For the YMMV of the 1987 version, click here.
- Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Given Corrine's actions in subsequent books, one could try to sympathize with her actions in the first. She essentially loses her husband and finds herself with four children to take care of—and she has no money. She could have taken other options, but it seems as if she's trying to avoid her children being split up (and the foster system of the day wasn't exactly great). As we never get her POV, part of her actions could be due to Olivia's influence. And it's clear that Olivia is very persuasive. While it almost certainly doesn't justify trying to poison her children, it does paint her actions into a greyer light than first seems.
- On the flipside, it's also not hard to view Corrine as a superficial Drama Queen who never really loved her children. She's nice to them in the beginning because she has a life of leisure—with her husband paying for everything and children attending to her. But as soon as the luxuries are gone, she latches onto comfort rather than helping her children out. After all, there are plenty of valuables in Foxworth Hall that she could have stolen or sold off to get enough money to set herself and her children up. Her attempts at redemption could also be read as Never My Fault.
- As cruel as she was, did Olivia approve of Corrine poisoning her children? As Cathy points out, she did warn them against eating the donuts and agreed with Cathy that Cory needed to go to a doctor. Thou Shall Not Kill, after all. However, it could have been Olivia trying to shut Cathy up. And there was really nothing stopping her from delivering the donuts, especially when Corrine leaves.
- Did Malcolm actually know about the children? During the Christmas party, it’s mentioned that he looks straight in Cathy and Chris’ direction. Then he adds a very specific codicil in his will forbidding Corrine from having children period. Was that because he saw Cathy and Chris? On the other hand, the will, with the codicil, was read well over a year after the Christmas party and the codicil was likely just a form of punishing Corrine.
- Best Known for the Fanservice: The novel is known entirely for the incest that goes on, despite Chris's rape of Cathy lasting just one page. There's plenty of UST leading up to it, though.
- Broken Base:
- Fans are split on whether the eventual Brother–Sister Incest could have actually happened due to the Westermarck Effect. Another area in this discussion is about the Situational Sexuality that was brought on by the fact that they're trapped together for so long.
- The entire Chris and Cathy rape scene was one that was this already when it was written and has only gotten worse with more time. As described on page, Chris aggressively starts the encounter despite Cathy originally not reciprocating. Where this gets complicated is that as soon as it's over, Cathy claims she could have stopped him if she wanted to and continues on with Chris for more episodes within the series. To many a modern reader this is nothing but victim blaming with the aversion of Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil. Where the opposition to this comes from is because the two characters we are talking about aren't what most would call well adjusted or socially conforming. Cathy perhaps a little more so than Chris, but to some levels it applies to both. In the next book in the series some regard Cathy a Designated Hero who does whatever she wants as long as she likes the results. From that perspective it is not hard to assume someone like Cathy wouldn't regard the incident as serious as some readers would, but those same readers would likely not call Cathy any kind of healthy role model.
- First Installment Wins: The first book is the most famous of them all.
- It Was His Sled: The only thing most people who haven't read the book know about it is that it includes Brother–Sister Incest, which is supposed to be a shock twist.
- Jerkass Woobie: Olivia the grandmother when her past is revealed in the prequel book Garden of Shadows.
- Moral Event Horizon: For Cathy, her mother crossed this when she let Cory die.
- Padding: Most readers can agree there's a lot of aimless scenes in the attic that go nowhere and just take up space. But is this a flaw in the writing? Or a reasonable way of depicting a situation where the characters are bored, restless, have nowhere to go and nothing to do, and are even in-universe genuinely experiencing their life as filler.
- Periphery Demographic: The many teen and preteen girls who passed it around and snuck it home to read secretly.
- Signature Scene: For better or worse, the (explicit) Brother–Sister Incest scene. It's all most people know about the book (to the point where the fact that it's a case of Questionable Consent is often a surprise to newcomers).
- Squick:
- For some, the incest is just too icky to get past. For many of the Periphery Demographic, it's the forbidden point of attraction.
- After two weeks of starvation, Chris is driven to cutting his wrist to nourish the twins on blood.
The TV movie
- Broken Base: In many aspects to say the least.
- The movie's faithfulness to the book. Some find it was much better representation of the book than the 87 movie and that what was changed had little to no effect on the mood of the story. Others feel its 90 minute time frame was too short to fully capture the book's spirit to its full potential and its approach to handling the taboo topics, like the incest, were done too delicately.
- The movie compared to the 87 movie. Some endorse this movie for being more serious than the 87 film and not backing off of the taboo topics. Others feel that the original's narmy tone made it more memorable and despite not going into the taboo topics, had a more grim and edgy tone than the 2014 film.
- Who's the better grandmother? Louise Fletcher was widely considered more intimidating in the 1987 film, and generally seen as one of the highlights. However there are some who think she's too young for the role (Ellen Burstyn, who plays the role thirty years apart from the 1987 film, is just one year older) and possibly too cartoonishly evil. Some feel Ellen Burstyn's portrayal lacks the same menace, but others prefer her more complex take on Olivia. This possibly depends on whether the person considers Garden of Shadows canon.
- Just Here for Godzilla: Kiernan Shipka's performance is considered the best part of the adaptation by many, and enough of a reason to watch it on its own.
- Narm: It can be a little distracting that, for a supposedly malnourished teenage boy, whenever Chris Jr gets a Shirtless Scene, the camera shows off the kind of pecs and abs that certainly don't come from such a diet (while having a six-pack is actually quite plausible if he's on a calorie deficit, the toned physique requires a specialised diet). Notably the 1987 film gave Chris a shirtless scene early in the movie but never showed his physique after the malnourishment set in.
- Questionable Casting: Heather Graham is considered the weak link in the cast, with her performance as Corinne seen as quite dull and wooden, and not really properly conveying the character's evil side (and how well she hides it).
- Retroactive Recognition:
- Mason Dye would become instantly more famous seven years later for playing Jason Carver in Stranger Things 4.
- While Kiernan Shipka was known for Mad Men, she would reach new heights towards the end of the decade for headlining Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
