Snow days are great for catching up on old films and series that I’ve somehow missed when they first aired. I love everything written by Stephen King, but did he get it right with haunted houses in Rose Red?
Rose Red
Rose Red is a 2002 American miniseries that was written by Stephen King, directed by Craig R. Baxley, and starring Nancy Travis, Matt Keeslar, Julian Sands, Melanie Lynskey, Kimberly J. Brown, Judith Ivey, Matt Ross, Emily Deschanel, Kevin Tighe, Tsidii Le Loka, Julia Campbell, and David Dukes. I am telling you right up front that Rose Red was not one of King’s best, but it was a snowstorm, and I was bored.
The plot of the miniseries, which is broken into three parts, focuses on Dr. Joyce Reardon’s obsession with an abandoned mansion once owned by a wealthy oilman, John Rimbauer and his young wife, Ellen (Julia Campbell). Dr. Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis) is a university psychology professor who is searching for proof of paranormal phenomena. The head of the psychology department (David Dukes) is doing all in his power to get Reardon kicked out of the university.
Rose Red does have a reputation. Twenty-three people have either vanished or died in that house. Rose Red is scheduled for demolition, but Reardon is having an affair with Steve Rimbauer (Matt Keeslar), the last descendant of the Rimbauer family. Steve allows Reardon to get a team together for an investigation. Everyone on the team has some sort of psychic ability, but the strongest of the group is Annie (Kimberly J. Brown), an autistic young teen with telekinetic powers. Annie is accompanied by her sister (Melanie Lynskey).
The House
No one knows the exact number of rooms. The house is one huge optical illusion with secret doors and upside-down rooms. The spirits who haunt this house have lived tragic lives, and we learn about them in part one of the series. Sukeena (Tsidii Le Loka) is the most mischievous of the spirits, and even though their stories are sad, their reasons for causing harm to the living make no sense.
Conclusion
I have done many house investigations, so even though I believe that Stephen King has psychic abilities, thus explaining his love of spooky stories…I think he got some stuff right about Rose Red…but also got some things wrong. Houses have souls. Yes, you read that right. Houses have souls. Although not the spiritual type of souls reserved for people and pets…houses remember and replay the memories of all who lived within them.
Houses attract and retain the energy of the people who lived within their sanctuary. I can immediately sense the atmosphere of the house as soon as I enter. If that home was a place of joy, sorrow, or fear…it is sensed by me as soon as I cross the doorway. Usually, a family will contact me to investigate their home because they don’t realize that the emotions they are feeling are not coming from them but from the house itself. I begin my investigation with a walkthrough on my own. What am I feeling? Why does that room feel dark while the rest of the home feels lighter? What spirits are there? What do they want?
Sometimes, it isn’t the house that is haunted, but the land it sits on. I try to learn the history of the land in my walkthroughs. The spirits love to tell their stories, and this helps me learn about the land that the home is built on. The house may be located on geopathic stress lines, over underground water, or close to cell towers, which play havoc with the living. Water and electricity are great conductors for spiritual activity.
In Rose Red, Reardon’s mistake was that she wanted to challenge the house to protect her reputation at the university. Her arrogance put the house in attack mode. The child, Annie, just allowed the house to be itself. What surprised me was that the remaining descendant, Steven, never considered having the house spiritually cleansed. His trust in Reardon caused the death of five people.
It is noted that Stephen King was inspired to write Rose Red because of an alleged haunted house in his hometown. If you really want to get a true understanding of a haunted house and how a house can hold on to both the positive and negative energy of people, then you need to watch The Haunting of Hill House. Mike Flanagan understood the assignment. I did a review of The Haunting of Hill House, but I would love to interview Mr. Flanagan one day to validate my belief that he does indeed have the “gift”.
