What Do You Think of Lifetime’s Cutler Saga Movies?

If you’ve been paying attention to the Lifetime network (and why wouldn’t you have been?), you might have noticed that they’ve been airing movies based on V.C. Andrews’s Cutler saga this month. Last Saturday was Twilight’s Child, and they’ve already aired Dawn and Secrets of the Morning.

I’ve always had some problems with the Lifetime movies. For one, I find that they always look incredibly cheap. They really don’t capture the gothic elements of the books well.

And yet, I can’t stop watching them.

A few notes I have about the Cutler series so far:

• I wasn’t sure about the casting for Dawn at first, but I actually think Brec Bassinger does a good job in the role.
• Clara Sue/Clara Jean isn’t very intimidating. I find her to be one of the creepiest villains in all of Andrews’s books, and she just didn’t feel menacing enough.
• Something about the casting for Randolph just seems . . . off?
• The scenes at The Meadows went by so fast. I feel like they had a much bigger presence in the book? Maybe Darkest Hour will change that.
• Cutler’s Cove could be a bigger “character” in the series too.

I guess the lack of atmosphere is always my biggest complaint about these movies, and ultimately I don’t think Lifetime is going to change that.

What do you think?