My Sweet Audrina (2016)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

A different way of telling a story

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Audrina Adare (Farryn VanHumbeck) lived in isolation with with her father Damian (James Tupper), mother Lucietta, aunt Ellsbeth and cousin Vera (Kacey Rohl) in a mansion. She lived in the shadow of her dead sister namesake. She is confused with time and lost memories. Vera constantly taunts her. Her father pushes a connection with the original Audrina. Arden Lowe is a local boy in love with Audrina. Lucietta dies in childbirth and baby Sylvia is autistic. Years later, Audrina (India Eisley) takes piano lessons from Lamar Rensdale while Vera (Tess Atkins) flirts.This starts off like a moody horror movie. In the end, it's only a spooky mystery. Kacey Rohl should have stayed as Vera. The change in Audrina actresses is acceptable and Arden is inevitable. Rohl could easily play all the different ages. India Eisley has the innocent fragility and beauty for the part. Her speaking voice does mumble her lines sometimes which isn't the greatest for a lead. The middle is a lot of slow rambling sexual melodrama. It's somewhat aimless. It needs a direction and the simplest is Audrina researching her namesake predecessor. By the end, the reveal doesn't satisfy as much as releases the movie from its expectations.

Audrina Adare (India Eisley) lives a secluded life in her family's mansion of Whitefern. Audrina is not allowed out of her house to attend school or socialize with other children her age. She has no idea of how much time has passed in her life because her father Damian Jonathan Adare (James Tupper) doesn't allow her to have a calendar and a watch. The clocks in the family home are all set at different hours and this contributes to poor Audrina's confusion! Damian and his wife Lucietta aka Lucky (Kirsten Robek) had a daughter before Audrina who was also named Audrina. When this perfect, beautiful Audrina was 9 years old, she was assaulted and killed by a group of boys in the woods near the family home. Every Sunday the family that also includes Lucky's sister, Ellsbeth (Jennifer Copping) and her vile daughter, Vera (Kacey Rohl) visit the first Audrina's grave. Damian is determined to make the second Audrina as perfect and as beautiful as the first Audrina. He makes Audrina sit in her sister's rocking chair so she can absorb the essence of her perfect sister. This is traumatic for poor Audrina. She sees her sister's rape and murder while she rocks and she screams in fright. There is no relief for Audrina in this house. Vera always bullies her and calls her dumb because Audrina has no concept of time. Lucky gets pregnant but loses her life and the child so Audrina has no younger sibling who will love her. The only things that give Audrina any kind of happiness are the crush she has on the ground keeper's son Arden Lowe (Seth Isaac Johnson) and the piano lessons from the handsome pianist Lamar (Matthew Kevin Anderson). The horrid Vera spoils this for Audrina when she seduces Lamar. Audrina and Arden get married with her father's reluctant blessing. However, the marriage is doomed because Audrina is still traumatized by what happened to the first Audrina and she won't let Arden touch her. Arden confronts Damian who reveals a big spoiler for Audrina. The first Audrina was invented by the family and the second Audrina is the one and only Audrina there is! Damian says Audrina came home after the rape in the woods and Lucky scrubbed the crime off of her body. Audrina went through electro-shock therapy to wipe the memory away but Damian didn't want her to suffer through that. He invented the fictional Audrina and told Audrina the rape happened to the non-existent Audrina. Later on, another big reveal comes up when Vera pushes Audrina down the stairs and send her into a coma. Audrina sees in the past when she is 9 and Vera is 11. Vera helps her dress up in her birthday dress and tells Audrina there is a big surprise for her after school. The "surprise" is the rape in the woods by the boys. Arden was there, but he tried to help Audrina and not hurt her. Vera had the boys rape Audrina because she was jealous of Damian's affection for Audrina and his dislike for her (Vera). Vera was also Damian's child with Ellsbeth. When Vera is confronted in the present by Audrina, she falls down the stairs and dies. In the end, Audrina knows she has a life with Arden to look forward to and is no longer haunted by the perfect sister who never existed. This movie was quite gripping in its portrayal of a dysfunctional family and the aftermath of PTSD due to a rape. India Eisley was wonderful as the confused Audrina with special mention due to Kacey Rohl, Tess Atkins, and Hannah Cheramy as the villainous Vera. Imogen Tear and Farryn VanHumbeck were also great as the younger Audrinas as well! This story is recommended for any VC Andrews fan!

Brooding piece where Audrina stays locked up in her house as her over-cautious father takes every step to guard her, as he didn't with her older sister and that he feels led to her death.Our father is quite a Casanova. Besides his wife and Audrina, he has fathered a daughter, Vera, from his relationship with his sister-in-law, wife's sister.Tess Atkins is terrific as Vera. At every turn she harasses Audrina to the highest degree.Audrina's mother dies in childbirth and the aunt soon follows. Audrina finds true love and weds. Vera is banished by the father only to come back and promise to be different. She has no intention of doing that and instead tries to pry Audrina's husband, Alden, away.There is a lot of soap opera here with dead bodies turning up by the staircase.

Atmospheric and nicely filmed, this adaptation of VC Andrews non Flowers series novel is worth a watch for fans of her books. W young girl is home schooled and kept confined in her family's mansion - but what secret is the family hiding about her deceased sister? The faults of a typical VC Andrews story are there - one dimensionally evil people, rather abrupt shifts in plot direction, but it's still good fun. The implausibility of the plot doesn't matter - after all it is a fantasy of sorts.The cast is watchable. As Audrina India Eisley's acting has improved a lot from Secret Life days and she makes quite a lot of this far fetched tale believable. Her love interest is played by the Royals' William Mosely looks a bit old for her and his British accent comes across. James Tupper of Revenge is okay enough as the father.The love scene is kind of laughable as she transforms suddenly from frigid to the opposite.For fans