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

[Queena]

9 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Despite the plot inaccuracies and horrid acting, I have to say I didn't totally hate it. It's the best of the bunch so far and there was a little more depth to the scenes, particularly the final showdown between Fanny and Heaven. I also enjoyed Kelly Rutherford's portrayal of Jillian. It's a bummer they let her go to waste in the previous movie. 

I thought the same thing. It was the most true to the book. 

[Kiki777]

WTF Granpa? Where did he come from?

This was the worst movie in the series so far.  The only emotional reaction I had was when the lion got shot.  Probably because I'd recently seen The Lion King.  Mustafa!! Sniff.

who was that random woman on the porch when the babies came home?

[CountryGirl]

I agree with others that Fallen Hearts was the strongest of the three and the most true to the book (go figure) although it was the lowest of bars as far as my expectations.

I seriously LOL when Grandpa Toby showed up out of the blue, but at least they kept the continuity of him believing Annie was still alive. 

Tom's death didn't resonate as much, mainly because they spent far too much of Heaven on the Kitty/Cal stuff instead of establishing the close bond Heaven and Tom had. And the whole set up for Heaven showing up, looking like Leigh, was for him to see her mother in her and suddenly he realized he did love her, not to get revenge on him selling her, a fact she had known from when Keith and Our Jane were sold. That was one of the epic moments of Fallen Angel and they botched it badly.

The Troy is alive reveal was ho-hum and again, their reunion in the tunnels was THE highlight of the book (that and the custody trial). Instead, they have her walk into the maze and two seconds later, running into him. The suspense of his watching her from afar and sneaking around Farthy and Heaven starting to suspect something is up and then her finally seeing his face in the tunnels before he extinguishes the flame of the candle she's carrying (but it's too late because she saw the face she would "know instantly and forever,") all those details imbedded in my mind since I first read this as a teenage, just pffft in this movie.

Fanny was more Fanny this time, if that makes sense.

Logan was still a douche and I honestly don't know WTF book or show Heaven ever saw in him.

Is it wrong that I gave Heaven a pass for sleeping with Troy but not for Logan sleeping with Fanny and does anyone else think they slept together more than one drunken night?

I liked Jillian better than in Fallen Hearts and KR was definitely under-utilized. AB did a good job as Heaven being tender with her grandmother.

I absolutely loved Heaven kicking the shit out of Tony when he tried to rape her as that was a rare moment where the show was better than the book. I could have watched that over and over.

The trial was what, all of 5 minutes, but it did bring the drama. I did like the tentative reconciliation between Heaven and Fanny, including Fanny calling out Heaven for buying Drake in a basically mirror image of Luke selling his children. 

@Kiki777, the woman on the porch at the end was Logan's mom the assumed grandmother of Annie. 

Now, it's onto Gates of Paradise, which I found a snoozefest except for the parts with Troy and "Aunt" Fanny kicking ass at Farthy. But when I think about that book, all I can think about is the ridiculousness of Annie and Luke Jr falling for one another from jump and their silly Farthy games (I mean, hello, they are supposed to be half-siblings and know from the get-go), as well as Drake turning into a jerk/mini-Tony. And Logan continues to be a douche for making out with Fanny at her birthday party, driving drunk and getting himself and Heaven killed and Annie (temporarily) paralyzed, but also, his basically not acknowledging his only child, Luke Jr. An ass to the end.

Edited August 11, 2019 by CountryGirl

[JAYJAY1979]

Is it possible Logan always wanted Fanny...and that he went for Heaven because she was more on his 'level'?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

Is it possible Logan always wanted Fanny...and that he went for Heaven because she was more on his 'level'?

To me, Logan was a slightly less douchey version of Arden from My Sweet Audrina. Arden had the typical madonna/whore syndrome going on with the sisters in his life. Audrina was the sweet pure one who he wanted to marry and Vera was the hot one he fucked. He was clearly attracted to Vera and looking at her every chance he got and he slept with her when he had the opportunity and he rationalized it by blaming Audrina for not sleeping with him (and then being in a coma).

Logan isn't quite as obvious about ogling Fanny in the early books (thank goodness, since she was still elementary school aged) but his petty ass was all about rejecting Heaven and punishing her FOR YEARS because she had the nerve to not be a pure virgin anymore.

When they were older, I think that Logan probably never actively sought out his wife's sister but that he wasn't exactly running away when she pursued him because he thought she was hot and he liked the attention. I think he told the truth when he said that he got drunk and that they only had sex the one time (if they'd had sex more than once, Fanny definitely would have thrown that in Heaven's face), but that doesn't mean he didn't enjoy her flirting with him and doing things like walking around the cabin naked.

4 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

Is it wrong that I gave Heaven a pass for sleeping with Troy but not for Logan sleeping with Fanny

I do too. I totally bought the rationalization she used in the book - Logan was a drunk idiot who slept with her sister out of lust. Heaven slept with someone who she loved, who she was supposed to marry, who she thought was dead. As she and Troy said, it was a night that they stole from the gods. I know that in black and white terms, cheating is cheating, but in this case the circumstances are very different. I'm sure there are some people who think Heaven's cheating is worse because she had an emotional connection and for Logan, it was just sex, but I think what she did was much more understandable than Logan's "I was lonely [not so subtly blaming Heaven for not being in Winnerow with him] and drunk and Fanny is a slut so OF COURSE I slept with her!"

[Steph Sometimes]

So the people who made this movie had access to a black wig all this time. Heaven could've been wearing it this whole time if the bland redhead playing her refused to dye her hair! 

Hey look! It's Grandpa! Where'd you come from?

Fanny's accent gets stronger with each movie. She's terrible, but at least she has some personality.

Logan is pretty dull, isn't he?

Two more movies. And then this'll be over and Lifetime will be bringing us cheerleaders. Lots of cheerleaders. Can't wait!

[andromeda331]

I love Heaven kicking the shit out of Tony, I agree that's the one time its better then the book. I always hated that Heaven didn't do anything in the book but leave. I agree I could easily watch that scene over and over. I really did like the scene between Fanny and Heaven when trying to buy Drake.  Oh, and apparently Grandpa Toby was alive the whole time? Amazing how he hadn't been seen until now. 

The rest was crap. Heaven and Troy meeting up was crap and not how it happened in the book. I don't know why Heaven picked Logan book or movie wise. She so could have done better.  The also apparently had a dark wig the whole time but didn't put in Heaven.  

 

22 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

I agree with others that Fallen Hearts was the strongest of the three and the most true to the book (go figure) although it was the lowest of bars as far as my expectations.

I seriously LOL when Grandpa Toby showed up out of the blue, but at least they kept the continuity of him believing Annie was still alive. 

Tom's death didn't resonate as much, mainly because they spent far too much of Heaven on the Kitty/Cal stuff instead of establishing the close bond Heaven and Tom had. And the whole set up for Heaven showing up, looking like Leigh, was for him to see her mother in her and suddenly he realized he did love her, not to get revenge on him selling her, a fact she had known from when Keith and Our Jane were sold. That was one of the epic moments of Fallen Angel and they botched it badly.

The Troy is alive reveal was ho-hum and again, their reunion in the tunnels was THE highlight of the book (that and the custody trial). Instead, they have her walk into the maze and two seconds later, running into him. The suspense of his watching her from afar and sneaking around Farthy and Heaven starting to suspect something is up and then her finally seeing his face in the tunnels before he extinguishes the flame of the candle she's carrying (but it's too late because she saw the face she would "know instantly and forever,") all those details imbedded in my mind since I first read this as a teenage, just pffft in this movie.

Fanny was more Fanny this time, if that makes sense.

Logan was still a douche and I honestly don't know WTF book or show Heaven ever saw in him.

Is it wrong that I gave Heaven a pass for sleeping with Troy but not for Logan sleeping with Fanny and does anyone else think they slept together more than one drunken night?

I liked Jillian better than in Fallen Hearts and KR was definitely under-utilized. AB did a good job as Heaven being tender with her grandmother.

I absolutely loved Heaven kicking the shit out of Tony when he tried to rape her as that was a rare moment where the show was better than the book. I could have watched that over and over.

The trial was what, all of 5 minutes, but it did bring the drama. I did like the tentative reconciliation between Heaven and Fanny, including Fanny calling out Heaven for buying Drake in a basically mirror image of Luke selling his children. 

@Kiki777, the woman on the porch at the end was Logan's mom the assumed grandmother of Annie. 

Now, it's onto Gates of Paradise, which I found a snoozefest except for the parts with Troy and "Aunt" Fanny kicking ass at Farthy. But when I think about that book, all I can think about is the ridiculousness of Annie and Luke Jr falling for one another from jump and their silly Farthy games (I mean, hello, they are supposed to be half-siblings and know from the get-go), as well as Drake turning into a jerk/mini-Tony. And Logan continues to be a douche for making out with Fanny at her birthday party, driving drunk and getting himself and Heaven killed and Annie (temporarily) paralyzed, but also, his basically not acknowledging his only child, Luke Jr. An ass to the end.

18 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

To me, Logan was a slightly less douchey version of Arden from My Sweet Audrina. Arden had the typical madonna/whore syndrome going on with the sisters in his life. Audrina was the sweet pure one who he wanted to marry and Vera was the hot one he fucked. He was clearly attracted to Vera and looking at her every chance he got and he slept with her when he had the opportunity and he rationalized it by blaming Audrina for not sleeping with him (and then being in a coma).

Logan isn't quite as obvious about ogling Fanny in the early books (thank goodness, since she was still elementary school aged) but his petty ass was all about rejecting Heaven and punishing her FOR YEARS because she had the nerve to not be a pure virgin anymore.

When they were older, I think that Logan probably never actively sought out his wife's sister but that he wasn't exactly running away when she pursued him because he thought she was hot and he liked the attention. I think he told the truth when he said that he got drunk and that they only had sex the one time (if they'd had sex more than once, Fanny definitely would have thrown that in Heaven's face), but that doesn't mean he didn't enjoy her flirting with him and doing things like walking around the cabin naked.

I do too. I totally bought the rationalization she used in the book - Logan was a drunk idiot who slept with her sister out of lust. Heaven slept with someone who she loved, who she was supposed to marry, who she thought was dead. As she and Troy said, it was a night that they stole from the gods. I know that in black and white terms, cheating is cheating, but in this case the circumstances are very different. I'm sure there are some people who think Heaven's cheating is worse because she had an emotional connection and for Logan, it was just sex, but I think what she did was much more understandable than Logan's "I was lonely [not so subtly blaming Heaven for not being in Winnerow with him] and drunk and Fanny is a slut so OF COURSE I slept with her!"

I've always given Heaven a pass because I hate Logan that much. He really is Arden light and treated Heaven crappy over that whole Cal thing. He was such an asshole because she wasn't a virgin and refused to listen or realize that it was all Cal's fault. He was the adoptive father and he groomed Heaven, she never actually wanted to but was the only one nice to her especially after psycho Kitty. Logan loved Heaven so much that he got drunk and slept with Fanny. Sure that makes sense because when you love someone so much and miss them you naturally get into bed with her sister. Where Heaven loved Troy and he treated her well. He cooked, he listened to her, and knew what she wanted. He cared about what she wanted and I don't really think Logan ever did. Its pretty much the only time that I didn't care that a couple was related. Troy treated Heaven well and wanted them to end up together. If not I'd rather she kicked Logan to the curb and raise Annie on her own or find someone better, same with Fanny. I also really, really hate Logan because he caused that accident that killed Heaven and himself, getting himself drunk and flirting with Fanny (cause you know he's a real upstanding guy!) at her party which ticks Heaven off and drives drunk killing them both. I really, really hate Logan.

[CountryGirl]

The black wig - YES! 

So they could trot that out for Heaven looking like her mother but not, you know, for Heaven's actual hair color.

And it REALLY bugged me that Stacie's hair was actually right (blond) when she was such a tertiary character, in all of two scenes, but yet they get it right. 

Also, I forgot to mention how much the dolls all over the house bugged and creeped me out. Plus, they didn't look anything like how I imagined. 

Finally, I came across this fan-made movie trailer from quite a few years ago for Dark Angel and it's a million times better than Lifetime's version.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 8/8/2019 at 5:07 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

The other thing that the movie got right was Logan being an insufferable dick.

Okay, Full Disclosure: I only read these books ONCE. Nothing will convince me even watch the fuckfest of this on LIFETIME, of all places. I've already vented my spleen about it already in previous productions.

But. Didn't Logan die when he was a teenager? I mean, he broke his neck climbing out of Heaven's window, right? Or, am I mixing up my stories/series, and there was another Logan? I seem to recall him promising to show up but never did. Or something.

I only ever re-read the original Flowers in the Attic series and its prequel and My Sweet Audrina, multiple times. Yes, I'm a sick, sick person.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

25 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Didn't Logan die when he was a teenager? I mean, he broke his neck climbing out of Heaven's window, right?

Ha, if only!

The only injury I remember Logan sustaining was some weird temporary blindness which caused Heaven to think he was ignoring her.

He lived long enough to slut shame Heaven repeatedly, marry her, cheat on her with her sister Fanny, and then get drunk, insist on driving, and causing a car accident that killed him and Heaven (and paralyzing their daughter).

He wasn’t quite as bad as Arden (although it should be noted that Arden set the bar so low that almost anyone could step over it) but he was still a dick. 

[andromeda331]

44 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Okay, Full Disclosure: I only read these books ONCE. Nothing will convince me even watch the fuckfest of this on LIFETIME, of all places. I've already vented my spleen about it already in previous productions.

But. Didn't Logan die when he was a teenager? I mean, he broke his neck climbing out of Heaven's window, right? Or, am I mixing up my stories/series, and there was another Logan? I seem to recall him promising to show up but never did. Or something.

I only ever re-read the original Flowers in the Attic series and its prequel and My Sweet Audrina, multiple times. Yes, I'm a sick, sick person.

I think that was Lillian's boyfriend in the Cutler aka Dawn series prequel. 

11 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Ha, if only!

The only injury I remember Logan sustaining was some weird temporary blindness which caused Heaven to think he was ignoring her.

He lived long enough to slut shame Heaven repeatedly, marry her, cheat on her with her sister Fanny, and then get drunk, insist on driving, and causing a car accident that killed him and Heaven (and paralyzing their daughter).

He wasn’t quite as bad as Arden (although it should be noted that Arden set the bar so low that almost anyone could step over it) but he was still a dick. 

Yeah, if only he had. That would have been so nice. Which is why he's always after Arden for me when it comes to the husbands. Its really hard to be worse then Arden but Logan gets pretty close with all that crap and as we see in Gates of Paradise he hasn't change one bit since he gets drunk and hits on Fanny and its shocked, shocked that Heaven gets upset about that, drives drunk and kills her and paralyzes Annie. 

[Avaleigh]

47 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Okay, Full Disclosure: I only read these books ONCE. Nothing will convince me even watch the fuckfest of this on LIFETIME, of all places. I've already vented my spleen about it already in previous productions.

But. Didn't Logan die when he was a teenager? I mean, he broke his neck climbing out of Heaven's window, right? Or, am I mixing up my stories/series, and there was another Logan? I seem to recall him promising to show up but never did. Or something.

I only ever re-read the original Flowers in the Attic series and its prequel and My Sweet Audrina, multiple times. Yes, I'm a sick, sick person.

I'm pretty sure this happened in the Dawn prequel The Darkest Hour. I can't remember the dude's name but Dawn's grandmother's boyfriend fell out of a window IIRC. Now I'm curious what his name was. I can't even recall Dawn's grandmother's name. I just remember reading "Grandmother Cutler". Lillian?

I'm watching the Fallen Hearts shitshow as I'm making this post.

Fanny is better. Lol, where did her accent come from? 

Also, why oh why couldn't Grandpa Toby be in the first movie if they're going to emphasize his grief over Granny dying?

So many characters in Andrewsland can't handle death and develop Gerald O'Hara syndrome. 

All of the comments about the hair. Wouldn't it be funny if they made Ruby a blonde or brunette?

[meatball77]

What's funny is that this series is sponsored by Audible and they still haven't made all the early books avalible.  You can buy FITA, Sweet Audrina and Heaven.  There aren't any of the Dawn books that you can get through audible and just the first in Ruby's series.  Then it skips to the ghostwriters later books, apparently there was a series with vampires. . . .

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I don't understand why they moved all of the "Heaven dresses up like her mom at the circus and Tom dies" storyline from the end of Dark Angel to the beginning of Fallen Hearts. Did they think there wasn't enough plot in Fallen Hearts?

I really didn't like that they changed Heaven's motivation for that into getting revenge on Luke. Did they think Heaven still wanting Luke's love, attention, and approval wasn't interesting enough? When I watched the first movie, I wondered why they changed the story from Luke selling all the kids for $500 each to Luke giving them to other families and finding a job for Tom in another state. Now we know why! They wanted to give Heaven some motivation to seek revenge.

One thing I do understand is Heaven's frustration with Tom and how he kept defending Luke and saying he had changed. Yes, it's possible for people to change, but that doesn't mean Heaven has to forgive and forget. Like she said, there are consequences for being a terrible father.

Drake seemed way older than five. And Randall was supposed to be an 18 year old college student. This guy looked like a 30 year old man.

Gawd, so much bad acting from everyone: Luke, Stacey, Randall, Fanny, grandpa - it's like they found these people in a Learning Annex workshop for people who have never acted before. Their line readings were so stilted and awkward. Fanny's vocal fry was driving me crazy. Oh, gawd, and Jason Priestley's terrible acting is back.

Where the hell was grandpa hiding during the first two movies? That was as bad as if one of Heaven's siblings hadn't been seen until now. They lived in the same house but we're supposed to believe that he was just always off somewhere else?

Ugh, I hate to keep harping on all the hair issues but those boneheaded decisions are rearing their ugly heads in Fallen Hearts. Heaven is supposed to look like Leigh but with dark hair. When Heaven dyes her hair blonde to look like Leigh, it makes sense that Jillian confuses Heaven for Leigh. But since they fucked up all the hair color stuff, it makes no sense why Jillian sees ginger Heaven and thinks she's brunette Leigh.

Tony's reaction to Jillian's madness was so different in the movie than the book. Tony is a creepy predator who preyed on a 13 year old girl, but he did seem to love Jillian. In the books, he humored her when she started going off the deep end, gently agreeing with whatever illusion she had going on at the moment. In the movie, he seemed embarrassed and slightly grossed out by her behavior.

The interior of the house looks so much like the one they used for the Foxworth party.

OMG, Heaven wore a white long sleeved grandma nightgown after the wedding reception at Farthy. I bet Logan loved that since he can only accept a virginal Heaven.

I hated the way they handled the entire Troy situation. Apparently the producers/writers wanted to make everything Heaven's decision and that's why she was the one to tell Troy they couldn't see each other again because she's married. In the books, it was Heaven who wanted to keep seeing him and Troy was the one who said that they couldn't be selfish and hurt so many other people.

Not including the stuff about Rye Whiskey and the servants hearing piano music and Jillian seeing ghosts was bad enough but then Heaven just went into the maze and Troy walked right up to her? LAME. It's like they're just hitting the major plot points without any of the build up to them.

On a related note, the fact that they didn't touch on how jealous and spiteful Fanny was for the first two movies made her abrupt decision to fuck Logan to get back at Heaven come out of left field. I disliked that the movie made it Heaven telling Fanny to lie to Randall and say the baby was his.

I guess spending all that money on Heaven's dark Leigh wig blew the accessories budget for this movie since Heaven wore the same brown boots for most of this movie.

Logan was still a dick, but in this movie he also came off as a pathetic goober. The terrible acting didn't help. His "can you forgive me?" right after she found out that he slept with Fanny was so bad that it made him seem like a complete moron.

Once again, the portrait dolls creeped me out. And unfortunately, the set people found some cheap looking dolls. They definitely did not look nice enough to be the kind of high end dolls that they were supposed to be.

The absolute best part of this movie and the best change from the book was Heaven KICKING TONY'S ASS!

Second best change: Logan whining that airing their dirty laundry during the custody trial might hurt his mother and Heaven yelling, "Well, you weren't thinking about your mother when YOU WERE SCREWING FANNY!" Hahahahahaha!

[Daisy]

I'm a week behind (so I am watching Dark Angel). 
the Heaven and Troy relationship went 0 to 60, like the hell? There was no lead up at all!

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Thanks @Avaleigh, @ElectricBoogaloo, and @andromeda331

But seriously, I thought it was the same book! Because I think I remember her thinking Troy was dead and he was her...half-brother? But then at the end, he came back, on a horse? Or am I mixing up books and genres? Granted, during this period of my life I read everything and anything. But I SWEAR I remember reading Troy coming to rescue her on horseback. Or something. And no, I'm NOT going to go back and read...well...maybe I will. I don't know. It's a fact that Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, and Anne Stuart have ruined me for reading insulting, trashy and poorly written trash. After my tweens, Jackie Collins was my guilty pleasure.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

13 hours ago, meatball77 said:

What's funny is that this series is sponsored by Audible and they still haven't made all the early books avalible.  You can buy FITA, Sweet Audrina and Heaven.  There aren't any of the Dawn books that you can get through audible and just the first in Ruby's series.  Then it skips to the ghostwriters later books, apparently there was a series with vampires. . . .

Well, to be fair, FITA, Audrina, and Heaven are the only VCA books worth reading!

21 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Thanks @Avaleigh, @ElectricBoogaloo, and @andromeda331

But seriously, I thought it was the same book! Because I think I remember her thinking Troy was dead and he was her...half-brother? But then at the end, he came back, on a horse? Or am I mixing up books and genres? Granted, during this period of my life I read everything and anything. But I SWEAR I remember reading Troy coming to rescue her on horseback. Or something. 

Troy turned out to be Heaven’s half uncle, thanks to Tony raping Heaven’s mother. At the end of Dark Angel, Tony tells Heaven that Troy got upset and rode Jillian’s horse into the sea and died (it was a fake out because he showed up in Fallen Hearts). Earlier in Dark Angel, Troy teaches Heaven how to ride a horse. She falls off but she’s mad at Troy so she just sits in the woods sulking. He finds her and rescues her by taking her injured ass to an old barn on the property.

[Lady Iris]

I finally put my finger on who Jason Priestly doing Tony Tatterton reminds me of, a Richard Thomas. I like Richard Thomas as an actor just fine but I can't help but compare JP's portrayal of TT as so very Richard Thomasesque.

Glad that Fanny got more Fanny'd up like I was expecting from the books.

Did Heaven beat up Tony in the book like she did in this movie? Really can't recall.

[Amtosbm]

Good god I love the Casteel books but this whole Lifetime shitfest sounds awful. Kudos to you who managed to watch it and warn the rest of us how bad it was. I mean how the hell can you screw up Fanny? She's basically a candid reality star. I'll have to be drunk or high as a kite to get through this like I did the FITA series.

[ccphilly]

This was my teenage'd self's fav smut back in the day.  I had hopes, not high ones, but hopes.  These movies are terrible. And-the actress who play's Heaven looks....I can't rag on her looks.  It's just no where near what Heaven was described as in the books.  

[Daisy]

I think what bothers me more than Heaven's red hair, the weird acting, the weird time jumpcuts....

they are making heaven out to be this nice, sweet simple girl and that wasn't her. Heaven was always driven by her pride, the need for revenge and everything. not this simpering girl. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 8/13/2019 at 5:52 PM, Amtosbm said:

how the hell can you screw up Fanny? She's basically a candid reality star. 

Ha, that’s a perfect description of how Fanny should have been portrayed!

[msrachelj]

And the Emmy for worst acting goes to: Everyone in this movie!

I can't believe a woman wrote this misogynistic shit. 

I love the Flowers in the Attic movies and was looking forward to this but it felt like big sections were left out, bad acting all around, miscast actors. Doesn't come close to the aforementioned series. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 8/13/2019 at 1:46 PM, Lady Iris said:

Did Heaven beat up Tony in the book like she did in this movie? Really can't recall.

Not really, and definitely not as much as she did in the movie. In the book, she initially tells him to go away and tries to pull away. It's not until he starts getting really out of control (he gets into bed, grabs her by the waist and pulls her against him) that she fights back. When he grabs her boob, she claws at his face, yells at him, and slaps him. Seeing her totally kick his ass in the movie was way more than what happened in the book and so much more satisfying! He deserved some kind of retribution after raping Leigh, but then trying to rape his own pregnant daughter? He's lucky that Heaven didn't do worse.

I am not looking forward to the last two movies. Gates of Paradise is a snoozefest for me plotwise because so little happens. They go to Fanny's birthday party, Heaven and Logan die, Annie spends way too much time at Farthy, Fanny rescues her, and Troy tells her the truth about Tony being Heaven's father. It's not enough plot for a two hour movie so I know I'll be checking the clock constantly.

Web of Dreams annoys me because the ghost writer made so many mistakes, but the main reason I'm not looking forward to the movie version is that I don't think Lifetime can really show a lot of what happened (Tony molesting Leigh under the guise of art) and even if they do it by showing Leigh from the neck up or shooting from behind so that we only see her back, I really don't need to watch an hour of some guy molesting a 12 year old girl. On the plus side, at least we'll finally be rid of Jason Priestley's weirdly bad acting.

Fun fact: the actresses playing Annie and Leigh both appeared on iZombie!

[Snow Apple]

I wasn't paying attention to the timelines in the movies. Is it possible they will age up Leigh to at least 15 for the final movie? 15 is disgusting and horrifying enough but showing a 12 year old seems crossing the line for TV nowadays.

[JAYJAY1979]

Gates of paradise will probably add new plots and events not seen in the book since it was an uneventful book...just liked how Seeds of Yesterday added the Bart/cindy coupling.

Lifetime was the wrong network to do these movies.  Ruby would fit better with it being set in the bayou and New Orleans.

https://youtu.be/Q0pvaZqKkRA

[Steph Sometimes]

At least we'll have new actresses with these new movies. Hoping Annie and Leigh are at least slightly less bland.

[Scarlett45]

One thing I do like about these movies is Heaven calling Tony out on being a RAPIST. No sugar coating it (finally catching up on Falling Hearts). 

I didn’t buy her reaction to Fanny at Tom’s funeral- how could she justify leaving the baby with the Reverend??? He raped and impregnated Fanny while the wife approved. How does she know he wouldn’t do the same to Darcy in a few years???

The actress that plays Fanny has really large expressive eyes. She may actually be a good actress, I wish they had developed that relationship more  Fanny’s total and complete jealousy of Heaven and wanting everything she had. 

Logan is such an ass. “Yes I had unprotected sex with YOUR SISTER cause you were gone for 5 hot minutes please forgive MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.” But yes Heaven you did fuck Troy. 

The hairstyling for Heaven is just so odd. The actress does have pretty hair, but half the time it looks like she just rolled out of bed and is hanging out at home. Fanny’s hair makes sense because she’s supposed to look unkept. 

[TattleTeeny]

This other Heaven just called Fanny “Franny.”

[meatball77]

I love how they reference things that happened in earlier books but they left out of the movies.

Scuttles the horse and Tony's accident.

[BitterApple]

26 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

This other Heaven just called Fanny “Franny.”

She did it twice! Damn, did these third-rate actors even bother to read the script or are they just winging it?

The Scuttles thing is pissing me off, because in the books, Scuttles was a pony, not an Arabian stallion. Abdullah Bar was the horse Troy rode into the sea.

Edited August 18, 2019 by BitterApple

[meatball77]

Scuttles even sounds like a cute pony.

[Dr.OO7]

The outside of Farthingale looks like some gentleman's hunting club in upstate New York.

And the inside is clearly a watered down version of Foxworth Hall.

I know I've skipped the others, do I don't have anything to compare it to, but this one wasn't half bad.

That moment where Rye caught her sneaking out and actually nodded to give her the go ahead was very touching. 

I don't think I like the way Lifetime keeps adding things that didn't happen in the books--like that nonsense with the gun.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Camille

[andromeda331]

Well, that was bad. But mostly boring.

I hate that they didn't show Fanny's big moment of rescuing Annie. It was such a great moment. 

I noticed there were no flowers by Logan's tombstone only Heaven's. Not even Annie put flowers down by his tombstone just her mother's. Its petty but I kind of liked that.

Rye, another character that just showed up in this movie but haven't been seen in the first three despite him even say he'd worked there for forty years. 

[Queena]

I thought that it was good.. Not great but good. I still get creeped out by Annie mooning over Luke. The girl forced herself on him while he was trying to process everything. 

Leigh I imagined was beautiful. Movie Leigh? Not so much. 

[Snow Apple]

3 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Rye, another character that just showed up in this movie but haven't been seen in the first three despite him even say he'd worked there for forty years. 

I guess he was hanging out with Grandpa Casteel. Who can blame them for avoiding the rest of them?

[JAYJAY1979]

6 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Well, that was bad. But mostly boring.

I hate that they didn't show Fanny's big moment of rescuing Annie. It was such a great moment. 

I noticed there were no flowers by Logan's tombstone only Heaven's. Not even Annie put flowers down by his tombstone just her mother's. Its petty but I kind of liked that.

Rye, another character that just showed up in this movie but haven't been seen in the first three despite him even say he'd worked there for forty years. 

I haven't seen it yet..but they managed to make the movie more boring than the book..by removing one of the best scenes (i.e. Fanny rescuing Annie, having a showdown with Tony, etc)....wow.  

[Scarlett45]

Watching Gates of Paradise, the early 90s styling is spot on. Even down to the kitchen in Heaven and Logan’s house. Daphne Zuniga as the nurse is creepy- I remember her as Brooke’s Mom on One Tree Hill. 

Annie and Luke look alike, and Drake and Luke look alike (which makes sense as they are Uncle and nephew), but Annie looks NOTHING like Heaven. Waxing poetic about the resemblance 😳. 

Annie seems realistically creeped out by Tony Tatterton, but golly this movie is boring. At least teenage Heaven had some fire. 

[CountryGirl]

ITA with others who said they managed to make the movie version of GOP even more boring than the insomnia-cure that is the book. 

Once again, the hair color non-continuity continues with Annie looking nothing like her mother when she was supposed to be her image and Leigh's image except for her dark hair. Instead, we get a drap dirty blond. Well, movie Troy is dirty blond, too, so whatever.

Heaven and Fanny were aged up - to their FIFTIES. They should have been in their early 40s. 

Annie was even more of a drip and WTH to her practically jumping Luke Jr in her bed when they thought they were still half-siblings. And gave him all of two seconds to process the news that they're not really related 

I, too, hated that they eliminated the Fanny kicks ass scenes at the end of GOP; that was one of the few bright spots in the book. 

And they decide to bring back Ry(s)e NOW? Where has he been? I guess hanging out with Grandpa Toby.

Drake was a dick as was Logan so there's that. LOL to the shout out to no flowers on Logan's grave. Ha ha ha!

I can't wait (sarcasm added) to see how the screw up Web of Dreams but at least we're done with the horrible, terrible, very bad JP as Tony.

Edited August 18, 2019 by CountryGirl

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, CountryGirl said:

Heaven and Fanny were aged up - to their FIFTIES. They should have been in their early 40s. 

Weren’t they celebrating Fanny’s 40th bday party in the beginning of the movie? With Luke and Annie being 18, Heaven at 42(ish) and Fanny at 40 sounds right. 

 

Liked it when Annie slapped Drake. He was being a dick. Seems a bit of Luke Casteel came out, despite the years of being raised by Heaven and Logan. 

[CountryGirl]

8 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Weren’t they celebrating Fanny’s 40th bday party in the beginning of the movie? With Luke and Annie being 18, Heaven at 42(ish) and Fanny at 40 sounds right. 

They were and that was the same as the book, but the actresses looked so much older - I think it was the hair that aged them because the actress playing older Fanny is in her 30s. Not sure about the one playing older Heaven.

Troy didn't age a bit LOL.

[Scarlett45]

3 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

They were and that was the same as the book, but the actresses looked so much older - I think it was the hair that aged them because the actress playing older Fanny is in her 30s. Not sure about the one playing older Heaven.

Troy didn't age a bit LOL.

I think it was the styling and makeup. Early 90s fashions are going to look dated to our eyes. I’ve seen the actress playing Fanny in Hallmark movies and she’s much prettier than she looked here. They looked to be in their 40s and possibly parents to teens to me. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ugh the girl playing Annie has the most annoying vocal fry. I don't know if I can handle two whole hours of listening to that. She's also a terrible actress. The scene where she was crying on her birthday was painful to watch.

Apparently the writers don't know anything about college. Luke just got his acceptance letter and he's leaving at the end of the month? Is that supposed to mean that he was waitlisted and finally got accepted in like August?

And why was Annie crying about Luke leaving anyway? Drake said she was going to art school, so is there some world famous art school in Winnerow that I don't know about?

Wow, Annie and Luke did not make any attempt to hide their feelings for each other. They were handsy with each other from the beginning.

The writers finally managed to make F(r)anny close to the book character. When she told Heaven, "Stay boring," I totally cracked up. But as someone who used to watch Jerry Springer, she still isn't nearly as embarrassing as Luke thinks she is.

Drake was appropriately douchey and yuppie (although who the hell pinned their sweater sleeves together?).

The white hair on Tony was so bad. It looked like Jason Priestley was playing a mall Santa Claus.

Hahahaha, when Drake said, "Annie, can you hear me?" I started hearing, "Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?"

So much bad acting, just from different people. New Fanny, Annie, and of course Tony.

Daphne Zuniga will always be Alison from The Sure Thing and Princess Vespa from Spaceballs so I knew I was going to have a hard time buying her as Nurse Ratched.

9 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Weren’t they celebrating Fanny’s 40th bday party in the beginning of the movie? With Luke and Annie being 18, Heaven at 42(ish) and Fanny at 40 sounds right. 

Yes, the party was for Fanny's 40th birthday. Fanny was about a year and a half younger than Heaven, so Heaven was 41-42.

At the end of Dark Angel, Heaven was 22 when she finished college. Fallen Hearts takes place two years later when Fanny is 22 and Heaven is 24. They both get pregnant shortly after Heaven and Logan's wedding in June so Heaven (whose birthday is in February) was 25 when Annie were born. Since Luke and Annie both turn 18 at the beginning of Gates of Paradise, Heaven is 43, which means Fanny should already be 40, not turning 40.

Just another screw up from the ghost writer (although this one isn't nearly as egregious as some of his other mistakes).

Edited August 19, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo
typo

[Kiki777]

Boring and weird.  Though I too like arts Whiskey silently having Annie's back when she snuck out of the house.

The guy playing young Tony next week looks familiar.  Turns out he played young Jason Priestly in the Lifetime movie about. 90210.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It's hard to believe that Tony didn't wake Annie up a few minutes earlier so that he could give his patented "watch for the first break in the treeline" speech.

I had to laugh when Annie was complaining about the nurse being too rough with the loofah. I LOVE exfoliating so I would have told her to keep scrubbing - especially on my back since I can't reach every inch of skin on my own.

And what was up with Rye Whiskey saying that his nickname came from Jillian mispronouncing his name after she got "sick"? Uh, no. When Heaven arrived at Farthy in Dark Angel, Troy told her that everyone referred to Ryse as Rye Whiskey.

At certain angles, the girl playing Annie reminds me of Leighton Meester.

Why does Drake have blonde hair? He's supposed to have dark hair and dark eyes. Oh, wait, I forgot - we have thrown all hair color out the window.

What was up with Tony getting a gun out of his desk? Were we supposed to believe that he was going to shoot Annie?

The scene between Luke, Tony, and the chauffeur was so painful to watch. So much bad acting.

I was really disappointed that we were cheated out of Fanny rescuing Annie from Farthy. I guess the writers wanted this to be about Luke being the romantic knight who rescues the princess from the castle. That was Fanny's big moment and they took it away from her! The fight between Tony and Luke was ridiculous too.

The tiny dolls in the cottage were so bad. Did the prop people buy those at Michaels?

The letter that Annie found in the cottage was the same one from the books, but they changed the text when Heaven read it in Fallen Hearts. I remember

Another change I didn't like was that in the movie, Fanny said that Heaven never wanted Logan to know that Tony was her father and that Heaven made Fanny swear to keep it a secret. In the books though, Heaven told Logan the truth after she left Farthy for the last time. Heaven never actually told Fanny that Tony was her father. Fanny only knew because Tom was so upset when he found out that he wrote to Fanny about it. Fanny and Heaven never had a discussion about it ever.

On 8/17/2019 at 6:17 PM, BitterApple said:

The Scuttles thing is pissing me off, because in the books, Scuttles was a pony, not an Arabian stallion. Abdullah Bar was the horse Troy rode into the sea.

On top of that, in the book Scuttles was the pony that Jillian learned to ride on when she was a girl in Texas. In the movie, Tony had a picture of Heaven riding Scuttles (which never happened in the book).

[CountryGirl]

15 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Wow, Annie and Luke did not make any attempt to hide their feelings for each other. They were handsy with each other from the beginning.

So eyeroll-inducing - two minutes into the movie, they are rolling around in Annie's bed. 

The writers finally managed to make F(r)anny close to the book character. When she told Heaven, "Stay boring," I totally cracked up. 

I loved Fanny saying that.

The white hair on Tony was so bad. It looked like Jason Priestley was playing a mall Santa Claus.

LOL - it's like they spray-painted his hair/facial hear with the stuff they use to flock trees. 

Hahahaha, when Drake said, "Annie, can you hear me?" I started hearing, "Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?"

I am snort-laughin here.

So much bad acting, just from different people. New Fanny, Annie, and of course Tony.

Just when you think they can't get any worse - they do and YES to Annie's vocal fry. She gave the gals playing Deb's daughters in Bravo's Dirty John a run for their money.

[CountryGirl]

6 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Why does Drake have blonde hair? He's supposed to have dark hair and dark eyes. Oh, wait, I forgot - we have thrown all hair color out the window.

Another change I didn't like was that in the movie, Fanny said that Heaven never wanted Logan to know that Tony was her father and that Heaven made Fanny swear to keep it a secret. In the books though, Heaven told Logan the truth after she left Farthy for the last time. Heaven never actually told Fanny that Tony was her father. Fanny only knew because Tom was so upset when he found out that he wrote to Fanny about it. Fanny and Heaven never had a discussion about it ever.

I obviously threw in the towel with the hair color crap since I kind of, sort of, forgot about Drake's hair color. Remember - he was the look-alike son Luke Sr had always wanted. 

I doubt I'll watch these movies ever again, but didn't Heaven tell Logan that Tony was her father toward the end of Fallen Hearts? When they were back at the cabin?

9 hours ago, Kiki777 said:

The guy playing young Tony next week looks familiar.  Turns out he played young Jason Priestly in the Lifetime movie about. 90210.

How very meta.

Another nitpick - movie Troy being such a damn wuss, being too scared to leave the cabin and running away and leaving Annie back in Tony's clutches when in the book, he helped her learn how to walk again and also called Luke to tell him he needed to come to Farthy and see Annie, which led to her finally escaping, with a big assist from Fanny.

Edited August 19, 2019 by CountryGirl

[Lady Iris]

On ‎8‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 4:32 AM, andromeda331 said:

Well, that was bad. But mostly boring.

I hate that they didn't show Fanny's big moment of rescuing Annie. It was such a great moment. 

I was totally waiting for Fanny to bust in there raising hell and such. I was not surprised to be ultimately disappointed.

2 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

Another nitpick - movie Troy being such a damn wuss, being too scared to leave the cabin and running away and leaving Annie back in Tony's clutches when in the book, he helped her learn how to walk again and also called Luke to tell him he needed to come to Farthy and see Annie, which led to her finally escaping, with a big assist from Fanny.

I actually lol'd at his collapse in the woods. What a useless tool he turned out to be.

Jason Priestley has been laughably bad but overall I got a kick out of him playing such a degenerate after really only knowing him as the insufferably upstanding Brandon Walsh.

[Scarlett45]

So far my favorite of the movies has been Fallen Hearts, there was campy drama, Heaven kicking Tony’s ass, sleezetastic fun from Fanny flirting with Logan etc.

Gates of Paradise was SO BORING. I felt no connection to the other storylines. Maybe the actors in Web of Dreams will pack the emotional punch. 

[racked]

Web of Dreams was my favorite of the Casteel series. I know it wasn't actually written by VC Andrews and there are a lot of continuity problems, but I loved Leigh as a character so much. 

The movie looks horrible - dark haired Leigh for no reason, is Jason Priestly going to be playing young Tony?