Netflix's Disturbing Mystery Thriller Based On 8-Part Book Series Is An Instant Streaming Hit - MCE Notices | California State Portal

Netflix has a new hit on its hands with a mystery thriller based on a popular eight-part book series.

As one of the biggest streaming services, Netflix has a wide variety of original content for the public to enjoy. From movies like KPop Demon Hunters and War Machine, to TV shows like Stranger Things and Wednesday, the platform continues to deliver pop culturally resonant entertainment viewed by millions around the world. However, Netflix isn’t only delivering originals to its subscribers.

The streaming service also still licenses out movies and TV shows from other sources. Oftentimes, such projects are among the most viewed options on Netflix, as one would see when looking at the Netflix Top 10 charts. That’s now the case for the aforementioned mystery thriller, as it’s quickly become a streaming hit after being released over a decade ago.

Flowers in the Attic, the TV film adaptation of the same-named 1979 novel by V.C. Andrews, currently ranks in second place on Netflix’s Top 10 Movies. Although there are no specific viewership numbers to study, the movie only trails behind the new true-crime documentary Maternal Instinct. This streaming achievement comes 12 years after Flowers in the Attic premiered on the basic cable channel Lifetime.

Like its source material, the TV film version of Flowers in the Attic takes place in 1957 and follows the Dollanganger family, comprised of mother Corrine and her four children, moving into Corrine’s wealthy parents’ house after her husband, Christopher, dies in a car accident and leaves them in debt. Corrine hopes to reconcile with her parents after she was disinherited for marrying Christopher, and in order to fulfill her cruel mother’s demands, she allows her children to be locked away in the estate’s basement.

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Lifetime’s version of Flowers in the Attic starred Heather Graham as Corrine, Ellen Burstyn as Olivia Foxworth, Kiernan Shipka as Cathy Dollanganger, and Mason Dye as Christopher Dollanganger, among others. It’s the second time that Andrews’ novel has been adapted into a movie. The first time was the 1987 theatrical release starring Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson, and Jeb Stuart Adams.

Although Lifetime’s version was met with mixed critical reception, it was considered an improvement over its cinematic predecessor. Burstyn in particular earned accolades for her performance, including Primetime Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Lifetime also adapted the next four books in Andrews’ main Dollanganger series. Petals on the Wind arrived in May 2014, both If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday following in 2015, and the prequel Garden of Shadows was turned into a four-part miniseries called Flowers in the Attic: The Origin.

Unfortunately for Netflix subscribers who have watched and enjoyed Flowers in the Attic, none of those Lifetime follow-ups are on the platform, though it’s possible that may change. Decades after Andrews’ death, her writings were used to launch the spinoff trilogy Christopher’s Diary, which was told from the perspective of elder Dollanganger brother Christopher. None of those books have been adapted for film or television yet.