FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC (2014)

After the campy 1987 theatrical film ignored key elements of the cult-classic novel, Lifetime TV at least sticks closer to the source material.  After their father dies in a car crash, the four Dollanganger siblings are uprooted by their mother to live in her wealthy parents' estate, which she hasn't seen since her folks cut her off for marrying the kids' father years ago.  To get back into her dad's good graces (and his will) again, the mother (Heather Graham) - along with her mother (Ellen Burstyn) - spirit the children up to the attic rooms of the manor, where they must hide until their mother wins her father's love back.  But weeks turn into months and the children remain locked away, seeing little of their mother as they're forced to endure the verbal and physical abuse of their religious zealot grandmother.  Things get even weirder as secrets are revealed and the two eldest siblings - isolated from the outside world as puberty hits - develop more than familial affection for each other, helping to keep the film a gothic oddity that - while truer to the book - never feels believable. (rated TV-14)  **1/2

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC trailer