FilmRGothic Psychological Survival

Flowers in the Attic1987

Name: Flowers in the Attic
Genre: Gothic, Psychological, Survival
Released: 1987-11-20
Rating: 5.2

“Home sweet home is murder.”

Directed by Jeffrey Bloom

5.2

Crypt Score

Blended from 4 sources

IMDb 5.7Rotten Tomatoes 18%Metacritic 25TMDB 6.3

✍ Review

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Year

1987

Runtime

93 min

Box Office

Revenue (worldwide)

$15,151,736

Domestic

$15,151,736

🏆 1 win & 1 nomination

The premise

After the death of her husband, a mother takes her kids off to live with their grandparents in a huge, decrepit old mansion. However, the kids are kept hidden in a room just below the attic, visited only by their mother who becomes less and less concerned about them and their failing health, and more concerned about herself and the inheritence she plans to win back from her dying father.

Horror Vault's take

When their father dies suddenly, four siblings find themselves smuggled into a crumbling family estate and locked away from the world — supposedly just until their ailing grandfather changes his will. Days stretch into weeks as their mother's visits grow rarer and their grandmother's religious cruelty grows more suffocating. Trapped in a decaying room beneath the attic, the children must rely on each other as their situation grows increasingly desperate. This gothic chamber piece turns the family home into something far more sinister than any haunted house.

Content: Child Abuse And Neglect, Physical Cruelty, Psychological Torment Of Minors, Religious Extremism Used As Justification For Abuse