Stephen King - Diary of Ellen Rimbauer [DVD]

 

 

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The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is the prequel to Stephen King's "Rose Red", however it hasn't been written by King and unfortunately this shows. It's a well-made, and at times interesting story, but a rather unnecessary and bland introduction to the film it is dwarfed by in style and content.

Much of the "flashback" content of Rose Red is simply replyed here, and filled in and padded-out with extra dialogue. There are some interesting scenes; however the actuality of what happened to the people who disappeared in the house turns out somewhat lamer than hinted at in "Rose Red".

A lot of the story centres around the deteriorating relationship between Ellen and her husband, and the friendship between her and her African housekeeper/companion. This also takes away some of the mystique of the housekeeper that was suggested in "Rose Red".

Nevertheless it's not a bad watch, and I enjoyed it, despite being a little disappointed having just watched the altogether more powerful "Rose Red". "Diary" has been sexed-up a little in comparison (giving it an unnecessary '15' rating as opposed to Rose Red's '12') - but it's still not a patch on "Rose Red".

This Prequel to Stephen King's 'Rose Red' is based on the fictitous diary of one of the main characters in that film, Ellen Rimbauer. The book of the same name was published just after 'Rose Red's release and I bought it immediatly, It was brilliant, well written and filled in a lot of the gaps and sub-plots that the film 'Rose Red' had me think of. Then someome decides to base a film on that book, and wow! could they have done a more terrible job? I for one dont think so.

The book version of Ellen Rimbauers diary, begins in 1907 with her marriage to John Rimbauer, goes through the years they spent together at Rose Red and ends in 1950 with what I think is a great mysterious ending. The film however does not do this, not only does it cut out massive chunks of Ellen's diary, but what it does include is boring and either badly portrayed or badly directed. I totally understand that a film cannot portray everthing from a book, especially one that is written to span nearly 50 years, but i was expecting much more than just a few exertions from it, the film is not even much more than an hour long!!

In all, I would not recommend this DVD, If you have the book, stick with that, If not?...buy that instead, it is much much more better value for money.

A very strange story in this film. A story that does not look like Stephen King's traditional stories. Many things are different from what he has ever produced. Strangely enough it comes after the film "Rose Red" that is posterior in story time. This story is thus a prequel to the previously shot one. The element that is typically Kingian is the haunted house with some connection to Indians behind. But that is all. The story itself is some kind of distorted and warped "Gone with the Wind" in a setting that looks like and sounds like a Victorian house from England's 19th century, the Bronte Sisters maybe. The main character, Ellen Rimbauer herself is more like one of these feminine characters from this English literary period. Little to do with Stephen King's social approach and even historical time. There is even a vodun dimension that is more typical of Anne Rice's witches, especially the last volumes of the vampire series when the witches join the vampires in some kind of old central American chase. Yet the film is outstanding and mesmerizing in its slow rhythm and its slow building of the terror that is attached to the man of the house, to the man that has to be eliminated. But we know better, since we know the sequel that came before the prequel. It is the house that is twisted and warped and not the man who just used the house to get rid of his mistresses and then later of his own children. The question that is not answered though is why the house accepted to be the servant of that man, and what's more why the house accepted to be the justice-bringer, the executioner of the demand for vengeance and retribution from the wife. Can we interpret that as the taking over of the house by the wife and her African servant and confident? I am not sure. It is not all that clear. What's more there are so many corners in the house that are not on the blue print that we would like to know how all that is possible. Did the house build itself, or grow inside the structure that was given to it, as it is suggested at the end? Maybe. But that is original for Stephen King. In "The Shining" the evil Indian spirit is living in the hotel but the hotel is not growing. In "Salem's Lot" the vampire takes over the house that welcomes him because of the crime it hosted some time before, but once again the house itself does not grow. There are several other haunted houses in King but never a house that has the power of growing, even if the Dark Tower could be seen as such, though it is not and it is only the character that is growing through mythical and maybe mystical time as he is going up the tower. The magic comes from somewhere else, not the building itself. And in this case the evil that haunts the house is not very clear, clearly identified. Indian, Irish hence Celtic, or whatever, it is not clear at all. Some elements are not used enough or made explicit enough, like the malformation of the daughter's right arm, and her pushing the little pram around with her doll in it, a Vodun doll? Yet the film is effective in its suspense and dense atmosphere.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

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3.0 out of 5 stars diary of ellen rimbauer
if you plan to buy this product i would say that you should get rose red as this is part of the story.

Published on 14 July 2009 by Ellen

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