Overall, I enjoyed "Rose Red." It had a number of notably scary bits that saved it from mediocrity, despite some poor acting (or poor direction to the actors). Of course it wasn't a terribly original story, but I was watching it for entertainment, not philosophical enlightenment, and I was not let down.
Spoilers follow--
It's a story about a haunted house (with the now-obligatory novel tie-in), and it's a Stephen King tv movie, so go in expecting some schlock -- a statue pulling off its face and opening its eyes, etc -- but it's enjoyable schlock. As for the source of the haunting not being clearly disclosed, as some reviewers have complained, I think it was done well -- the thing to realize was that the story was not just the haunted house, you had to pay attention to the subtext. They made a number of allusions to the house as a person, starting from the very beginning and continuing on through voiceovers and Joyce's quasi-lectures -- some people are just bad, and there's no reason for it, and such was the case with Rose Red. Rose Red, the house, was a psychic energy amplifier, that just happened to distort and force the worst out of the people supplying the energy.
Ellen Rimbauer was portrayed throughout as a victim of her husband, so she would be an ideal source to supply the house with the energy it so craved. Why did she disappear? The house was one of her few true friends; to her thinking, it obeyed her and made her happy, and if it ate a few men along the way in order to keep her and the other women alive, well, they probably deserved it. Why did Ellen "live" on, continuing to build the mansion? It was clearly some sort of enduring punishment for the perceived misdeeds against her, perpetuated against the hapless visitors to the house and her husband's descendants. (You'll notice that April was held blameless and indeed honored by becoming a part of the house's formerly-human residents, perhaps due to her being 'victimized' by the withered arm which Joyce noted Ellen blamed on her husband's philandering. Compare to Steve, who is taunted and led astray starting as a child. Is Joyce, then, 'adopted' by Ellen, because of her mistreatment at the hands of men like Professor Miller? That would seem to be the case made by her ephemeral appearance in the tower beside the others.)
The reason this story works is that it's not operating on just the top "scary haunted house" level, the haunted house is the veneer over the sex, lies, and bitterness which form the real story. This could have been clearer in a medium like a novel, but if it had gotten any more obvious in the miniseries we would all be complaining about being beaten over the head with the plot-bat.
I give it seven of ten stars. I won't rush out and buy the DVD, but I'd recommend it to other Stephen King fans, and if there was a novelization written (with more character development) I'd certainly read it.
Spoilers follow--
It's a story about a haunted house (with the now-obligatory novel tie-in), and it's a Stephen King tv movie, so go in expecting some schlock -- a statue pulling off its face and opening its eyes, etc -- but it's enjoyable schlock. As for the source of the haunting not being clearly disclosed, as some reviewers have complained, I think it was done well -- the thing to realize was that the story was not just the haunted house, you had to pay attention to the subtext. They made a number of allusions to the house as a person, starting from the very beginning and continuing on through voiceovers and Joyce's quasi-lectures -- some people are just bad, and there's no reason for it, and such was the case with Rose Red. Rose Red, the house, was a psychic energy amplifier, that just happened to distort and force the worst out of the people supplying the energy.
Ellen Rimbauer was portrayed throughout as a victim of her husband, so she would be an ideal source to supply the house with the energy it so craved. Why did she disappear? The house was one of her few true friends; to her thinking, it obeyed her and made her happy, and if it ate a few men along the way in order to keep her and the other women alive, well, they probably deserved it. Why did Ellen "live" on, continuing to build the mansion? It was clearly some sort of enduring punishment for the perceived misdeeds against her, perpetuated against the hapless visitors to the house and her husband's descendants. (You'll notice that April was held blameless and indeed honored by becoming a part of the house's formerly-human residents, perhaps due to her being 'victimized' by the withered arm which Joyce noted Ellen blamed on her husband's philandering. Compare to Steve, who is taunted and led astray starting as a child. Is Joyce, then, 'adopted' by Ellen, because of her mistreatment at the hands of men like Professor Miller? That would seem to be the case made by her ephemeral appearance in the tower beside the others.)
The reason this story works is that it's not operating on just the top "scary haunted house" level, the haunted house is the veneer over the sex, lies, and bitterness which form the real story. This could have been clearer in a medium like a novel, but if it had gotten any more obvious in the miniseries we would all be complaining about being beaten over the head with the plot-bat.
I give it seven of ten stars. I won't rush out and buy the DVD, but I'd recommend it to other Stephen King fans, and if there was a novelization written (with more character development) I'd certainly read it.