Review: Seeds of Yesterday

Mostly focussing on the now adult Bart Jr. (James Maslow) as he invites his family to the newly restored Foxworth Hall, restored from money he has inherited from his grandmother. So along come Cathy (Rachael Carpani) and Chris (Jason Lewis), as well as successful dancer Jory and his pregnant wife Melodie (Leah Gibson), as well as trashy young adopted Cindy (Sammi Hanratty). Bart Jr., is still a bible-thumping loon, and seriously unhappy to find out that the family jewels so to speak will be overseen by Chris until Bart Jr. turns 35. Things get progressively worse from there, as Bart Jr. takes the bad news terribly badly- and takes it out on those around him. Meanwhile, Cindy seems to have a thing for her adopted brother Bart Jr., or is she just messing with him for the hell of it?

 

Directed by Shawn Ku (“Beautiful Boy”) and scripted by Darren Stein (writer-director of the 1999 “Heathers” rip-off “Jawbreaker”), this 2014 TV movie appears to be the last of the current Virgina/V.C. Andrews adaptations about the inbred Dollanganger family (There’s apparently a prequel, but I have no idea whether they’ll ever adapt it). Not one of these films has been remotely worth watching, and that’s certainly true of this one.

 

The story is a bit more interesting this time around, but it’s not well-told at all. Bart, for instance (played by Wil Wheaton-lookalike James Maslow) has been overplayed. It’s obvious before this film even begins where he’s headed due to how he was portrayed in the previous film, and this film may as well have given him a twirly moustache. The crazy thing is that he’s one of the least amoral people in the whole damn series. Even when he finds himself having lustful feelings towards someone he feels he shouldn’t, all I could think was, well she’s not his actual sister so that’s considerably less fucked up than most of the rest of his family. And yet, at times he was indeed painted as twisted and evil. The character of Bart is itself poorly and inconsistently written, where at times he basically comes off as Damien Thorn, which is just too over-the-top to be credible, especially when you consider how the film ends. I’ve come across schizophrenics with more consistent behaviour than this guy.

 

The film is also sloppily and choppily done, with Jory’s wife sleeping with Bart way too suddenly and quickly to be remotely credible. I have no doubt that this played out much more smoothly in the novel. Speaking of Jory’s wife, special mention must go to actress Leah Gibson for delivering one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen. Also, look for the big dance routine, which is the funniest I’ve seen since “Stayin’ Alive”. Meanwhile, as a paraplegic myself, I can honestly tell you that Jory wheeling himself into the swimming pool to try and drown himself is gut-bustingly funny stuff. You just wouldn’t do it like that, dude. Just…no.

 

I’m sure this series of TV movies has its fans, just as the books have, but I bet it’s a much smaller fan base than the books. They’ve all been pretty lousy and poorly acted, and this one continues the trend. Only recommended to the most devout of followers of this series.

 

Rating: D+