Seeds Of Yesterday
(2015 telefilm/Lionsgate DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound:
B Extras: D Telefilm: C-
Seeds
of Yesterday (2015) did not make me want to go and watch
the other three movies, Flowers
in the Attic
(also a theatrical film a few decades before; telefilm reviewed
elsewhere on this site), Petals
on the Wind, and If
There Be Thorns, that came before its release. This
is unfortunate because I am told that Seeds
of Yesterday, which is based off of the fourth installment
of the "Dollanganger Series", is the best of the movies,
but the worst of the books. The trouble I had with the movie was
right from the start it felt like it was setting up to be some sort
of slasher movie that never took off with tons of elements that we
have seen many times before.
All
the actors' ages seemed off and took me out of it at moments. I was
caught off guard when the well dressed man, Bart Foxworth (James
Maslow), came down the stairs and called our leading actress "mom".
I could buy them being older siblings, but these were the people
that raised him. When we first see Bart in the movie he is getting
dressed and seems to have particular taste, he then proceeds to check
every nook and cranny for dust, this was screaming, to me, this kid
might be a psycho, which oddly enough I'll touch on further down.
Chris
Sheffield (Jason Lewis) looks as if he is always in complete shock
and horror, or constipated. The one thing about this that I enjoyed
was when Bart mentioned that Chris and Cathy Sheffield (Rachael
Carpani) were siblings, as well as, married, because this explained
so much to me. Seeds of
Yesterday seems to have some weird theme of incest. Cindy
(Sammi Hanratty), who they play off as Bart's adopted sister,
suddenly becomes his love interest, which is also as creepy as Bart
and his mother Cathy.
The
TV movie overall felt like a Lifetime movie, but had some aspects
that we all know and love. Like, how it felt like Bart's weird
obsession with his mother very much so resembled that of Norman Bates
from, that's right, Psycho
or maybe even what I've seen from the series Bates
Motel. However, the movie makes it appear like we are
going to go for a wild ride, but the ride gets shut down and we have
to walk the abandoned tracks until the end. The Tone at the end
seemed to shift towards a comedy for a second with Bart's story, but
overall the movie left me unfulfilled.
As
for the disc specs the anamorphically enhanced widescreen (16x9,
1.78:1) was on par and the English lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio was
good as well.
There
were no extras on the disc unless you include the digital code to
watch this movie on the go.
Seeds
of Yesterday was not the worst thing ever made, but if
this was the best one of the four movies, I do not want to see the
other three. However, if you're a fan of the books and/or other
movies I would check this one out.
-
Jordan Whiteko
