Customer Reviews

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I agree with some of the other critiques - I'm not sure how well this movie is made in terms of explaining the background of the story. Rose Red was scary. Diary is more like a documentary almost. More drama than horror. It mainly has to do with a husband and wife ... the wife is permissive and the husband is a jerk who sleeps with other women. Not sure what that has to do with the house exactly. I thought they should have focused more on how the house first became haunted. I feel there should be a prequel to the prequel now. To explain in more detail what occurred BEFORE all of this. Like before the house was built. What was there beforehand (like a cemetery, ancient burial grounds, etc.) and why is it haunted in the first place. It was not scary. It wasn't really even suspenseful. It did keep me interested through the whole movie though and the actress that played Ellen Rimbauer I thought was quite good. I would suggest seeing this movie if you are a big fan of Rose Red though because it does explain SOME things ... I wish they would make a sequel too though. "Rose Red: Part Two - Revenege of the House", maybe?

As far as the DVD itself goes, what someone else mentioned is true. If you click on Scene Selections, instead of the scenes for the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, there are scenes from another movie. Which is a pretty major mistake, I say! No one in production caught that??? Come on, that's a pretty big thing to mess up. Unless... they did it on purpose.... I mean, this is Stephen King we're talking about. ;) I plan on writing to the production company to try and figure out the mystery identity of the Scene Selection mess-up. I'll update when I find out which move it is!

If you haven't read the book then you'd be quite lost and quite disapointed. If you've read the book, well then, you would not be lost but you'd be disapointed at how many elements were left out. Especially the relationship between Ellen and Sukeena. Many even question why Sukeena ended up in Rose Red in the first place or what was the connection between the two ladies and the fact that their relationship was a lot more intimate . . . those things are revealed in the book.

The fact that Mr. Rimbauer's passions were feeding the house was only touched upon in passing in the movie, but the book lets you know that it was far more complicated then that.

I would suggest that one read the book before seeing the movie(or after, if you've already seen it and then re-watch it- it'll make sense then)

I've got to give this movie adaptation of Ridley Pearson's book a nod. They tried. They gave this B-movie all the opportunity to succeed.

It just falls short.

Keeping some theme music from its TV-movie ancestor (Rose Red) and getting the same chick to play Sukeena are both HUGE plusses. However, Ellen and especially John are miscast (though both actors soldier through.)

The problem with the movie is that it lacks the feeling of claustrophobia that dominates the book.

What Rose Red owes to The Haunting of Hill House, The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer owes to Rebecca. And maybe super-smooth production values just don't cut it with a child of Rebecca.

All the same, it was fun to watch this book saunter around in movie clothes. But dressing up a book--even a strong one--in movie clothes does not necessarily make it a good movie.

Watch this movie if you liked the book. Just don't expect too much.

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is a sequel, or rather a prequel to the very successful Stephen King mini-series "Rose Red" a couple of years ago. The creepy and well-done ghost story about a vast mansion in seattle that continued to build itself even after it was empty.

The prequel tells the story of how the mansion was built by oil magnate John Rimbauer and his marriage to Ellen. Mr. Rimbauer is, well, he's a sex maniac. And when he could not get some lovin' from his wife, he more he gladly made use of many of the servant staff in the huge mansion.

All the while Ellen is learning that Rose Red is really alive with a presence that loves her but then becomes jealous and possesive of Ellen, even taking her daughter. She disappears without a trace and it forces Ellen to remain in the house rather than flee as she is advised to do by a Chinese psychic.

Diary unfortunately doesn't have nearly the scare factor of Rose Red. You're a good 3/4 of the way into the movie before you detect any remote chill. Mostly we just get the lurid and sex-crazed life of Mr. Rimbauer.

Not a good sequel and really not needed.

The book The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer was absoluteley riveting. The movie left out all the essential character building storyline. The Rimbauer's entire year of travel was cut into a couple of quick scenes (and they are completely inconsistent with the book). You are let in on secrets too early and without any background. Suspense is built on not knowing everything right away.

You never get a sense of Rose Red as a character, when she is supposed to be the driving force of the story. The movie cut and pasted events and character roles into places where they do not make sense or are ineffective. I had to force myself to watch the rest of the movie...and it didn't get any better. Scary? I don't think so. Don't waste your time.

Since the rest of the reviewers on this page have said it best, Ill simply give my two cents and point out a huge screw up on the DVD side of things.

The movie is decent. They use the original sets from Rose Red( which is a big plus because the house is what made the movie in my opinion) the acting is fairly well done and the story sets the stage for Rose Red itself.

BUT there is one huge flaw in the production of this DVD. When you click on the "scene selection" option on the menu, another movies clips show up. Yes thats right, Lions Gate put ANOTHER films pictures in the selection menu with titles from The Diary of Ellen Rembauer. Its an asian film from the looks of it, and is also probably much creepier in that just the pictures from this film gave me the jitters.

Well thats it, go check out the movie for its prequal info, and then look at its interesting mess up. And if anyone could tell me what movie they mixed the scene selection up with, Id like to know, it looks rather good!

This was an excellent movie for those who liked Rose Red since it is a sequel or prequel or some such thing. My daughter and I went to visit the Thornwood Castle where this movie and the outdoor shots for Rose Red were made. The Tour was fun and having seen both movies and read the books made it even better.

The novel upon which this movie is based was written as an accompaniment to the Stephen King miniseries "Rose Red," and was a decent enough attempt to broaden the characters and situations King created for that film. This movie, which reunites King (as an executive producer, which I suspect means he merely cashed the check he was given), author Ridley Pearson (who wrote the tie-in novel), and Craig Baxley (who directed both films), is one of the worst in the King filmography. It is appallingly boring, from beginning to end. I kid you not: nothing of interest happens the entire time. My memory of the novel is a bit sketchy, but I don't remember being so bored by it that I considered not even finishing, as was the case with this movie. The characters are cardboard-thin, with no insights of ANY sort into their motivations. Why is Rose Red so drawn to Ellen? Why is John such a terrible person? Why does Sukeena agree to move continents away from her home for this family? Don't expect any such answers from this movie, for you will not get them. Nor will you get one single scene that has anything resembling a scare. "Rose Red," though highly derivative, is a fairly entertaining and well-made movie, but this one is DOA.

The only people I would reccommend this movie for are people who, like myself, feel compelled to own everything that has Stephen King's name on it. Everyone else, consider yourself warned.

I've loved "Rose Red" since I first saw it, so when I saw "The Diary" on TV one night, I just had to watch it. I knew what to expect in the plot (obviously), but they DID make some changes. The biggest changes, in my opinion, were to the psychic and the way they handled Posey's suicide. In this version, Madame Lu (not Stravinsky/Cora Fry) was an actual Chinese mystic with actual paranormal senses. I liked that much better than the "mystic" in the other film, who was a fake. Madame Lu and Sukeena became good friends, which is another thing I really enjoyed. As for Douglas Posey...in "Rose Red" he had Adam and April watch while he hung himself in front of them, after giving them his hat and a rose. The kids watched impassively, not caring that the man they considered to be an "uncle" had just killed himself in front of their eyes. I always hated that part. But in "The Diary", Posey hugs them and tells them that they are going to play hide and seek--just to get them away from the room so they won't watch him suicide. I MUCH prefer that version. It really showed how much he loved them, and I got really attached to his character. It also made the kids seem more real too.

The special effects were pretty much non-existent in this film. At times the dialogue was a little stilted, but I am of the opinion that this is due more to their attempts to stay with the perceived time period. I like this version of Ellen much better too. Thankfully they didn't change Sukeena much at all, and what they added to her story only made me love her more. The plot was handled superbly and everything pretty much matched up to the sequel. We also heard portions of Ellen's diary read aloud through parts of the movie. On a whole, it came across as a drama, not a horror, but a GOOD drama.

I enjoyed this, and I hope you will too.

Being a huge Stephen King fan ( I think the man is brilliant ! ) I saw Rose Red and enjoyed it. When The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer came out, I was interested in seeing it so I bought the movie. Although not as good as Rose Red, this movie is just ok. Set in the early 20th century, this movie shows us why Rose Red became a haunted mansion. It tells the story of Ellen Rimbauer who marries a wealthy man and inherits the mansion named Rose Red. When strange things begin to happen in the mansion beginning with her husband's strange behavior, Ellen begins to question both her husband and what could have happened in this mansion to make it haunted. Crawling with ghosts and spirits, Ellen begins to research Rose Red and doesn't like what she finds. Good special effects but can be boring at times. Only worth renting, I wouldn't suggest buying this movie unless you have seen it first.