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| - They arrive at the mansion and meet the butler, John and Corinne's cold mother Olivia, a religious fanatic. Olivia takes the group into her home, and escort them to a large bedroom of the mansion, with bars on the windows - blocking out fresh air and sunshine. It is on their first day there that the grandmother reveals the shocking truth: Corinne and her husband were really half- uncle and niece, making their love incestuous and their children the product of incest. She also tells them that the Grandfather will never know of their existence in order to spare him from the 'final agony and shame'. When Corrine finally returns to the children that night, Olivia forces her to show the children that she has been savagely whipped as punishment for her incestuous relationship. As Chris and Cathy treats her wounds, Corinne admits to the children that she and their father were uncle and niece; the children do not say anything but seem to accept it. Corinne tells the children that their confinement will only be for a short time: her father is deathly ill, and once she is able to convince him to secure her inheritance, they will be free when he dies. Corrine then tells them about the large attic via a secret stairway through the closet and all of its contents. The next day, Olivia gives them their food along with a list of rules the children are to follow and obey as long as they live in the manor. Once she leaves, the children get ready to explore the attic but not before Olivia reminds them that they cannot be seen. They descend into the dusty, cobweb infested attic and see all the treasures (wardrobes full of old clothes, room ornaments, trunks, etc). Cathy and Chris then find access to a little sunlight and fresh air - through more barred windows. From here, the plot focuses on the children's ordeal as shut-ins and their clashes with the ultra-religious grandmother, who loathes the children due to their incestuous conception. The children struggle to survive, even as their mother's visits quickly taper off. In particular, Olivia becomes obsessed with Chris and Cathy, out of the warped belief that they have become lovers. Discovering them sleeping in the same bed one morning, the grandmother smashes Cathy's ballerina music box, the last gift she received from her by her deceased father. After Olivia later discovers the two innocently talking while Cathy is bathing, she calls them sinners. Chris manages to chase her out, but Olivia later ambushes Cathy in the bedroom, locks Chris in the closet preceding the attic, and hacks off Cathy's hair with a pair of scissors. She then starves them for a week, and Chris is forced to feed Cory his own blood so he doesn't die of starvation. Months pass and the children become sick, especially the younger ones. Chris and Cathy eventually figure out how to remove the hinges from their locked door on a few occasions to sneak out of their room, and discover that their mother has been living a life of luxury as well as dating a young lawyer, Bart Winslow. She does eventually come to visit them again, and they confront her about ignoring and leaving them to suffer. Corinne is very defensive and acts insulted, cries that they are cruel to think that she is deliberately neglecting them or enjoying life while they are locked up, then storms out. Shortly after, Cory becomes deathly ill. The children ask Olivia and Corinne to take Cory to the hospital, which they do, but later Corinne returns to inform them Cory has died, leaving the children devastated. The scene cuts to a groundskeeper digging four graves on the outskirts of the property - confirming that the grandmother and Corrine are trying to kill them. It isn't long before they suspect that Olivia has been poisoning them when their pet mouse is found dead after eating part of a cookie. Chris researches and concludes that Cory and the mouse were killed via arsenic poisoning, mixed in the sugar on the cookies they are served with their meals. The remaining siblings decide to leave the attic once and for all. Chris sneaks out to steal money before they escape and discovers that their mother is planning to wed Bart Winslow at the mansion the next morning. Though upset, he suggests to Cathy they dress in fancy clothes from the attic, and use the wedding as a cover to sneak out of the house. On their last day in the mansion, Olivia secretly enters their bedroom the next day, hoping to catch them once more doing something "evil", Chris takes her by surprise and beats her unconscious with a bedpost. As they flee down the hall, Cathy decides they should reveal themselves to their grandfather (they had come across him sleeping in his room once before while out and investigating their mother's absence). However, when they enter his room, they find it empty, with the bed dismantled: their grandfather has been dead for months. They then find a copy of the invitation to Corrine and Bart's wedding and a copy of the Grandfather's will, which reveals a clause: if it is ever proven Corinne had children from her first marriage, she will be disinherited and lose the fortune. They realize that Corinne locked them in the attic with the intention to kill them all so she can fully secure her inheritance (It may be possible that Corrine may have also orchestrated the car crash that killed their father - setting the events of the film in motion). The children crash the wedding ceremony and expose their mother's crimes to the guests and the groom; Corinne refuses to acknowledge the children as her own or admit to poisoning Cory. Cathy offers her an arsenic-coated cookie as a wedding present, and in fury tries to force her mother to eat it, chasing her out to a balcony. After a brief struggle, Corinne falls and dies when her veil is caught on a trellis, strangling her to death. The film ends with the children leaving Foxworth Hall as the Grandmother looks on from the window with scorn and defeat; Cathy narrates that they did manage to survive all by themselves: she got a job to help with Chris' medical school tuition before resuming ballet and Carrie grew up, but was "never truly healthy". Although they put the past behind them, Cathy wonders aloud if the grandmother is still alive, and anticipating Cathy's eventual return ... hinting that Cathy will get her revenge.
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