Rose Red | |
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DVD cover
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Written by | Stephen King |
Directed by | Craig R. Baxley |
Starring |
Nancy Travis Matt Keeslar Julian Sands Kimberly J. Brown David Dukes Judith Ivey Melanie Lynskey Matt Ross Kevin Tighe Julia Campbell Emily Deschanel Laura Kenny Tsidii Le Loka Yvonne Sciò Jimmi Simpson |
Music by | Gary Chang |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Thomas H. Brodek Robert F. Phillips |
Cinematography | David Connell |
Editor(s) | Sonny Baskin |
Running time | 255 min. |
Distributor |
ABC Trimark Video (USA DVD) Warner Home Video (international DVD) |
Release | |
Original release | January 27, 2002 (US) |
Chronology | |
Followed by | The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer |
Rose Red (also known as Stephen King's Rose Red) is a television miniseries scripted by horror novelist Stephen King. The series was premiered in the United States on ABC on January 27, 2002. The story centers on a mysteriously haunted Seattle mansion named Rose Red. Due to its long history of supernatural events and unexplained tragedies, the house is investigated by parapsychologist Dr. Joyce Reardon and a team of gifted psychics.
Dr. Joyce Reardon, an unorthodox university psychology professor, leads a team of psychics to the massive and antiquated Seattle mansion known as Rose Red in an attempt to record data which would constitute scientific proof of paranormal phenomena. The mansion is publicly thought to be haunted, as at least 23 people have either disappeared or died there and the interior of the house appears to change or increase in size, yet only from the inside. Reardon's team awakens the evil spirit possessing the house, leading to several deaths and the revelation of the mansion's deadly secrets.
According to information revealed at various points in the miniseries, and Ellen's diary, Rose Red was built in 1906 by wealthy oilman John Rimbauer as a wedding gift for his young wife, Ellen. Rimbauer used much of his wealth to build the mansion, which was in the Tudor-Gothic style and situated on 40 acres (160,000 m2) of woodland in the heart of Seattle on the site of a Native American burial ground. The house was rumored to be cursed even as it was being constructed; three construction workers were killed on the site, and a construction foreman was murdered by a co-worker.
While honeymooning in Africa, Ellen Rimbauer fell ill (from an unspecified sexually transmitted disease given to her by her unfaithful husband) and made the acquaintance of Sukeena, a local tribeswoman. The two women became very close while Sukeena nursed Ellen back to health, and Sukeena accompanied the Rimbauers back to the newly completed Rose Red to work there full-time as a servant. The Rimbauers soon had two children, Adam and April (born with a withered arm), but Ellen quickly became unhappy with her marriage to her philandering and neglectful, misogynistic husband. After a spiritualist seance, Ellen came to believe that if she continued to build and expand the house, she would never die (echoing the story of the Winchester Mystery House).