Flowers in the Attic
1987
(About Grandmother's house.) Narrator: Though it's been many years since I last saw it, I'll always remember that even my first impression was one of fear and wonder. My childhood was soon to be lost, my innocence shattered, and all our dreams destroyed by what we would find within.
(About his grandmother.) Chris: Look at you in your black dress. Your fancy jewels. Your pinched face. We're not afraid of you! We laugh at you! Do you hear that? We laugh!
Cathy: Do you need to use the bathroom? Chris: No. Cathy: Not even to brush your teeth? Chris: I don't feel like it tonight.
Grandmother: Your mother has come home after seventeen years to repent for her sins and for her crime. Not only against your grandfather and me, but against God! Your mother's marriage was unholy! A sacrilege! An abomination in the eyes of the Lord! She did not fall from Grace! She leapt! Into the arms of a man whose veins pulsed with the same blood as hers! Not a stranger, but her own uncle! And you, the children, are the devil's spawn! Evil from the moment of conception! Cathy: (shouts) I'm getting my mother! (gets up from the bed and runs to the door) Grandmother: (shouts) Come back here! (Cathy opens the door and sees John and screams and then returns to her bed) Grandmother: Sit down, be silent and don't move again until I leave.
Cathy: Why are you just standing there, Mother? Cory needs to be taken to a hospital there is no other decision to make (the mother just stands there looking and quivering) What's wrong with you mother, are you just going to sit there and think of yourself and your money while Cory lies there and dies? Have you forgotten that you're his mother? Mother: Always it's you. (slaps Cathy) Cathy: (slaps her mother back) (shouts) Damn you to hell if you don't take Cory to a hospital right now! You think you can do whatever you want and keep us locked up here and no-one will ever find out! If Cory dies, Mamma, I will make you pay, one way or another I will find a way.
Cathy: Look at us, Mother! Do we look like you with your rosey cheeks and bright shiny eyes? Look at the twins, Mother! Cory has stomach cramps almost every day, and Carrie has little sores growing on her skin! Do you know or even care that the grandmother stopped feeding us for over a week? Mother: Stop it! You have no right to talk to me like that! Do you think I've had pleasure while my children have been in pain? You are cruel. When you're ready to treat me with love, I'll be back...
Cathy: Why didn't you ever take us to see the grandparents before? Mother: I suppose because we were never penniless before... many years ago I did something that angered your grandfather, and his punishment was to disinherit me. Chris: So, why are we going back there if he won't give us any money? Mother: Because he will. Your grandfather is dying. He's not expected to live much longer, and in that time, I'm going to win back his love... and then, darlings, I'll be an heiress to a fortune beyond your imaginations. And through me, all your wildest dreams will come true.
Grandmother: No child in this house will shout or scream or show defiance! Do you hear me? Do you? Now, remove your blouse, daughter. And show them how punishment is given in this house. Mother: If you're cruel to my children, I'll take them away tonight. Grandmother: Take them, Corrin! Take them now. Do you think I care? (laughs as Corrin cries) Take off the blouse, Corrin. Take it off! (Corrin takes off her blouse) Look closely, children. 17 lashes. One for each year she lived in sin with your father. So you hear me now, I will give you food and shelter, but never kindness or love. For it is impossible to feel anything but disgust for something that is unwholesome.
Mother: (after poisoning her son and telling the children of the death) Corey had pneumonia. The doctors did all they could. There won't be a funeral, he's already been buried. (leaves silently)