Flowers in the Attic: The Origin

The twists and turns and family secrets (and forbidden affairs) are (on paper) as campy as it comes, but what makes this miniseries work is that everything is played straight when a lesser adaptation of VC Andrews' gothic novel "Garden of Shadows" (now called Flowers in the Attic: The Origin for the TV version) might have played it tongue in cheek. The earnestness works and the series expands upon the book by filling in blanks and showing more of the characters' motivations than the novel did. While the acting is slightly uneven at times, the performances generally work, particularly for the characters of Olivia, Nella (a character created specifically for the series), and young Corrine (who bears a striking resemblance to Heather Graham but delivers a better performance than Heather did playing an older version of the same character in the adaptation of Flowers in the Attic several years ago). The writing is clever and the direction and editing are often extremely suspenseful and sometimes haunting and scary. If your mind is open to watching and going along for the ride of a true old-fashioned miniseries family saga within the genre of "The Thorn Birds" and other popular miniseries from the 80s, then you won't be disappointed. Flowers in the Attic: The Origin is the most well-produced, twisted, and fun adaptation of a VC Andrews novel to date.

Lifetime did their thang with Flowers in The Attic The Origin (Garden of Shadows). I have been a fan of VC Andrews since I was a young girl. I read Heaven in fourth grade probably shouldn't have been reading her novels at that age but this author introduced me to the world of reading and I've been hooked every since. I almost did cart wheels when I found out that Lifetime was doing films of all VC Andrews books, but sadly I was disappointed. The casteel series is my favorite series from VC Andrews and Lifetime butchered it! I don't think I even got through Heaven. I didn't bother to watch the rest of the series. One day I had the television on basically watching me while I was reading and Their version of Flowers in the Attic was playing and boy oh boy was it good!! I really enjoyed it almost better then the original. So I decided to watch the dollanger series.. petals in the wind was just bland nothing like the book. If there be thorns was awesome and they stuck to the book which was great. I haven't watched seeds of yesterday because I'm nervous it would be a waste of time because besides the casteels series, seeds of yesterday is my favorite book. It always makes me cry every time I read it and I know Lifetime is not going to be able to do seeds of yesterday justice. I will watch it in due time. Flowers in the Attic the Orgin I must say is the best lifetime adaptation of VC Andrews books. Lifetime must've put some money in this one. The settings, clothing, characters was all on point! Loving it!! The film adaption did add extra plots in the movie but they were actually entertaining and welcomed so I didn't mind. Thank you Lifetime for finally getting it right! Now can you please redo The Casteel series??? Seriously we owe Heaven more than what we were given.

I really really enjoyed this! I really hope they remake the 2014 Flowers In The Attic lifetime movie in the style of FITA:The Origin! All of my friends love it and have watched it and we all really want them to redo the original series! The writing in this is SOOO much better than the VC Andrews books and they fill so many plot holes. Absolutely 10/10.

This is best viewed after watching Lifetime's other productions of the Dollanganger series adaptations from the VC Andrews novels. Like the book itself (Garden of Shadows), the impact of Flowers in the Attic (Book or film) will be lessened if this is watched first. It is a story that is written in retrospect. With that said, this lifetime series is probably better constructed and more heavily funded than the Lifetime adaptations that come later in the timeline. It's competent, compelling, and well-scripted material, even as watered down with a PG rating. Hannah Dodd as young Corrine fits a spitting image of Lifetime's future Corrine as Heather Graham. Honestly, it comes down to this: The VC Andrews source material is fantasticly dark, but also very mature, and will probably never get the on-screen justice it deserves. This is the closest any studio has come to re-creating it on film. Until an MA or R rated version of all this material is made, and a network is willing to fund a complete season per novel, this is the best there is and it is pretty good all things considered. At this point, Lifetime is way ahead of the game on VCA adaptations, so might as well just keep sticking with this working formula.

Love that Lifetime did "The Origin" - I read this series years ago and it makes me want to reread them AND it brought me to start watching Lifetime movies which I am NOW hooked on, lol This movie series is done so well, it is dark and twisted with lots of drama. I find myself oddly understanding and feeling sorry for Grandmother - how is this happening. Haha A must watch for people who love drama, suspenseful dark films.