When I read this circa 1979/80 I felt it outdated and may have mentally set it in the late 50s or 60s

Walking by the book display at my Stop & Shop at lunch today, and saw this. It looks like it was just published this year. V.C. Andrews still titillating and corrupting tweens and teens 30 years on! 

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(or have them climb down too, they are 6 or 8 not toddlers)

I don't think mine could have made it down three stories at that age, and certainly not Cory and Carrie who are so malnourished that their growth is stunted.  

But I'm still super pissy at Ms. Andrews over the last chapter.  Leaving them alone while C and C just went out to look at each other in another setting was such a stupid plot point.

I don't recall who the actress who plays Corrine is but I remember seeing the original movie thinking they did a terrible job casting.  She is an attractive woman, but not the OMG so stunning of Corrine.  Heather Graham fit the Corrine type much better, I thought.

And the grandmother in the original was too attractive, not nearly austere enough.

3 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I don't think mine could have made it down three stories at that age, and certainly not Cory and Carrie who are so malnourished that their growth is stunted.  

I have no idea, but you'd think that Chris being Mr Wizard and Wise Beyond His Years, could rig up some sort of harness so they could belay themselves down. Chris goes down first, Cathy straps them in, one at a time, then Cathy climbs down. Of course, they would then need to have an actual rope and some rings and a way to get up and down quickly. Or strap them to their backs somehow. Maybe there's a backpack somewhere in the giant attic of deus ex machinas. Just stuff 'em in. 

Otherwise, just have them not even try to leave. It's just a dumb plot point to have them leave to go swimming and then go back in without being caught. And it's kind of against human nature - they got out once, why not go out again? After a week of being inside, most people would forget about how hard it was to get back up, especially since she did make it all the way. 

3 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I don't recall who the actress who plays Corrine is but I remember seeing the original movie thinking they did a terrible job casting.  She is an attractive woman, but not the OMG so stunning of Corrine.  Heather Graham fit the Corrine type much better, I thought.

Heather Graham looks the part much more, and she can pull off the selfish & materialist & dumb & manipulative character really well. I don't think she's actually a terrible person, in real life, either. 

3 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

And the grandmother in the original was too attractive, not nearly austere enough.

They just look like 80s soap stars. It could be the staging. It's probably the staging. 

2 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

I have no idea, but you'd think that Chris being Mr Wizard and Wise Beyond His Years, could rig up some sort of harness so they could belay themselves down. Chris goes down first, Cathy straps them in, one at a time, then Cathy climbs down. Of course, they would then need to have an actual rope and some rings and a way to get up and down quickly. Or strap them to their backs somehow. Maybe there's a backpack somewhere in the giant attic of deus ex machinas. Just stuff 'em in. 

That's what I would do, and hope they'd freeze in fear until we hit the ground rather than freak out and fight the harness.

As much as I love young Carrie the truth screamer if it were me...I'd yell 'not it' fast when it came to who gets to carry her down.  Cory would be a much safer bet.

22 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

And the grandmother in the original was too attractive, not nearly austere enough.

Well, it looks like Louise Fletcher, (aka Nurse Ratched, Kai Winn, and various other villains) played the grandmother. I can see why she would get the role, given her background of playing nasty villains so well. 

22 hours ago, clueliss said:

When I read this circa 1979/80 I felt it outdated and may have mentally set it in the late 50s or 60s

I don't own a copy of the book, so I can't look it up, but I remember a line in the beginning of the book that sets it in the 50s or 60s. Something about how when Cathy was growing up in the 50s, life was always fun, easy, and terrific before Daddy died. Plus, the twins like to watch The Mickey Mouse Club and I Love Lucy when they get the tv set. Granted, those could easily be reruns, but it fits the era.

2 minutes ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

Well, it looks like Louise Fletcher, (aka Nurse Ratched, Kai Winn, and various other villains) played the grandmother. I can see why she would get the role, given her background of playing nasty villains so well. 

I don't own a copy of the book, so I can't look it up, but I remember a line in the beginning of the book that sets it in the 50s or 60s. Something about how when Cathy was growing up in the 50s, life was always fun, easy, and terrific before Daddy died. Plus, the twins like to watch The Mickey Mouse Club and I Love Lucy when they get the tv set. Granted, those could easily be reruns, but it fits the era.

It was definitely set in the 50's...they didn't specify a year that I recall but definitely was the 50s when they went into the attic.  

One reason I was sooo disappointing with the dress in the Lifetime movies.  I hate the color green but that chiffon velvet number that clung and floated around her has always stuck in my mind.  High glamour of a decade where women wore hats and white gloves to even go shopping.  

Another change that made no sense....and for me that particular dress was integral.  It was a dress you can see being so memorable Cathy could describe from memory years later.  The nice but unremarkable beige number Corrine wore in the movie wouldn't have been.

I found Louise Fletcher sufficiently terrifying. That was fifth grade me. We watched it at a slumber party. The group needed to turn it off. I was not happy about that. I had to go rent it later. (Around this time I had a buddy on my street who would watch horror movies with me and eat bags of candy. It was a good time. We made decisions based on the covers of the video box.)

18 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I don't think mine could have made it down three stories at that age, and certainly not Cory and Carrie who are so malnourished that their growth is stunted.  

But I'm still super pissy at Ms. Andrews over the last chapter.  Leaving them alone while C and C just went out to look at each other in another setting was such a stupid plot point.

I don't recall who the actress who plays Corrine is but I remember seeing the original movie thinking they did a terrible job casting.  She is an attractive woman, but not the OMG so stunning of Corrine.  Heather Graham fit the Corrine type much better, I thought.

And the grandmother in the original was too attractive, not nearly austere enough.

Victoria Tennant played Corrine in movie.I didn't like how they only hinted at the incest,not that I wanted it to be so graphic,like the Lifetime channel did.In the movie ,I didn't like how they wrapped everything up,no chance of a sequel..when Corrine gets hung up on her dress.

Also ,did you know it was VC Andrews dream to be in a movie or TV?She got her wish,She was the maid washing the windows.

Re: time period. At some point in either Flowers or Petals, it says that Cory died in 1960.