6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
After the death of her husband, a mother takes her children to live with their grandparents in a remote mansion. However, the children are kept locked in a room just below the attic, visited only by their stern grandmother and their mother, who becomes less and less concerned about them and their failing health, and more concerned about herself and the inheritance she plans to win back from her dying father.
Starring: Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson, Jeb Stuart Adams, Ben Ryan GangerMystery | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Novelist V.C. Andrews retained script approval rights over the screen adaptation of her first novel, Flowers in the Attic, published in 1979, but she did not live to see the finished film, which was released in 1987 and bears a dedication to her memory. The production was notoriously troubled. Part of the reason for the book's success was its controversial subject matter, which involved open incest between siblings and caused the book to be banned from several school libraries. A successful film would have to downplay the novel's more controversial elements, which is probably why the producers themselves rejected the script penned by Wes Craven, fresh off the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Andrews herself eventually blessed a screenplay by Jeffrey Bloom, whose most notable credit up to that point was the 1980 horror film Blood Beach. Bloom directed his script, only to walk off the picture after the completion of principal photography when the producers insisted on changing the ending. The result, edited and completed without the director's participation, was savaged by both critics and loyal fans of the novel, but it sold enough tickets to recoup its costs, primarily because the producers had refused to spend any money hiring known actors, except for Oscar winner Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). Flowers in the Attic has since been remade as a Lifetime TV movie in a version that hews more closely to the novel, but the original film retains a weird fascination because of the way Bloom's script tiptoes up to the edge of the story's riskier sexual themes but never quite plunges in. The effect, whether or not it was intentional, is to give the sexual undercurrent even greater emphasis. You're constantly being reminded of what the film is working so hard to avoid.
Two cinematographers are credited for Flowers in the Attic, Frank Byers (Twin Peaks) and Gil Hubbs (Enter the Dragon). The film's limited budget is reflected in its sets and locations, but the lighting is professional and was obviously intended to create a dreamy, otherworldly effect with a gauzy texture. The source material used by Image Entertainment for its 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is in adequate shape, with some minor speckling and an occasional splotch or streak that lasts for usually no more than a frame. The image will probably underwhelm those Blu-ray afficionados who expect every disc to feature a razor-sharp picture, regardless of how the film was shot, but the soft, somewhat grainy appearance is true to the source material and could not look substantially better without the kind of digital manipulation that would transform film into wax-like video. There is substantial picture detail to be seen within the grain field when the image is moving. The major criticism of the image is the blacks, which aren't always true black but sometimes shade into dark gray, a phenomenon most readily observed in Grandmother's daytime attire, which is always funereal. As for the rest of the color palette, most scenes tend toward light, pastel or just plain faded tones, in keeping with the ethereal sense that the film attempts to sustain. Only in the world of the grandparents does the image occasionally display darker, more severe shades. With no extras, Image has supplied the 92-minute film at a relatively high average bitrate of 28.95 Mbps, which is essential for an image with such a heavy grain pattern. Compression errors are not an issue.
The film's original mono soundtrack is presented in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, with identical left and right channels. For a mono track, it's remarkably robust, with good dynamic range that allows the somewhat melodramatic score by Christopher Young (Drag Me to Hell, Hellraiser) plenty of room for expression. The often overripe dialogue is always clear, as are the sound effects, many of which have the artificial quality of post-production dubbing. But that isn't the Blu-ray's fault. As an aside, Young was the producers' choice. The director wanted David Shire (All the President's Men and Zodiac, among many others).
The disc contains no extras. The DVD released by Anchor Bay in 2001 contained a trailer, but Image's 2011 DVD was similarly bare.
Flowers in the Attic isn't a particularly good movie, but it's an intriguing relic: an interesting, if unsuccessful, attempt to meld horror tropes with gothic atmosphere in an age, not that long ago, where some subjects still made film producers nervous. The Blu-ray is featureless, but the film looks about as good as it probably ever will. Buyer's choice.
Limited Edition Rerelease
1963
1962
2018
La Maldición de la Llorona
1963
1961
2018
Extended Director's Cut
2018
2017
1995
1960
1965
Collector's Edition
1963
Reazione a catena
1971
1959
Dynasty of Fear / Honeymoon of ... Fear
1972
1987
2018
Eliza Graves
2014
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1972
Collector's Edition
1962