Such a frustrating disappointment

Better Late Then Never

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

So the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer was a supplemental book done after Stephen King's Rose Red aired.Now, I never read the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, but I did watch the TV movie they produced, which was based on that book. And frankly, I can't see how they could ever justify the book or the movie existing.The movie is just basically a re-hashed story of Ellen Rimbauer's history with the house and her lousy husband. At no point during the movie do they actually ever explain more than what Rose Red already established.It doesn't explain the hauntings, or the disappearances or anything like that. To add further insult to injury, they couldn't even get the original cast member from Rose Red to play Ellen in the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer.The movie also contradicts Rose Red in a few instances, which is honestly insane. When you are basing creative writing off of an already established world, how hard is it to keep facts straight? No wonder I haven't heard of this film until just recently, it's poo.

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer definitely held my interest enough and made me curious to see Rose Red. In my opinion, Ellen Rimbauer was the better of the two.I loved the historical aspect of the movie, giving a definite history and personality to the house than a typical haunted house movie does. It was unique and realistic in this way, perhaps one of the reasons I preferred it to "Rose Red".This movie contains much more mystery than "Rose Red" and is much less typical. Don't go into it expecting a regular horror/thriller movie, because that's not what it is. It's a great movie to make you think and wonder about the house, and does no more than insinuate answers, which leaves you in the mood, thinking, and drawing your own conclusions to the story, which I find much more satisfying.Left me dreaming about the Winchester Mystery House. Believable, unique and thought-provoking. 8.5/10.

This definitely qualifies as one of them. Twice as good as the mini-series, and only one-third the length! Good period detail. Suitably creepy all the way through. I give it four stars, to the original's two-and-a-quarter!

Being that Stephen King had something to do with this prequel to the horrible Rose Red, I was hesitant. But I sat down and decided to watch. Wow. What a good little ghost story. Not bad at all. A few spooky scenes, the acting was solid, and the crappy CGI effects were kept to a minimum. Very enjoyable. Reminded me of the film The Others.