If There Be Thorns

The third entry in the Lifetime-aired adaptations of V.C. Andrews's Dollanganger saga (following Flowers in the Attic and Petals on the Wind), filmmaker Nancy Savoca's If There Be Thorns ratchets up the crazy as it continues the story of married brother and sister Cathy and Chris (Rachael Carpani, Jason Lewis), who live in incestuous sin along with Cathy's unwitting sons: teen ballet dance star Jory (Jedediah Goodacre) and withdrawn, bullied ‘tween Bart (Mason Cook). Understandably, the ancestral history has always been presented as pretty murky, so Bart is especially shocked when the mysterious older lady (Heather Graham, reprising her role from the first two films) who moves next door offers a wealth of torrid information, which is magnified by a sinister butler who gives the boy a family journal. Encouraged by the strangers, troubled Bart begins to challenge his parents' clandestine world of deceit, violently acting out, while a shocked Jory tries to keep everything together. Different from the novel (in order to fit into a TV movie running time), this so-horribly-acted-it's-fun installment in the guilty-pleasure gothic horror series is recommended. (J. Williams-Wood)