Flowers in the Attic (1987)

Directed by Jeffrey Bloom. Starring Kristy Swanson, Jeb Stuart Adams, Louise Fletcher, Lindsay Parker, Victoria Tennant, Ben Ganger, Nathan Davis, Marshall Colt, Alex Koba, Leonard Mann. [PG-13]

Dismal melodrama from a lurid V. C. Andrews bestseller that became notorious for “keeping it in the family.” Four children who were the product of an incestuous relationship between their mom (Tennant) and her husband/uncle (Colt) are locked away in a dusty old mansion under the “care” of their fanatical, disciplinarian grandmother (Fletcher). The source material was toned down by the adaptation (and storied rewrites)—e.g., the explicit incest between the older kids is merely suggested here—which eliminates almost all traces of sordid life this plodding film needed. Some kitschy moments of high camp courtesy of the dopey dialogue and bad acting (particularly the four kids), but the aesthetics are so sterile and unimaginative that it becomes a chore to sit through. Add in the shabbily generic music from Christopher Young, and this is 1980s TV drama-level stuff.

27/100