Rose Red

Rose Red

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DVD Reviews of Rose Red

DVD Review: Rose Red comes with many a thorn of disappointment
Summary: 3 Stars

Initially, we spend some time meeting the central characters in this drama; I say "meeting" because I never felt as if I actually "got to know" more than two or three of them. Nancy Travis plays Dr. Joyce Reardon, a scientist obsessed with proving the existence of the paranormal. Despite the harassment she receives from her boss Professor Miller (David Dukes), she goes ahead with a scientific investigation of Seattle's supposedly haunted mansion Rose Red, intending to wake up what she perceives is a dormant cell and thereby gain the proof she seeks that spirits do exist. She assembles a most unusual team of helpers, each of them psychic in one way or another (mind reading, post-cognition, automatic writing, etc.). The key, though, is the teenaged Annie Wheaton (Kimberly J. Brown), an autistic youth with a proven track record of psychokinetic powers (e.g., pummeling a neighbor's house with large boulders out of the sky a la Carrie White). The only really interesting characters besides Annie and Dr. Reardon are Steven Rimbauer, the last living descendant of the Rimbauers and sole owner of Rose Red (as well as Dr. Reardon's lover) and Emery Waterman (Matt Ross). Emery sees dead people, is burdened with a mother who is exceedingly overprotective and a compulsive shopper, and whines and complains to beat the band.

Naturally, weird things begin to happen, we piece together more of the story of the house, and eventually individuals start wandering around alone basically begging to die. Frayed nerves are snapped like rubber bands, and a few ghostly manifestations appear in zombie fashion from time to time to assist new victims of the house to their untimely deaths. Needless to say, Reardon and her team are trapped inside the house. A couple of other related characters find their way on the land to meet a most unkind fate, and eventually final resolution comes in a rather silly manner.

I'm just not sure that Nancy Travis was the right actress to play Dr. Reardon, but there are also problems with the character she plays. Fairly early on in the film, for instance, Reardon has a confrontation with Dr. Miller, and this scene as it played out had a negative impact on my enjoyment of the film as a whole. David Dukes, the man who played Dr. Miller, died tragically during the filming, leaving behind a great performance of a despicable character. I liked Annie, and I make a point to say this because King movies all too often feature young characters so incredibly annoying that you have to hate them. King himself makes another great cameo appearance in the film, which is all the more remarkable considering the after effects of the relatively recent accident which almost killed him.

The only important bonus features on the DVD are two documentaries. The Making of Rose Red is good and quite informative, but at fifty minutes it seems to drag on forever. It is certainly worth watching, though, for the Stephen King interview clips if nothing else. Then there is a half-hour feature on The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer; this is a promotional fake documentary ABC put out shortly before the airing of the miniseries itself. It presents the story of the house and the investigation as fact, trying to create the idea in potential viewers' heads that the miniseries was to have strong elements of truth in it, which it does not. If you have never seen Rose Red, I would actually recommend watching this feature before taking in the film itself, as it offers valuable (though still incomplete) information on the background of the house.

Description of Rose Red