ROSE RED

Is the Rose Red estate really haunted by spirits? To find out, Dr. Joyce Reardon, a psychology professor at Beaumont University, invites a team of mediums to spend a weekend in the ancient and enormous ruined villa known as Rose Red. Reardon's goal is to demonstrate the existence of psychic phenomena and to do so, she intends to use the combined powers of six sensitives in order to awaken the "dead cell" Rose Red and contact the spirit of Ellen Rimbauer, the owner of the house who disappeared precisely inside the mysterious mansion. Thanks to the powers of the mediums, Dr. Joyce's attempt is not in vain: something in Rose Red awakens. The group of parapsychologists will therefore face a descent into the hidden hells of the haunted dwelling… A TV miniseries produced by the American network ABC in collaboration with Stephen King (who, in addition to being the executive producer, is also the screenwriter) and distributed in Italy only for the home video market. The basic idea for the subject of "Rose Red" had a triple inspiration: first, the cult film "The Haunting" (in Italy "Gli Invasati"), directed in 1963 by Robert Wise and based on the novel "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson; the true story of the Winchester Mystery House, an ancient villa that legend says was haunted by the spirit of its owner, Mrs. Sarah Winchester, who spent her long life continuing to expand the enormous house because a medium had predicted to her that she would die on the day of its completion. And finally, the novel "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red" (published, both in America and Italy, simultaneously with the film's release), a sort of prologue to the TV miniseries. The idea of the creators of this book, but also of the film's producers themselves, was to create a "sense of reality" as had happened for "Twin Peaks" and more recently for "The Blair Witch Project". Overall, "Rose Red" is certainly a successful work. Baxley's direction (already with King for "Storm of the Century") keeps the pace quite well, alternating slow atmospheric tracking shots with fast zooms and even offering some shots that evoke moments of tension thanks to sought-after angles (see the appearance of the ghosts in the reflection of one of the mediums' glasses). The cast - which includes, among others, Julian Sands, Nancy Travis, and the Italian Yvonne Sciò - although lacking in major names, is well-assorted and absolutely up to the task; only Matt Ross's performance as Emery Waterman, the unpleasant and chubby "mammome," is a bit over the top. King's screenplay also works well, and it's noticeable how the writer sought, in the first part, to present the characters of the various characters with some attention before moving on to an obvious change of pace in the second half of the film, where the evolution of events takes on a decidedly more frantic and dark tone. What stands out most in "Rose Red" is the extreme care of the sets: Ellen Rimbauer's haunted mansion was entirely and perfectly reconstructed with a significant use of manpower and resources. The special effects are less convincing, however: in some sequences, the use of computer graphics is absolutely poor and rather cumbersome. Numerous and scattered throughout the film are the references to the work of the writer from Maine. Already in the initial sequence, King quotes himself and precisely the rain of stones from "Carrie," eliminated in the cinematic version for economic reasons and proposed here. The novel most alluded to is, however, "The Shining." The bee's nest in "Rose Red" is specular to that of wasps in "The Shining"; all members of the research team have the "shining" and enter a "psychically charged" house, as happens to little Danny Torrance. But there are references to other works by King as well: a radio turns on by itself and plays old classics ("Christine"); the character of Emery (Matt Ross) receives a warning through a refrigerator (as happens to one of the protagonists of "It"). And finally, there is naturally the inevitable cameo of the writer himself, this time in the role of a pizza delivery man. "Rose Red" is probably the best TV miniseries among those born from the collaboration between ABC and Stephen King. An excellent television product that, despite some limitations (practically not a drop of blood for all over 4 hours of film!), is absolutely enjoyable to watch and rather engaging. Curiosity: "Rose Red" achieved unprecedented success in the United States, breaking the television viewership record set by King himself with "Storm of the Century."