“V.C. Andrews’” Dawn, on Lifetime

V.C. Andrews never gets mentioned as an example of “Southern writers,” but she certainly was one. You know her Southern gothic tales of incest would have amused Tennessee Williams (but he surely would have found them trashy, just the same). She wouldn’t have recognized much in her latest Lifetime miniseries, because it was the first posthumous series entirely written by the estate’s mostly-transparent ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman, but the themes and style are highly Andrewsian. Get ready for some sibling awkwardness when V.C. Andrews’ Dawn premieres tonight on Lifetime.

Dawn Longchamp’s family moves so much, you would almost think her father is a wanted man. Well, as a matter of fact… Ormand Longchamp risked returning to Richmond, because as an elite prep school’s new handyman, his children, Dawn and her emotionally supportive (perhaps to an unusual extent) brother Jimmy could attend for free. Unfortunately, Dawn makes an enemy of the school’s queen bee, Clara Jean Cutler, when she outshines the mean girl’s singing talents.

Sadly, tragedy soon strikes the Longchamp family twice, when her mom dies and her father is arrested in the hospital. It turns out he was wanted for kidnapping Dawn from the well-heeled Cutler family. She was known as Eugenia Cutler then. Not surprisingly, Clara Jean is less than thrilled to suddenly have her as a sister. Her new “parents” try to make nice, but they are mostly useless. The real power in the Cutler family is her new grandmother, Lillian Cutler, whose abusive behavior rivals that of Cinderella’s wicked step-mother. It is also super creepy to be around her new brother Philip, the school cad, who was trying to put the moves on her before they knew they were related. On the plus side, Jimmy Longchamp is now fair game.

Seriously, what were you expecting? The good news is Brec Bassinger (Arrowverse’s Stargirl) is probably the best of Lifetime’s recent V.C. Andrews heroines. She brings a sympathetic presence to the first two feature-length installments (“Dawn” and “Secrets of the Morning”) provided for review. On the other hand, Linda-Lisa Hayter’s helming is disappointingly pedestrian. In fact, “Secrets of the Morning,” which focuses on Dawn now-Cutler’s studies in New York, largely feels like an old-fashioned coed drama, losing its Southern gothic flavor until the final twenty minutes.

Flowers in the Attic: The Origin, on Lifetime

V.C. Andrews has released far more books after her death than while she was alive. A lot of writers have had their franchises live on through ghostwriters, but in her case, the ratio of posthumous to living is not even close. That is why Garden of Shadows, the prequel to Flowers in the Attic is kind of “special.” It released in 1987, relatively soon after her 1986 death, so fans hoped Andrews herself had some direct involvement with it. In any event, it was a return to her most popular series, explaining where her beloved and despised characters came from. Of course, the Foxworth/Dollanger clan came from their own biological family members, as any V.C. Andrews fan knows. Things are as gothic and incestuous as ever in the four feature-length episodes of Flowers in the Attic: The Origin, which premieres tomorrow on Lifetime.

Olivia Winfield will eventually become the mean grandmother Louise Fletcher played in the 1987 Flowers in the Attic movie everybody hates, especially fans. As the mini-series opens, Winfield is her father’s quirky, independent daughter and also his shrewd business partner. However, Malcolm Foxworth quickly sweeps her off her feet and whisks her away to his Southern Gothic mansion. Unfortunately, as soon as they are married, he reveals his true violent, domineering colors. He also seems to have weird issues regarding his beautiful late mother—naturally.

Foxworth the man is a heartless tyrant and Foxworth the Manor is an evil place. However, the untimely death of her father leaves Olivia stuck with both. As a result, she will do her best to protect her sons Mal Jr. and Joel, along with Corrine, the daughter Malcolm conceived when he attacked his late father’s much younger wife, Alicia, whom the Foxworths raise as their own. Of course, Corrine is the only one Malcolm Sr. cares about, a little too much.

And from there, things really start to get scandalous. In a way, you have to give Lifetime credit, because they have always leaned into what attracted fans to the books in the first place. (It is also frustrating to think Wes Craven might have directed the 1987 movie, but the faithfulness of his approach got him cut from the project.)  Regardless, Origin is over-stuffed with inappropriate relationships, thereby staying reasonably faithful to Garden of Shadows.

Arguably, Origin is not exactly horror, but it still counts as gothic. Foxworth Manor is nearly atmospheric as Collinwood and it is definitely less healthy. The miniseries is just as shamelessly melodramatic and emotionally overwrought as fans will expect, but it is somewhat less cheesy than some of Lifetime’s previous non-Dollanger V.C. Andrews adaptations, like My Sweet Audrina and Ruby, which often collapsed into self-parody. At least this time around directors Declan O’Dwyer and Robin Sheppard maintain some kind of control over the material.

“V.C. Andrews’” Ruby

How much is a name worth? In the case of gothic children-in-jeopardy novelist V.C. Andrews, the I.R.S. determined her name was worth $1.2 million. That came as quite a surprise to her estate, but they got their tax liabilities’ worth by releasing dozens of subsequent ghost-written novels under her million-dollar moniker. The Landry novels were amongst them. They were totally the work of Andrew Neiderman (previously known as the author of The Devil’s Advocate), whereas Andrews’ involvement was literally in name only. Fans never seemed to mind, so Lifetime has continued their Andrews program with Ruby, the first of four Landry TV movies, which premieres tomorrow on the network.

Within the first twelve minutes of Ruby, the sensitive title character learns Paul Tate, her high school love, is actually her secret brother and she has a well-heeled twin sister in New Orleans, who was whisked away by their tomcatting father to placate his barren and snobby wife. So yes, Ruby is totally on-brand. After the death of her beloved Grandmere, Landry’s drunken Grandpere tries to sell her chastity to an old bayou perv, so she runs off to NOLA to find the father she never knew.

Guilt-ridden Pierre Dumas is thrilled to welcome her into the family, but Ruby’s new twin sister Giselle and “mother” Daphne are somewhat less than overjoyed. Frankly, they are both real pills. Nevertheless, Ruby Dumas will do her best to navigate her new life of family secrets, crazy relatives, and voodoo.

Admittedly, Ruby is only getting started with the Landry/Dumas saga, but we have already seen enough. The melodrama is cheesy and the performances verge on self-parody. Honestly, it is hard to imagine sitting through more. Maybe, we’ll try the final film too, Hidden Jewel, to cover the quartet high school style—just the beginning and the end—but no promises.

My Sweet Audrina: More V.C. Andrews on Lifetime

When it comes to the publishing industry, nobody has disillusioned as many readers as the V.C. Andrews estate. Take My Sweet Audrina. For years, it was known as one of her few stand-alones, but she will finally release a sequel this summer—almost thirty years after her death. Everyone understands it wasn’t spectral writing that generated her last sixty-some books. That’s how it goes when something works. Apparently, V.C. Andrews television movies have also been working for Lifetime. This time, they have adapted her number one bestseller, My Sweet Audrina (trailer here), which premieres on the network this Saturday.

Believe it or not, Audrina Adare has had a really messed up childhood. She is actually the second Audrina Adare. The first was her late older sister, who brutally raped and murdered in the woods outside the stately Adare manor, Whitefern. Audrina II was named after her, and groomed to take her place. Good luck with that baggage.

Still grieving Audrina I, Damien and Lucietta Adare tightly control Audrina II’s life, forbidding her to step outside by herself. She never attends school and boys, like the obviously interested caretaker’s son Arden Lowe are absolutely out of the question. Yet, somehow they are never around when Audrina II is bullied by her cousin Vera, who apparently thinks she is Audrina II’s step-sister, so she probably is, this being based on a V.C. Andrews novel. For some reason, Vera and her mother, Lucietta’s sister Elisabeth live with them in Whitefern. That Vera will be tough to get rid of, even after her mother takes a tumble down the grand staircase. Indeed, it will be quite a dangerous architectural feature of Whitefern.

Look, at least Audrina II and Lowe are not brother and sister—that’s not even a spoiler, per se. All things considered, the Adares are pretty healthy in comparison to other V.C. Andrews families. Audrina II will even start to grow up and assert herself before shocking and scandalous stuff starts happening again.

My Sweet Audrina is laughable in obvious ways, but it is still a fairly competent production. It is just impossible to take this luridly purple YA hothouse tale and transform it into the Magnificent Ambersons. Still, there are weird distracting elements, like the wealthy Damien Adare, who will decide to renovate Whitefern on a whim, but cannot afford a Bic razor. Also, Vera seems to have an enchantress’s powers of seduction, but it is lost on the screen.

On the other hand, India Eisley, whom probably nobody in the film’s target demographic will recognize from the anime live action remake Kite, is appropriately lovely and delicate as porcelain doll. Even if you are snarking at the film, you will sort of feel for her.

Veteran television director Mike Rohl never really pulls viewers into this macabrely cloistered setting and the look of the picture just screams made-for-TV. It is goofily over-heated, but that is probably how fans want it. Highly riffable, My Sweet Audrina airs this Saturday (1/9) on Lifetime, the V.C. Andrews network.