If There Be Thorns | |
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Genre | Drama Romance Thriller |
Based on | If There Be Thorns by V. C. Andrews |
Screenplay by | Andy Cochran |
Directed by | Nancy Savoca |
Starring |
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Theme music composer | Douglas Pipes |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers | Dan Angel Lisa Hamilton Daly Charles W. Fries Tanya Lopez Jane Startz Rob Sharenow |
Producers | Richard D. Arredondo Harvey Kahn |
Cinematography | James Liston |
Editor | Mark Shearer |
Running time | 100 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | Lifetime |
Release | April 5, 2015 |
Related | |
If There Be Thorns is a 2015 television film based on the best-selling 1981 novel of the same name. It premiered on April 5, 2015 and was produced by Lifetime. [1] [2] Seeds of Yesterday is the sequel film based on the novel of the same name.
This film's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.(April 2017) |
Six years after the end of Petals on the Wind, Cathy and Chris are happily married and living in California with Cathy's sons, Jory and Bart. Bart feels lonely and outshone by his older brother whom his parents seemingly favour. One day, a woman entirely dressed in black moves into the mansion next door and invites Bart and Jory over for tea and cookies. During this, she explains to them that she is rich but has no family except for her butler, John Amos. She takes a picture of them for a keepsake, and asks them to visit her often. Jory declines, but Bart agrees after she promises to give him anything he wishes for. Bart is curious as to why he has no other relatives, both he and Jory being aware that Chris is merely their step-father. Jory tells him that their maternal grandmother is in a mental hospital and that all of Chris's relatives are deceased. The woman lavishes treats and gifts on Bart, including a pet python, and eventually tells him that she is in fact his grandmother, Corrine. John Amos gives Bart a journal that belonged to his great-grandfather, Malcolm, and makes him promise never to reveal it to his family. Bart reads Malcolm's fanatical entries and writings, referring to beautiful women as sinful and degrading, which begins to leave a deep impression on him.
One night, Cathy places three beds in the house attic, which worries Chris about her behaving similarly to their mother. However, Cathy insists that she is only creating a back-up plan in case her and Chris's incestuous secret is ever exposed and they face the possibility of losing the children. She pleads with Chris to adopt Cindy, one of her ballet students, whose mother has died from cancer, and he agrees in order to calm her down about losing their family. Bart soon goes missing and the family discover him unconscious in the woods due to an infected cut on his arm, leading him to be hospitalized. Bart starts to suspect that his parents are keeping secrets from him, and he confronts Corrine over a painting of a boy who resembles Chris since he believed she had never met him. Corrine confesses that Cathy and Chris are both actually her children, leaving him horrified at his parents' incestuous relationship.
Bart starts to withdraw and lash out at his family, greatly worrying them. Bart begins to pressure Corrine to tell him about his biological father, about whom he knows nothing. John Amos continues to influence Bart regarding the sins and hypocrisy of the family, further straining his relationship with his parents and brother. Jory soon finds the family dog killed, and begins to believe Corrine responsible for the change in Bart. He tries to convince Bart to stay away from her, but Bart blackmails him into staying quiet and calls him weak for feeling emotion. Feeling pressured by Bart, Corrine admits that his biological father is her late second husband whom Cathy seduced to get back at her. Corrine then reveals how she wants Bart to become the child that she never got to have with his father, vengefully wishing to steal him away from her daughter.
Having become resentful towards Cindy since her adoption into the family, Bart attempts to drown her in the kiddie pool when she calls Cathy "mommy". However, he is stopped by Jory. As punishment, Chris locks him in the attic. Bart then begins to shout that they are "the devil's spawn" and that Chris is "fornicating with his sister". Realizing that he knows about their secret, Cathy and Chris desperately wonder how he could have found out. Bart is placed in a mental hospital and claims that it was Malcolm who tried to drown Cindy, leading doctors to suspect that he suffers from a mild case of schizophrenia. Jory goes to confront Corrine, who tells him that Cathy and Chris are siblings, which horrifies him. Jory then tells Chris that Corrine is living next door, and Chris goes to confront her. Corrine begs for Chris to forgive her and let her be part of her grandsons' lives, but what she wants most of all is to raise Bart as her own son. Chris rejects her and demands that she stay away from his family and children.
At Cindy's dance recital, Cathy sees Corrine in the audience and falls off the stage in shock, injuring her leg so severely that she is no longer able to dance. Jory's paternal grandmother, Marisha, comes for a visit upon hearing about Cathy's accident. However, she has learned about Chris and Cathy's true relationship and threatens to turn them in to the police for incest, wishing to take Jory into her own custody. Cathy is put on edge and argues with her, but Marisha insists that Jory's current living situation is unhealthy for him and points out how "nuts" Bart is. Bart, overhearing this, storms out of the house with Cathy chasing after him. He runs to John Amos, who tells him that if he cannot deal with the sins and hypocrisy of his family, then he should not be with Corrine either. John Amos tells him that she is a sinner just like his parents, due to her committing incest with her half-uncle, who was Cathy and Chris's father. Cathy goes to Corrine's mansion to find Bart, and finds a portrait of her siblings and herself. She confronts Corrine about involving herself in her children's lives and orders her to leave her family alone. Corrine pleads for forgiveness, but Cathy rejects her and blames her for ruining the life she and Chris worked so hard to build and maintain. Corrine asks Cathy if she truly does love Chris, which Cathy confirms and for which she blames Corrine.
During this, John Amos comes into the room, knocks both women out and forces Bart to lock them in the barn. Corrine wakes up, at which John Amos reveals his disgust over the family for their incestuous bloodline and his plan to burn them alive and finally end the "family's cycle of abomination". Bart, however, intervenes to save his family and soon runs off to get Chris. John Amos sets the barn on fire just as Chris and Bart arrive to rescue Cathy and Corrine. Believing that they are about to die, Corrine professes her love for her children, and Cathy embraces her, confirming her forgiveness. Chris rescues Cathy as Bart tries to save Corrine, but John Amos attempts to attack him. Corrine manages to stab him with an arrow which gives Bart enough time to escape, but she is unable to do likewise and burns to death alongside Amos. Realizing how much he loves his parents despite their history, Jory decides to remain with them and threatens his grandmother Marisha that he will never forgive her if she reports Cathy and Chris.
Afterwards, Bart calms down and even begins to form somewhat of a good relationship with adopted sister Cindy. Jory and Melodie make up their strained relationship and everything appears to be returning to normal again. However, Bart begins secretly dressing like Malcolm and still has his journal, hinting that he has not recovered from his madness.
Like the book, the film is followed by Seeds of Yesterday .
Cleo Virginia Andrews, better known as V. C. Andrews or Virginia C. Andrews, was an American novelist. She was best known for her 1979 novel Flowers in the Attic, which inspired two movie adaptations and four sequels. While her novels are not classified by her publisher as Young Adult, their young protagonists have made them popular among teenagers for decades. After her death in 1986, a ghostwriter who was initially hired to complete two unfinished works has continued to publish books under her name.
Flowers in the Attic is a 1979 Gothic novel by V. C. Andrews. It is the first book in the Dollanganger series, and was followed by Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, Garden of Shadows, Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth, Christopher's Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger, and Christopher's Diary: Secret Brother. The novel is written in the first person, from the point of view of Cathy Dollanganger. It was twice adapted into films in 1987 and 2014. The book was extremely popular, selling over 4.5 million copies world wide.
Liam Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sonny Bottomley for two months in 1998 and 1999, twins Jack and Tom Godolphin from 1999, Gavin and Mitchell Vaughan in 2002, and Nathaniel Gleed from 2002 to 2004. Upon his reintroduction in 2008, the character was portrayed by James Forde. Liam is the son of Bianca Jackson and Ricky Butcher and his stories have mostly revolved around his family. The character took a six-month break in 2012 for story purposes. Following his return, producers used Liam in a story about gangs, working with the charity Comic Relief. Forde was written out permanently in 2015 and Liam departs in the episode first broadcast on 17 August 2015. Liam was reintroduced for a short stint in 2021, with the role recast to Alfie Deegan.
Malcolm Kennedy is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera Neighbours, played by Benjamin McNair. Shortly after he was cast, McNair relocated to Melbourne to be closer to the studio. He admitted that it was a shock leaving his family and friends in Sydney. The older members of the cast eventually helped him feel more comfortable. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 3 October 1994, as he arrives on Ramsay Street with his parents and siblings. An early storyline for Malcolm was a romance with Danni Stark, to whom he lost his virginity. Other storylines explored a friendship with Stonefish Rebecchi, a career as a handyman and later, coffee chain salesman, and marriage to Catherine O'Brien. The character's departure aired on 11 March 1997. McNair made two brief returns in 2002 and 2004, and a year later he reprised his role for the show's 20th anniversary. In July 2011, Malcolm returns to help his parents with their marriage and has a brief affair with Jade Mitchell. McNair returned to Neighbours in October 2014 for the 20th anniversary of the Kennedys' introduction. He also reprised his role in July 2022 for the show's final episodes and again in 2023.
Marco Alessi is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Felice Arena. He made his first screen appearance as Marco during the episode broadcast on 5 May 1992. Marco was the first character introduced from the show's new Alessi family. He joined cousins and established characters Caroline Alessi and Christina Robinson in Ramsay Street. His parents Benito and Cathy Alessi with sibling Rick Alessi soon followed. Arena was happy to portray an Italian character because it resembled himself - noting that characters of a different ethnicity were rare on the show.
Petals on the Wind is a novel written by V. C. Andrews in 1980. It is the second book in the Dollanganger series. The timeline takes place from the siblings' successful escape in November 1960 to the fall of 1975. The book, like the others in the series, was a number one best-seller in North America in the early 1980s. In 2014, it was adapted into a Lifetime original movie.
If There Be Thorns is a novel by Virginia C. Andrews which was published in 1981. It is the third book in the Dollanganger series. The story takes place in the year 1982. A Lifetime movie of the same name premiered on April 5, 2015.
Seeds of Yesterday is a novel written by V. C. Andrews. It is the fourth book in the Dollanganger Series. The story continues from the point of view of the protagonist, Cathy, following her from the age of 52 until her death a few years later. Cathy was born in April 1945, meaning the events in the book occur between 1997–2001, which was thirteen years into the future at the time the book was originally published in 1984. The film adaptation aired April 12, 2015 on Lifetime.
Garden of Shadows, a novel by V. C. Andrews, was first published in 1987. V. C. Andrews died in 1986, and her estate commissioned ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman to continue writing novels under her name developed from plot outlines originally written by Andrews. There is some dispute over whether this particular novel was written in part by Andrews before she died, or whether it was written entirely by Neiderman. This is the fifth novel of the Dollanganger series. The novel explains the origin of Olivia Winfield, the events that cause her to become the cold, domineering mistress of Foxworth Hall, and Corinne's childhood and eventual betrayal. It is the fifth novel of the Flowers in the Attic series but considered the prequel, as the story told takes place prior to the events of the first book. The story covers the years between 1918 and 1957.
Flowers in the Attic is a 1987 American psychological drama film directed by Jeffrey Bloom and starring Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson, and Jeb Stuart Adams. Its plot follows four youngsters who, after the death of their father, are held captive in the attic of their abusive grandmother's sprawling estate by their cruel and manipulative mother. It is based on V. C. Andrews' 1979 novel of the same name.
The Edge is a 2002 young adult novel written by Alan Gibbons. The book tells the story of Danny Mangam, a teenage boy living in an abusive home. After Danny and his mother escape her abusive boyfriend, he also confronts a number of problems caused by his mixed ancestry. The novel was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and won the Angus Book Award in 2004.
The Big C is an American television dramedy series which premiered on August 16, 2010, on Showtime. It drew the largest audience for a Showtime original series premiere. Season 2 premiered on June 27, 2011. Season 3 premiered on April 8, 2012. On July 31, 2012, The Big C was renewed for a fourth and final season, named "Hereafter", which premiered on Monday, April 29, 2013, and concluded on May 20, 2013.
Bart McQueen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Jonny Clarke. He first appeared onscreen at his stepmother's funeral in August 2010, introduced by producer Paul Marquess as a member of the McQueen family. During his time on the show, Bart had been involved in: relationships with Jason Costello and Sinead O'Connor, being stabbed during the third series of Hollyoaks Later, his involvement in Esther Bloom's bullying storyline, causing the bus crash featuring in the notable Enjoy the Ride storyline, and falling off the rails with a growing cannabis habit.
Flowers in the Attic is a 2014 Lifetime movie directed by Deborah Chow, starring Kiernan Shipka, Ellen Burstyn, Mason Dye, and Heather Graham. It is the second adaptation of V. C. Andrews’ 1979 novel of the same name.
Petals on the Wind is a 2014 Lifetime movie sequel to the 2014 adaptation Flowers in the Attic, starring Heather Graham, Rose McIver, Wyatt Nash, Bailey Buntain and Ellen Burstyn. It is based on V. C. Andrews' 1980 novel of the same name, the second novel on the Dollanganger series. The film follows the surviving Dollanganger children—Cathy, Chris and Carrie—ten years after escaping the attic. Despite attempting to move on with their lives, after multiple failed attempts and tragedies occur, Cathy decides it is time to take revenge on her mother.
Seeds of Yesterday is a television film released on April 12, 2015 produced by Lifetime based on the 1984 novel of the same name.
Christopher's Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger is a 2015 gothic fiction novel by V.C. Andrews based on her Dollanganger series. It is the second installment of a set of novels that are spin-offs to the Dollanganger Saga. It is a sequel to Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth.
Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth is a 2014 American Gothic novel based on the writings of V.C. Andrews' Dollanganger saga. It is a spin-off to the Dollanganger saga and records the events of the first book Flowers in the Attic from the perspective of Christopher Dollanganger in details that were not mentioned in the first book.