[8]

This film version of V.C. Andrews’ popular novel is considerably toned down, but it’s still a wonderfully creepy and sadistic melodrama. A widower takes her four children to live with their grandmother, who views them all as vile sinners. The wicked old woman (played by Nurse Ratched herself, Louise Fletcher) religiously brainwashes the mother and locks the children in a single room, where they are tortured, poisoned, and left to die. I’ve always loved movies where children are forced to defend themselves, and Flowers in the Attic is one of the best — these kids not only rescue themselves, they get revenge. The acting isn’t the best, but the locations are evocative and Christopher Young’s brooding score is a masterpiece of melancholy. I rarely say this, but this is one movie that could stand to be remade. With Kristy Swanson.