Flowers in the Attic Blu-ray - Victoria Tennant

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by Jeffrey Bloom

USA 1987

When her husband dies in a tragic accident, widow Corrine Dollanganger (Victoria Tennant, The Holcroft Covenant) takes her four children to the ancestral family home she fled before they were born. Locked away in the attic by their tyrannical grandmother (Academy Award® winner Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), it falls to older and sister brother Chris (Jeb Stuart Adams, The Goonies) and Cathy (Kristy Swanson, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) to care for their younger siblings. But with their mother growing increasingly distant and erratic and a mysterious sickness taking hold, will any of the Dollanganger children survive to escape the clutches of the house’s cruel matriarch?

Originally published in 1979, VC Andrews’ novel Flowers in the Attic was a smash hit, spawning four sequels and going on to sell over 40 million copies worldwide. With undercurrents of incest and child abuse and a haunting score by Christopher Young (Hellraiser), Flowers in the Attic is a dark and chilling Gothic suspense thriller in the classic tradition.

***

After a tragic accident leaves them fatherless, four children return to their mother’s mysterious family mansion hoping for an inheritance. But when they are imprisoned and abandoned by their evil grandmother, the children must survive a nightmare of brutal cruelty, forbidden passion and a final shocking discovery that will shatter their innocence forever. Kristy Swanson, Victoria Tennant, Jeb Stuart Adams and Academy Award® winner Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) star in this haunting suspense thriller based on the novel that launched the extraordinary career of V.C. Andrews and won her a devoted following of more than 85 million readers worldwide.

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 20th1987

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Comparison:

Anchor Bay Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Arrow Video - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Anchor Bay Entertainment Screen Caps!

(Anchor Bay Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Arrow Video - Region FREE - Blu-ray - RIGHT)

Box Covers		Image Entertainment (US) Blu-ray: The Arrow is being re-released in the September 2023:
Distribution	Anchor Bay Entertainment Region 1 - NTSC	Arrow Video Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:31:36	1:31:32.487
Video	1.80:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.54 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	Disc Size: 45,293,093,882 bytes Feature Size: 28,054,395,648 bytes Average Bitrate: 34.93 Mbps Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Bitrate: Arrow Video Blu-ray
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono	LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit Commentary: LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	None	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.80:1 Edition Details: � Theatrical Trailer (1:35) DVD Release Date: 24 April 2001 Amaray Chapters 27	Release Information: Studio: Arrow Disc Size: 45,293,093,882 bytes Feature Size: 28,054,395,648 bytes Average Bitrate: 34.93 Mbps Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • New audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author and editor-in-chief of Diabolique Magazine • Home Sweet Home: Filming Flowers in the Attic, a new interview with cinematographer Frank Byers (8:26) • Fear & Wonder: Designing Flowers in the Attic, a new interview with production designer John Muto (13:45) • The Devil’s Spawn: Playing Flowers in the Attic, a new interview with actor Jeb Stuart Adams (13:41) • Shattered Innocence: Composing Flowers in the Attic, a new interview with composer Christopher Young (9:33) • Production gallery of behind-the-scenes images, illustrations and storyboards (4:51) • The original, studio-vetoed ending (7:53) • Original theatrical trailer (1:37) • Two versions of the script: the unproduced Wes Craven draft, and the final shooting script, including original scenes and reshoots, as well as both endings (BD-ROM content) • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Haunt Love • FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Bryan Reesman Blu-ray Release Date: March 12th, 2018 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 13

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The Arrow have put Jeffrey Bloom's Flowers in the Attic to their, ever expanding, Blu-ray listing. The film suffers from its problematic 80's stock but does improve over the 2001 DVD with superior skin-tone representation (the pale-pink of the latter half), it is consistently thicker and shows more information on the left edge losing some on the right. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and probably can't look much better on digital. It's quite consistent in-motion.

For the audio, Arrow, use a linear PCM 2.0 channel (24-bit), Effects are modest considering the genre, but there is a lilting, subtle, score by Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Rounders, Species) that ends up being quite haunting throughout. Arrow add optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE - Blu-ray.

Arrow really stack the disc with supplements. Firstly we get a wonderful new audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author and editor-in-chief of Diabolique Magazine. She covers how the film subverts tradition, not tackling incest themes as well as book, Gothic/Poe references, Stephen King's American Gothic themes, Craven's script, the removed 'rape' scene and much more to appreciate this memorable horror. Home Sweet Home: Filming Flowers in the Attic, a new 8-minute interview with cinematographer Frank Byers on shooting the film. Fear & Wonder: Designing Flowers in the Attic is a new, 14-minute, interview with production designer John Muto. The Devil’s Spawn: Playing Flowers in the Attic is a new 14-minute interview with actor Jeb Stuart Adams. Shattered Innocence: Composing Flowers in the Attic spends 10-minutes with composer Christopher Young as he converses about the score he wrote. There is a production gallery of behind-the-scenes images, illustrations and storyboards, an interesting 8-minute original, studio-vetoed ending that is in a poor video-quality. There is an original theatrical trailer and on the BD disc, in the root are two PDF versions of the script: the unproduced Wes Craven draft, and the final shooting script, including original scenes and reshoots, as well as both endings. The package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Haunt Love and the first pressing gets an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Bryan Reesman.

I've always found this an odd but unforgettable - and unconventional - horror. It's very uncomfortable and the there are themes under the surface that are never fleshed-out - perhaps enhancing the discomfort. It's pretty creepy and Victoria Tennant is excellent. Personally speaking, the Ellinger commentary added so much to my appreciation of Flowers in the Attic. This is another complete Blu-ray by Arrow. A worthy entry into the genre and fans will delight at the extensive completeness of the package. Certainly recommended!

-Gary Tooze

DVD Menus
Anchor Bay Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC