HEAVEN’S ENDLESS MISERY — IT’S GREAT!
But during Halloween month, the closest thing to supernatural horror is ‘Casper’, writes Matthew Vice
For my first offering this month I have a real doozy for you, a marathon of Lifetime movies based on the books of VC Andrews. It took quite a lot of research to disentangle the shoddily written press release I received, the results of which I present to you much more clearly ... hopefully.
To call author VC Andrews prolific would be an understatement as she wrote more books than I’ve read in my life, though a fair chunk of them were unfinished works she left for ghost writers to finish after her death in 1986.
Of this interminable list, it’s the Casteel saga we’re concerned with, a generationspanning Gothic family saga with some dark elements such as psycho stepmoms and gropey stepdads. Most of the novels, and the movies based on them, tell the story of a girl named Heaven living in poverty in an armpit of a town called Winnerow in West Virginia. Her mother died giving birth to her and she’s sold into slavery in her early teen years by her bum father, ending up with abusive, exploitative foster parents.
Her life just gets worse from there, even though she manages to escape their clutches, get educated, get married, get a decent job and have a kid. The narrative switches to her daughter for the penultimate chapter, and the final chapter is a prequel focusing on Heaven’s mother.
I’ve never read the books and don’t intend to, but it was amusing to read through the Cliff’s Notes on the series, lifting an eyebrow in disbelief at the things that happen to the characters. I can only conclude their two-bit town must be cursed.
HAPPILY MARRIED
If that sounds like a spectacle you’d like to see you can catch all of these movies on Lifetime (channel 131) this month. The first is tonight at 7.20pm, Heaven, the beginning of the girl’s story as she’s dumped with the psycho foster folks. The next, Dark Angel, is on Sunday October 13 at 7.20pm, in which Heaven escapes to her estranged but wealthy grandparents where things will surely go better for her, right? The next chapter, Fallen Hearts, is on Sunday October 20, also at 7.20pm, where Heaven is happily married and pregnant — apart from hoping that her baby turns out to belong to her husband.
Oh dear. The last two chapters are on the same weekend. On Saturday October 26, at the usual time, is Gates of Paradise, the chapter in which the narrative switches to Heaven’s daughter Annie. The final chapter, Web of Dreams, on Sunday October 27, usual time, is the prequel focusing on Heaven’s mother Leigh VanVoreen, using the tried-and-trusted diary-reading framing device as Annie finds her grandmother’s hidden journal.
In the first three movies the role of Heaven is played by Annalise Basso. In the fourth film, a much older Heaven is played (briefly) by Johannah Newmarch and her daughter Annie is played by Lizzie Boys. In the final prequel film the role of Heaven’s mother Leigh is played by Jennifer Laporte.
It seems the overwhelming response of IMDB reviewers was pretty hostile — mind you, most of them were fans of the book. The minority of good reviews generally expressed no deep love for the source material, so I guess it just depends on where your expectations are.
NOBODY CARES ANY MORE
I looked for something related to Halloween, given that we’re in the month of terror now, but as I expected, no one seems to care any more. The closest thing to a supernatural horror is Casper (Tuesday October 29, 6pm, Studio Universal, channel 112), a decent adaptation of the beloved friendly ghost character from Harvey Comics. It also stars Christina Ricci, so it might be hard to tell two giant, pale craniums on screen apart.
There are some other horror-ish movies, but most of them are of the sci-fi variety, not supernatural and spooky, so what’s the point?
SPIELBERG
On the Discovery Channel (121) is a six-part documentary series by Steven Spielberg and Alex Gibney called Why We Hate, starting on Sunday October 13 at 10pm, with a new episode every following Sunday. It explores the concept of hatred from every conceivable angle, contemporary, historical, biological, theological ... you name it.
The aim is to find out why we hate and whether we can change our behaviour. The trailer paints a pretty grim picture, with footage of angry protesters decking each other, horrific archival footage of massacre grave sites and, of course, Hitler flailing his hand during his impassioned rants. I’d be willing to give Discovery Channel the benefit of the doubt for this one.