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Stephen King tells the ultimate haunted house story in Stephen King's Rose Red, a lavish four-hour extravaganza written by the horror novelist, originally aired as an ABC-TV miniseries. Borrowing its set-up from Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House (the basis for 1963's The Haunting), Rose Red tells the story of a psychology professor (Nancy Travis) who assembles a diverse group of extrasensory adepts to spend a weekend in a 90-year-old haunted house in hopes of bringing out its supernatural side. Travis effectively conveys the professor's precarious position on the razor's edge between passion and obsession. The ensemble of guests includes, among many others, Matt Keeslar, Julian Sands, Judith Ivey, and David Dukes (who passed away during production). Echoes from earlier King works resonate, such as the presence of an autistic, telekinetic teen (Kimberly J. Brown) who evokes moments of Carrie and Firestarter déjà vu. With a wealth of inspiration and source materials -- including The Legend of Hell House and House on Haunted Hill -- King revels in the miniseries format, developing the characters and building background before we even set foot in the devilish abode. The elaborate sets and special effects are splendidly scary, as one would expect from a King creation, in this case directed with flair by Action Jackson auteur Craig R. Baxley. The result is an exciting stay in an enormous house with enough ghosts -- both vaporous and gruesome -- to satisfy even the most ravenous of spectral appetites. Gregory Baird

All Movie Guide

Horror specialist Stephen King claimed that his TV miniseries Rose Red was inspired by a number of sources, ranging from Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (twice filmed as The Haunting) to Ripley's Believe It or Not to Moby Dick. Residents of San Jose, CA, however, quickly realized that King's story owed a great deal to their own city's legendary "haunted" mansion, Winchester House. Rose Red was set in motion when psych professor Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis), defying her tongue-clucking boss Professor Miller (David Dukes, who died during production), set about to investigate reports of paranormal phenomena in Rose Red, a crumbling and foreboding Seattle mansion. According to legend -- and a great deal of physical evidence -- Rose Red was a "living" entity in its own right, adding extras wings to its structure and rearranging its furniture whenever it felt like it. There has also been a number of mysterious deaths at the mansion, which Joyce believed were the handiwork of a ghost: Ellen Rimbauer, the insane wife of Rose Red's architect. Inviting a quintet of psychics (social misfits all, of course) to spend a weekend at the mansion, Joyce was determined to solve the mystery of Rose Red -- and, she hoped, to conjure up Ellen's hostile spirit. Thereafter, the miniseries adhered to the proven formula, with characters foolishly wandering off alone to meet their individual demises, and with such time-tested lines as "Superstitious nonsense!," "Honey -- are you in there?" and "Oh, no! AIYEEEE!" wafting through the mansion's drafty corridor. The outcome of the story -- and the fate of the survivors -- seemed to rest in the hands of Annie Wheaton (Kimberly J. Brown), an autistic teenager with astonishing telepathic skills. Premiering January 27, 2002, the three-part Rose Red posted ABC's best ratings in months, despite an almost universal drubbing by the critics. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 031398801528
• Source: LIONS GATE
• Sound: Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français, Español
• Subtitles: English, Español
• Time: 4:14:00
• Sales Rank: 1,842

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Stephen King

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