dark underside while at the same time playing the victim. 

Ebony haired cornflower blue-eyed Heaven is a redhead? The actress is attractive but like most VC heroines Heaven is supposed to be so amazingly beautiful and everyone comments about it. I get so excited for these projects and then it is obvious that the casting and story are done by people who have no understanding of the source material. Hell, someone on this board can cast and I volunteer to write the television adaptation....for free.

Also, Kitty is supposed to be a giant woman with a killer body. There is no way the tiny blonde they cast could hold down a teenager that seems to tower over her for the bath scenes.

Edited April 5, 2019 by qtpye

[CountryGirl]

Ok, this is seriously disappointing. Heaven's dark hair is iconic. I mean, this is sad how I have total recall of useless information, including VC Andrews books, but I remember that line about Heaven looking in the mirror in her bedroom at Farthy and seeing how much she resembled her dead mother and grandmother Jillian...but for her hair, her betraying, dark, Indian Casteel hair.  Which of course we later learn isn't Casteel after all, but Tatterton. 

The actress could have worn a wig or dyed her hair FFS. 

Don't even get me started on the Cal retconn a blind person in a snowstorm could see coming. 

But of course, I'll tune in just like I did for all the others. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Uncle Zach from The Vampire Diaries as Luke Casteel who is supposed to have black hair and olive skin? Brandon Walsh as Tony Tatterton? Darla from Buffy as redhead Kitty Dennison? I feel like Mugatu in Zoolander: I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

I can't lie though - Lily Rhodes van der Woodsen Mueller Bass Humphrey as Jillian will probably be awesome.

I could go either way with Princess Vespa as the creepy nurse in the fourth movie, but that is my least favorite in the series because NOTHING HAPPENS. I can sum up the book in one sentence: Heaven and Logan die, Annie goes to Farthy to recuperate, Tony essentially keeps her a prisoner, Annie meets Troy, and then Luke and Fanny rescue Annie. Unfortunately, the bulk of the book is about Annie being trapped in her bed because she can't walk yet which was boring to read and will probably be even more boring to watch.

I know this is going to sound really shallow, but it is so frustrating for Lifetime to keep turning these VC Andrews books into movies without any regard for the way that the characters are described in the book. The only one I kind of give them a pass on is My Sweet Audrina because to this day, I still don't know what in the hell witchy chameleon hair would actually look like in real life.

I haven't seen Annalise Basso in anything so I have no idea if she's an amazing actress or what, but it is mindboggling to me that they couldn't find an actress with blue eyes who could credibly play a teenager and was willing to dye her hair or wear a wig. In real life, I love redheads, but for the purposes of this tv series, WHAT THE HELL, LIFETIME?!

Also disappointing - the Heaven trailer makes it look like the movie is going to focus on Heaven's time at Kitty and Cal's house, so I'm guessing they're going to skip over a lot of the first half of the book or show only a scant amount of her life before she goes to live with them. On the plus side, that will reduce the amount of Logan we see. I am already dreading his judginess.

Edited April 20, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[kissedbyarose]

On 4/20/2019 at 9:27 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I can't lie though - Lily Rhodes van der Woodsen Mueller Bass Humphrey as Jillian will probably be awesome.

And while I agree with everything @ElectricBoogaloo said, especially the above, the real question is...

Who’s playing Troy? (And how much will the answer disappoint 13/14 year old me?)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2 hours ago, kissedbyarose said:

the real question is...

Who’s playing Troy? (And how much will the answer disappoint 13/14 year old me?)

According to IMDB, Jason Cermak is playing Troy (and he’s 20 years older than Annalise Basso who is playing Heaven). 13 year old me is disappointed. I invite him to change my mind though!

[Snow Apple]

19 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

According to IMDB, Jason Cermak is playing Troy (and he’s 20 years older than Annalise Basso who is playing Heaven). 13 year old me is disappointed. I invite him to change my mind though!

Why didn't they cast different actors as the characters age like they did for the Flowers series? Troy is only six or seven years older than Heaven.

This is sounding worse and worse.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

12 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Why didn't they cast different actors as the characters age like they did for the Flowers series? Troy is only six or seven years older than Heaven.

I thought they were going to use different actors in each movie too and then I looked at the IMDB page and saw that the same actress is going to play Heaven in the first three movies. That means that even if she suuuuuuuucks, we are stuck with her for most of the series. I still can't believe they're having her be a redhead too.

I really hate that the actor playing Troy is so much older than the actress playing Heaven. That makes no sense to me. One of their initial connections is because Troy was a little boy when Leigh was at Farthy. If he's 20 years older then Heaven than he's basically the same age as Leigh. No thanks, Lifetime.

I wonder if they're going to age Leigh up in the last movie so that it's slightly less gross that she got raped/pregnant so young. I mean, honestly, it's still horrible even if she was 15-18, but part of the horror is that she was SO young.

[Dr.OO7]

On 4/14/2015 at 11:24 PM, psychoticstate said:

I loved all the interior covers on the old school books

Me too. I actually looked them all up, because by the time I started reading them, they didn't open up like that.

 

On 4/25/2015 at 8:21 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

The very end was weird. So everyone left Cathy at Foxworth Hall but they very thoughtfully covered all the furniture with sheets before going?

I had a real Fridge Horror moment at the thought that years later, some kids might be snooping around or some realtor might be exploring the place, only to come across Cathy's remains.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, Camille said:

Me too. I actually looked them all up, because by the time I started reading them, they didn't open up like that.

They were all very haunting and creepy but beautiful. I could tell when they switched to another illustrator for the later series because the pictures didn't have that same quality.

 

Which cover is your favorite and which one is your least favorite?

Of the three original series, Dark Angel and Garden of Shadows are easily my least favorite because they look so different.

And can we talk about the Seeds of Yesterday cover? Obviously it's Cathy and Chris in the back and Deirdre and Darren are in the front, but who's in the middle? Bart or Jory? Melodie or Cindy?

Dollanganger:

Spoiler

Flowers in the Attic - Gillian Hills

Petals on the Wind - Gillian Hills

If There Be Thorns - Gillian Hills

Seeds of Yesterday - Paula Joseph

Garden of Shadows - Steve Huston

Casteel:

Spoiler

Heaven - Lisa Falkenstern

Dark Angel - Peter Caras

Fallen Hearts - Richard Newton

Gates of Paradise - Richard Newton

Web of Dreams - Richard Newton

My Sweet Audrina - Paula Joseph

[Dr.OO7]

The Dark Angel one is incredibly creepy, with Tony lurking in the background. Ironic, as its not until the next book that he tries to rape her.

For some reason, I like the If There Be Thorns one.

[Snow Apple]

My favorite is still the first, Flowers in the Attic. I saw pictures of the real life models which made me realize how talented the artist was. I wonder what happened to the models? Must be strange knowing your likeness is still so iconic 40 years later.

[CountryGirl]

The FITA cover is my favorite as well. Seeing it for the first time at the age of 12 (the same age Cathy was when they were first imprisoned in Foxworth Hall) made me want to read it.

It was so haunting.

Here are the models for Cathy/Chris and the final version.

[GHScorpiosRule]

35 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

The FITA cover is my favorite as well. Seeing it for the first time at the age of 12 (the same age Cathy was when they were first imprisoned in Foxworth Hall) made me want to read it.

It was so haunting.

Here are the models for Cathy/Chris and the final version.

These covers always freaked the hell out of me, and yet...didn't stop me from reading this series.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I always thought that the way Heaven was depicted on the original Heaven cover looked a lot like Shannen Doherty circa Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

Is it just me or does it look like Leigh has brown eyes on the Web of Dreams cover? Everyone knows they’re supposed to be cornflower blue!

[CountryGirl]

Hmm, it's really hard to tell from this:

Oh and in a nod to continuity. The Fallen Hearts cover shows Heaven, with her silvery-blond hair that she dyed near the end of Dark Angel, in the same outfit. 

[Snow Apple]

I always bugged me that in Heaven, Heaven is holding a china doll in a wedding dress. Like the kind you put on a display shelf. 

Yet in Web of Dreams, Leigh is supposed to be holding the same doll but it looks like a bigger baby doll.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

10 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I always bugged me that in Heaven, Heaven is holding a china doll in a wedding dress. Like the kind you put on a display shelf. 

Yet in Web of Dreams, Leigh is supposed to be holding the same doll but it looks like a bigger baby doll.

And the doll's hair is dark on the Heaven cover but blonde on the Web of Dreams cover! The doll is described as blonde in Heaven so that was a mistake on the artist's part (and the editor for not catching it).

[CountryGirl]

I don't think I saw this trailer for the full series of movies posted yet, but get this, Leigh has DARK hair. I just...there are no words.

[Avaleigh]

Omg, you guys, this Casteel thing is really waiting to suck isn't it? I didn't have high expectations. I knew better than to think it would be good but damn, even with low ass expectations I'm still super disappointed and I haven't even seen the movies yet. If Lifetime hadn't got their hands on it then maybe it  (and Flowers) could have been decent but these producers just don't get what made the books work for so many readers.

There are all kinds of adaptations where I can hand wave casting in terms of looks. I agree that it's better to take an actor who can really deliver even if they don't necessarily resemble a description of a character. VC Andrew's adaptations are an exception to me because looks play such a huge part in her main characters. It's all about the hair with her heroines and each movie has failed to get this simple thing right. And really, it's not like there's a shortage of actresses with dark hair and blue eyes. FFS Leigh isn't a blonde? How annoying is this?

Brandon Walsh is Tony? Goddamn it to Fuckville, really? I'll acknowledge that this could be amusing in a campy sort of a way but it still makes no sense to me why they would cast Jason Priestly as the main villain of the saga. 

Jillian...this was the opportunity for them to make up for Heather Graham. Kelly Rutherford isn't the worst choice exactly but I can't say I'm excited about it. Her voice is all wrong and Jillian's beauty is supposed to be mind blowing. 

I agree with those who can't see how they're going to get an entire movie out of Gates of Paradise. They probably should have combined that with Web of Dreams into one movie. Have Annie reading the diary while she's at Farthingdale and go back and forth between the flashbacks with Leigh to the present with Annie. 

The Casteel and Dollanganger series deserved better than Lifetime. Dawn and Ruby are the ones who should've received the Lifetime treatment. 

[Dr.OO7]

3 hours ago, Avaleigh said:

Dawn and Ruby are the ones who should've received the Lifetime treatment. 

I don't think anyone would watch. I loved the Casteel, Dollanganger, and Audrina books, but I couldn't get into anything else. And my friends all said the same thing. For whatever reason, the other series never caught on like the first two.

[Avaleigh]

1 hour ago, Camille said:

I don't think anyone would watch. I loved the Casteel, Dollanganger, and Audrina books, but I couldn't get into anything else. And my friends all said the same thing. For whatever reason, the other series never caught on like the first two.

Just to be clear, I'm not interested in seeing Dawn or Ruby. I was saying that I think these series are better suited to something like Lifetime. I wish that the Dollanganger and Casteel series had been done by something like Netflix or Hulu or even Amazon Prime. 

Somehow I managed to read all of the Dawn series. With Ruby I couldn't even make it to the third book. I can't imagine that Andrews would have been happy with the books that have come out since the Casteel series. 

Regarding the covers that were posted up thread, boy do those bring back childhood memories. I remember thinking that Jillian was probably looking at Troy and wondering why he had to be in the photo. 

About the Seeds of Yesterday cover, I always thought that Bart and Melodie were in the ones being depicted but now I'm not sure. Bart was featured a little more that's why I always thought it was him. 

[andromeda331]

On 7/11/2019 at 3:04 PM, Avaleigh said:

Just to be clear, I'm not interested in seeing Dawn or Ruby. I was saying that I think these series are better suited to something like Lifetime. I wish that the Dollanganger and Casteel series had been done by something like Netflix or Hulu or even Amazon Prime. 

Somehow I managed to read all of the Dawn series. With Ruby I couldn't even make it to the third book. I can't imagine that Andrews would have been happy with the books that have come out since the Casteel series. 

Regarding the covers that were posted up thread, boy do those bring back childhood memories. I remember thinking that Jillian was probably looking at Troy and wondering why he had to be in the photo. 

About the Seeds of Yesterday cover, I always thought that Bart and Melodie were in the ones being depicted but now I'm not sure. Bart was featured a little more that's why I always thought it was him. 

I agree Ruby or Dawn would be perfect for Lifetime. Those stories fit a lot more with Lifetime stuff with Dawn finding out she's adopted and going back home to her real family that's all horrible and the evil grandma or Ruby with her trashy grandpa, evil stepmom and twin and twin switch. I made it all the way to the DeBeers series before finally quitting it just kept getting so much worse, so many repeats, and really boring. 

Flowers in the Attic and Heaven would fit so much better on a bigger screen with a bigger budget. There are so many details that are important to the stories like the hair and so are looks. There is always a reason for them. To showcase Foxworth Hall and Farthinggale Manor.  

[CountryGirl]

Dawn lost me in book one when her one time boyfriend, now newfound brother, Phillip raped her and the depiction was a word-for-word match to Chris raping Cathy in FITA. 

[Snow Apple]

1 hour ago, CountryGirl said:

Dawn lost me in book one when her one time boyfriend, now newfound brother, Phillip raped her and the depiction was a word-for-word match to Chris raping Cathy in FITA. 

When I read that passage, I thought "Are you kidding me?!" Didn't stop me from reading the second book, but that was even worse. That's when I gave up and haven't read any of of the ghostwriter's work since. A shame what greed is doing to V.C's name.

[Dr.OO7]

This page has the stepbacks from all series.

https://vcandrews.weebly.com/step-back-covers.html

Edited July 25, 2019 by Camille

[Daisy]

well today's the day...
redhead Heaven and Black hair Leigh.. (okay there, Lifetime)

[andromeda331]

41 minutes ago, Daisy said:

well today's the day...
redhead Heaven and Black hair Leigh.. (okay there, Lifetime)

Yeah, I got the DVR ready for it even though I'm sure it'll be terrible. It would be nice to be surprised but I'm not counting on it.

[meatball77]

It needs to be the right kind of bad.

It's a VC Andrews story.  It can't be good.

[Scarlett45]

Are we discussing the Casteel series here? I didn’t read the entire thing like I did the FITA sequels but I will probably watch. 

[TattleTeeny]

These people don't look right at all!

[kissedbyarose]

That was bad and not in a so bad its good way either. Aside from not getting the looks right, the changes to the book were clunky and nonsensical. Lol. Also, the lead girl is awful and is seriously making me consider not watching the rest of the series.

I know VC Andrews isn’t high literature but damn they could’ve done better than this.

[Snow Apple]

It's been a long time since I read the book but I don't remember their cabin (shack?) being that big and having electricity. But what do you expect from a production with a redheaded Heaven and a blond Sarah?

The children's Californian accents distracted me.

Was this good? Not really. Will I watch Dark Angel next week? Heck yeah! 

[Dr.OO7]

I didn't bother to watch, though I caught a few snippets while channel surfing. How bad was it?

[TattleTeeny]

And hahahahaha at Julie Benz saying that Heaven was skin and bones when she’s half her size!

Also, Kitty’s mom, Heaven’s rude teacher, and whoever bought the twins all looked like the same lady.

ALSO also, Kitty’s mom’s kitchen—WTF? Who puts an island so close to the oven that one is pinned against the latter when they need to open the former?!

Edited July 28, 2019 by TattleTeeny

[Queena]

I officially hate Lifetime. They ruined my favorite book. The only good part was Kitty and even she was all wrong. 

Same time, same place next week. I'm invested now... Lol

[Snow Apple]

The more I think about it, the more I'm disappointed by the casting. Leigh was this blond golden angel. Heaven is suppose to look exactly like Leigh except for her hair color. There's a reason the second book is called Dark Angel. Hair color is important to this story.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Snow Apple

[Daisy]

it sounded really bad. LOL. 
I have to wait for a Canadian affilate to air it 

[Kiki777]

The actress who played Kitty was decent for a Lifetime movie.  The guy who played Cal looked like Jess from Gilmore Girls - well, a statutory-rapey version of Jess.

i didn't hate it as much as I thought I would.  They made Fanny more likeable than she was in the book.  And I laughed when she introduced herself to Logan:   My name's Fanny.  As in, butt.

[BitterApple]

I officially loathe Lifetime with every fiber of my being. They completely massacred this story.

Why the hell did they make Heaven a redhead when her dark hair was practically a character in and of itself? The girl they cast was dumpy looking while book Heaven was a great beauty.

Logan's father was a pharmacist, not a butcher, Sarah, Kitty and Tom were supposed to be redheads, Miss Deale loved the Casteel children, Grandpa was missing, and Leigh had platinum blonde hair, not brown. In the previews for Dark Angel, Troy looks to be mid-40s, when he's supposed to be early 20s.

Ugh, the inconsistencies are KILLING me.

[meatball77]

There were a few hints of the real Fanny but then she became a sad sack.  I wanted the full out comically bad Fanny.  I wonder if they decided that it wasn't going to work well to make a teenage rape victim also a shameless hussy.

Heaven and Tom looked so well fed.  They were supposed to be starved.  I get that they weren't going to have half of the movie the family starving and showing how poor they are.

Well, the good thing is that if you hate Heaven she will get what's coming to her in the next book.  They better keep all the batshit crazy stuff.  Brother the clown, the horse riding off the cliff, the laxatives at the dance. . .

[Dr.OO7]

41 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Why the hell did they make Heaven a redhead when her dark hair was practically a character in and of itself?

I HATE the Adaptation Dye Job trope. Especially when, as you stated, a character's hair color is iconic.

All right, what else sucked?

[Kiki777]

I feel that VC Andrews made it hard to properly cast her female leads: they're all 'the prettiest girl in town' and Audrina even had magical hair that was somehow blond (of course) yet every color in the rainbow.  But yeah Heaven should have had hair that, if not raven-black, should have been at least dark-brown.  They could have slapped a wig on the girl.

Also don't get why they made Kitty a dental assistant, that was pointless.  Though it made sense that Cal was turned into a failed novelist, it gave him a reason to be home alone with Heaven every day.

Next week should be epic.  Wonder how they will handle Tom the clown and the lion (tiger? I forget that detail)

[TattleTeeny]

OH! The clothes were confusing. Heaven's clothes looked a little too nice and store-bought sometimes, I thought. I also was confused as to what year it was; I am now assuming the '70s based on everyone's clothes, though Fanny's in the first scene seemed kind of contemporary. But I do covet that suede skirt Heaven was wearing in the "oops, did I showcase my ass to my new dad?" scene.

The people's appearances are SO BAFFLING! It's not that I don't understand why this sometimes happens in movies--maybe it doesn't matter as much to the story or maybe an actor just doesn't have the book's look but is so great for the part that no one cares. But this was not a case of that; while the Heaven chick was more or less OK performance-wise, I am having a hard time believing that there wasn't another actress that could have been just as "more or less OK" and have dark hair. (I thought the same thing with My Sweet Audrina, not that they could have created that chick's "chameleon" hair, haha--and while it was a big deal in the book, I don't think it necessarily was as important in and of itself as Heaven's being the one thing that made her not a complete doppelgänger of her mom).

OK, when Logan's mom showed up at the school, I saw that she did not look like the other ladies after all. 

I always pictured Kitty looking like Reba McIntyre--even before I had ever heard of Reba McIntyre, hahaha!

Edited July 28, 2019 by TattleTeeny