The Diary Of Ellen Rimbauer movie review

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is a made for television miniseries from 2003, which is a prequel to the successful Stephen King miniseries from 2002, Rose Red. King however did not right the screen play for this movie, it is based off of the book of the same name written by Ridley Pearson, under the pseudonym Joyce Reardon (who was the professor from the Rose Red miniseries) which was based on Stephen King's Rose Red. Stephen King did however have a hand in producing this miniseries though. The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is the story behind how the house, Rose Red came to be. The house began as a gift from wealthy oil tycoon John Rimbauer to his fiance Ellen. The story tells about how John is a nymphomaniac who sleeps with pretty much every woman he meets, even contracting an STD (it doesn't say what, but is probably referring to syphilis) and giving it to his wife Ellen. He is abusive to her as well, forcing himself on her. While in Africa he forces her into having a threesome, which is where she got sick with the disease. Sukeena, a woman they meet in Africa nurses her back to health and becomes he best friend and handmaiden. The house is cursed, and we see that in the beginning where one of the workers shoots his boss over a labour dispute, and we then are witness to multiple disappearances of women, and deaths of men. Basically if you've seen Rose Red this is the back story of how the house became haunted and started building itself, it is the story of the Rimbauer family, and what led up to the series of Rose Red. This is a classy looking period peace, with beautiful sets and costuming. The quality is definitely that of a made for television production though, and if it wasn't for the strong sexual themes looks like something you might see on PBS Masterpiece Theater. The story is well told, and decently acted (though none of the actors were great, but they played their parts convincingly enough). I feel like this miniseries does a wonderful job at telling the back story to Rose Red, however it also has a very narrow target market, because I don't know if without seeing Rose Red if this movie really stands well enough on it's own, and is designed for those who just couldn't get enough of Rose Red. This movie is basically 100% character building to help the viewer to better visualize and see the back story of Rose Red, the action is minimal, and I feel most of the production cost was in sets and costumes. It is a perfectly adequate movie, but really no more than that. Would I recommend this movie? Did you watch Rose Red? Did you like it? If the answer is yes to both of those questions then yes, you should watch it, if the answer is to no to those questions, then don't waste the two hours of your time that you will spend on this and go watch something else.