If There Be Thorns (2015 Lifetime)
Cast: Heather Graham, Rachael Carpani, Jason Lewis
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
While living together with their loving and happy new family, Christopher and Cathy’s past come to haunt them. Their mother, Corrine, moves in next door.
Thoughts
The movie starts with a parental advisory. Where is the grown-up advisory because VC Andrews has a twisted mind, and I’m afraid?
Cathy and Christopher are still married siblings, raising their kids (Jory and Bart Jr.), and having trouble paying the bills. Cathy still runs her ballet studio, but from her home. So that isn’t making any money. The boys sneak into a neighbor’s decaying house, and Bart falls on a nail getting tetanus. In the creepily watches his brother having sex in the attic AND his parents in their room. Bart is a perv.
Corinne is out of the mental institution and moves into the old mansion. She hires Bart and Jort to help restore the home. John Amos is her manservant and serves the boys tea and cookies. In a black vail, Corrine takes a photo of the boys.
Bart wonders who his birth father is and asks Cathy, but she evades the question. Corinne is more than willing to share family secrets with Bart. She manipulates his vision of the past. John Amos shares even more history on the family by way of a journal and letters. Bart learns that he is the product of multiple generations of incest.
In the middle of the night, Bart wanders into the woods, sick with a terrible infection. He is taken to the hospital possessed by a demon. (Really, he is rejecting antibiotics because he is allergic.) He recovers but is now in a wheelchair. Cathy cries and can’t understand why her son is so weak. They take him home and introduce him to a little girl they adopted named Cindy. Bart is more interested in reuniting with Corinne and getting more answers about his family’s past. Bart realizes he is living with sinners and becomes obsessed. Cathy and Christopher put him into therapy.
Jory finds the family dog murdered and then Bart in the shed practicing shooting bow and arrows. He accuses his brother of killing the god because Bart is acting pious to an extreme level. Bart blackmails Jory and tells him all he has learned about the family. Jory reads the love letters that Christopher and Cathy wrote in the attic. He begins seeing the cracks and goes to Corrine for answers. Jory also loses faith in his parents and tells him about Corrine living next door,
Bart stops calling his parents Mom and Dad. He screams at Christopher that he is the devil spawn and a fornicator. Bart attempts to drown Cindy because he will not lie with his sister. The family first lock Bart in the attic, realize the irony in that, and then take Bart to a mental institution. He has Schizophrenia and claims he is Malcolm. Bart claims he is better and is released.
At a dance recital, Cathy sees Corrine in the audience and falls off the stage. She breaks her leg and is taken care of by Jory’s grandmother, Marshia. (Who knows about the incest and threatens to tell everyone.)
Cathy finally realizes that Corrine is living next door and screams at her mother to move. Corrine admits to making terrible mistakes, and as she does, John Amos hits the women with fire pokers and wheels them into the barn. Bart assists him in his revenge plot against the sinner family. Then John Amos sets the barn on fire. Bart tries to stop the false prophet and shoots him with a bow and arrow. Then he runs to get Christopher and Jory to help.
Trapped in the burning barn, Cathy and Corrine apologize and make amends. Christopher pulls Cathy from the flames, but Corrine is left behind. Bart tries to save her, but John Amos stops him. Corrine and John Amos both burn alive. Bart covers his ears to drown out their screams.
Jory tells off his grandmother and defends his family. They’ve been through a lot, but at least they have one another? IDK. This whole thing is so messy AF. Christopher and Cathy eat apple pie and marvel over how wonderful their family is then they make out a bunch. The family isn’t as perfect as it seems because Bart still thinks he is Malcom.
Side Note
Minority Report: Therapist
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2015 Lifetime
