Rose Red

This movie was actually a mini-series that ran on TV in 2001. The DVD running time on this movie is 243 minutes....so you have to really like this movie to sit through the whole thing. I am ashamed to admit, but I have watched his movie around 10 times. It is technically a horror movie, but it is only rated PG-13 so you know its going to be pretty tame. A noteworthy plus for this movie is that the screenplay was written by Stephen King, the master of modern horror.

A team of psychics led by Dr. Joyce Reardon, a psychology professor, investigates the decrepit Seattle, Washington, mansion known as Rose Red in an attempt to discover scientific proof that ghosts exist. The mansion is thought to be haunted and quite a few people have disappeared or died there. The Reardon team's efforts unleash various spirits and uncover the horrifying secret of the house itself.

The characters in this movie are well developed and complex, as there was definitely enough time to do so. The characters are diverse in personality and in psychic abilities. Each character gets his or her chance to show their abilities during the course of the movie. As they explore deeper and deeper into the never-ending halls of Rose Red, they see more terrifying psychic events. The movie centers around Joyce Reardon, the psychology professor, who wishes to explore Rose Red to further her career and her exploitation of a 15-year-old autistic girl with tremendous psychic abilities including telekinesis and telepathy. My favourite character was Emery, played by Matt Ross of American Psycho fame, an obnoxious mama's boy with retrocognition, the ability to see the past, who seems to be the most pragmatic of the whole group when everything begins to fall apart. Another one of the psychic characters is played by Emily Deschanel who is most famous for starring in the crime drama "Bones." There is even a small cameo by Stephen King as a pizza delivery man.

The sets are beautiful, especially of the interior of the house. Large pillars, marble floors, glass rooms, long hallways. The dream home of many people.

The movie is not scary by any stretch of the imagination. The "dead" people in the movie look fake. Supernatural events in a movie are generally not very scary anyway. There are a few intense scenes near the middle of the movie where the characters are running through the woods, discovering their friends dead. Some of the CGI effects are a little corny.

My biggest complaint about the movie, other than the corny dialogue, is the constant camera panning of the mansion. It probably takes up a good half hour of the house, just repetitious pans of the exterior and interior of the house paired with annoying ghostly whispers and occasionally a shitty ass narrative by Dr. Reardon.

Overall, good haunted house movie. A bit long, mostly due to the constant obnoxious camera panning of the mansion. Good character development, decent special effects. A must see for haunted house movie fans. I give it 3 our of 5 stars.