Rose Red (miniseries)

2002 television miniseries directed by Craig R. Baxley

Rose Red (also known as Stephen King's Rose Red) is a television miniseries scripted by horror novelist Stephen King. The series was premiered in the United States on ABC on January 27, 2002. The story involves a cavernous Seattle mansion called Rose Red, which is investigated by parapsychologist Dr. Joyce Reardon and a team of psychics.

How beautiful you are, Rose Red.
Rose Red won't let you have what you want, Joyce. It won't let anyone have what they want. Ellen Rimbauer designed it to break hearts as hers was broken, to hurt as she was hurt.
It isn't finished until you say. Until you say.
"You're crazy."
"Crazy? Maybe. But I vouch that Joyce is crazier, and she means to have proof even if someone has to die for her to get it."
You were right, Joyce. I apologize. There is another world. It's quite wonderful. And the best part is, you never have to leave.

Joyce Reardon

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  • I've got the makings of a good group. But these people are candles. Annie Wheaton's a searchlight. If anyone can wake up Rose Red, she can.
  • You could get out of the way or you could get run over; those were the options. In the year of 1906, you were on your own.
  • The final official addition to Rose Red was the Tower Folly, built in the 1950's. A few additional sections were built according to the will of Ellen Rimbauer. From there on, Rose Red grew on its own.

Ellen Rimbauer

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  • How beautiful you are, Rose Red.
  • Houses... are alive. This is something we know. News from our nerve endings. If we're quiet, if we listen, we can hear houses breathe. Sometimes, in the depth of the night, you can even hear them groan. It's as if they were having bad dreams. A good house cradles and comforts; a bad one fills us with instinctive unease. Bad houses hate our warmth and our human-ness. That blind hate of our humanity is what we mean when we use the word 'haunted'.

Nick

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  • Rose Red won't let you have what you want, Joyce. It won't let anyone have what they want. Ellen Rimbauer designed it to break hearts as hers was broken, to hurt as she was hurt.

George Wheaton

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  • [to sister] Sweetheart, taking Annie into a genuinely haunted house? I mean, that's like using your cigarette lighter to see how full your gas tank is!

Madam Stravinsky

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  • It isn't finished until you say. Until you say.

Dialogue

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Dr. Carl Miller: Listen, I'm afraid I have a bit of bad news for you, old girl.
Dr. Joyce Reardon: I'm not old. Not yet, anyway. And I am most certainly not your girl.
Dr. Carl Miller: The Executive Committee's been in session regarding tenure.
Dr. Joyce Reardon: What? Why? No one in the Department is up for tenure. The only thing they could... [realizes] You really are a bastard.
Dr. Carl Miller: The Committee voted 5-2 to revoke your tenure. We tried to contact you so you could attend the meeting; you'll find a message on your machine, if you'll just check- actually, I'm surprised the spirits didn't tell you. See, the general consensus is, it's time to stop the silliness.
Dr. Joyce Reardon: I will fight you every step of the process-
Dr. Carl Miller: Of course, and you'll lose. Your days of haunting the Wimser Psychology Department... common phrase... aren't quite over, but I'm happy to say, they're numbered.
Dr. Joyce Reardon: When I come back from Rose Red with proof-
Dr. Carl Miller: Proof! Oh, this-this is the rallying cry of crackpots and deluded religionists since the Stone Age: "The proof is out there." This is sad, really. You used to be a respected writer and lecturer in the field of child psychology, but then you got bitten by this... virus!
Dr. Joyce Reardon: It is a legitimate field of psychological investigation-
Dr. Carl Miller: It's crap, it's sleaze, it's a spit in the eye of rational thought! But the good news is, Rose Red will be your last goose chase as a member of this faculty.
Dr. Joyce Reardon: You're an idiot and you're blind.
Dr. Carl Miller: What if you found proof? Hm? Let's just suppose! Proof! Photographs, audio recordings of clanking chains, telemetry of some sort. What good would it do? Have you even considered such thoughts?
Dr. Joyce Reardon: [With sudden, eerie calm] I feel remarkably well today, Carl. In spite of all your crap. And this, this is the world we live in... and experience with our senses. Skin, smooth and rational. Where every cause has an effect and can be predicted with the right database at hand. There's a world under that world. Blood, under the skin. That's what rationalistic asses like you never see. It's liquid instead of solid. Hot instead of just warm. It is a world full of mystery. [grabs Miller's face; he tries to pull away] You don't like it, do you? No. So don't give me your bull about bond issues and busted programs. You're afraid of what's under the skin. But I'm not. Do you hear me, Carl? I'm not.

[Kevin Bolinger reaches for Rose Red's front door, but it opens on its own]
Bolinger: Hey, I thought this place was empty.
Sukeena: You would be Mr. Bolinger? The reporter.
Bolinger: Yeah, I'm Bolinger, but how did you know?
Sukeena: Come in, sir. You were expected. This way.

[Dr. Miller shows up at the Psychology Department on Saturday]
Janitor: Hey, Professor, what you doing here?
Dr. Miller: Minding my business, as I hope you will yours. [pulls in frustration on his office door, forgetting he had locked it] Who locked this door?!
Janitor: I imagine you locked it yourself, Professor. It being your office.

Nick: That's the wine cellar. Isn't it marvelous? The door was open when I came down. Haven't you seen it before?
Steve: No.
Nick: Rose Red hasn't just woken up, it's "House & Garden"'s version of Frankenstein's monster.
Steve: That's ridiculous.
Nick: Is it? Listen.
[Steve listens; distant sounds of hammers and hand-saws can be heard from somewhere above in the house]
Steve: You heard much of that?
Nick: Enough to worry me. Bollinger's persistent nonappearance worries me, too. You would think, if he was still here, and alive, we'd have run into him by now, don't you?
Steve: I don't know.
Nick: The longer we go without reporting his disappearance, the more peculiar our position is if he turns up dead, or doesn't turn up at all.
Steve: [looks at the champagne bottle Nick brought from the cellar] Dom Perignon, 1949. A very good year.
Nick: In my experience they're all good years. Pull the cork, Steve. [Steve does] Will you wet your whistle?
Steve: It's a little early for me.
[Nick pours a glass for each of them anyway]
Nick: Cheers.
Steve: Cheers.
Nick: You know, this place is feeding off us. And although I'm sure it finds us all... rather tasty, its primary sources of nourishment are Annie and you.
Steve: I don't have a telepathic bone in me.
Nick: I don't know what you were before, and the house almost ate you, but now you're a psychic transmitter, operating on Rose Red's wavelength. It almost had you. It wants you back. It wants Annie, too.
Steve: You're crazy.
Nick: Crazy? Maybe. But I vouch that Joyce is crazier, and she means to have proof even if someone has to die for her to get it.
Steve: You're wrong.
Nick: Really? Let's ask Mr. Bollinger, if we meet him again.

Sukeena: Sir? Pardon me, sir. Are you here for Mr. Bollinger?
Dr. Miller: [startled] Oh, yes... Bolinger's here?
Sukeena: Waiting for you in the solarium, sir. If you're Professor Miller, that is.
Dr. Miller: He's all right? Not hurt, or...
Sukeena: I believe he is impatient to go home, but other than that he is quite well.
[Dr. Miller nods, realizing Steve Rimbauer lied about Bollinger]
Dr. Miller: It's Rimbauer. [looks around, bewildered] What is going on?!
Sukeena: I'm sure I cannot say, sir. Miss Reardon's party seems rather... rambunctious.
Dr. Miller: Does it indeed? Take me to Bollinger.
Sukeena: Right away, sir.

[Looking outside, Emery Waterman spots his mother's car.]
Emery: That's Momma's little scoot-about.
Sister: That's what?
Emery: Momma's little scoot-about. Sometimes we scoot-about for ice cream and sometimes we scoot-about to the movies... don't look at me like that.

Emery: You know as much as I do. Tell them the rest.
Joyce: Tell us he's insane, start with that.
Nick: But he's not. Why bring psychics, telekinetics and automatic writers here, anyway? It was to recharge a cell that was never dead, merely dormant. And we have all played our part, I think. But Annie has been key. But what Emery doesn't understand is that Steve has been key too.
Joyce: Steve's about as psychic as a ham sandwich.
Nick: Please be quiet, Joyce.
Joyce: Don't you tell me to shut up. How dare you?
Cathy: He asked you to be quiet. And do it, please! I want to hear this.
Nick: Everyone has some psychic capacity. I've read your books and articles. You used to know that, before all this psychic superstar infatuation stuff. I know Miller isn't the only imagination-challenged idiot you've had to deal with. But you've become blinded, misguided.
Joyce: I have not become blinded.
Nick: Whatever Steve's psychic ability in the outside world, here in Rose Red, it's amplified to the power of ten. Because he's blood, Ellen's blood. You said so, you're the last of the Rimbauers.

Emery: Want to play a game, Annie? You take five real deep breaths, squat down, blow on your thumbs. You'll get all floaty, then you'll go to the North Pole with Santa Claus. The rest of us, meanwhile...
Cathy: Stop it!
Emery: ...We'll scurry out of here like the good little mice we are.
Cathy: It's not funny!
Emery: Neither is this! Tell you what, let's find some dry cleaning bags to wrap her up until she passes out, or pinch her nose shut. And you? You're the utility infielder on this team. Knock her out with your mind. Five minutes would be enough for us to make like bees and buzz. Hell, three.

[Mrs. Waterman has just lunged out of the wine cellar is strangling Cathy]
Nick: I beg your pardon. Would you mind awfully letting her go?
Kay Waterman: [looks at Nick but doesn't stop] AAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Nick: I guess not.  [takes out a billiards ball, throws it at Mrs. Waterman, knocking her out]  Are you all right?
Cathy: [gasping] I think so- but, what about her?
Nick: You really are a good Christian, aren't you?

Kay Waterman: YOU KILLED MY BOY!
Cathy: No, we didn't. Why would we do something like that?
[Nick gives Mrs. Waterman some iced tea, but she spits it back at him]
Kay Waterman: Liar! Limey jack-taw!
Nick: Limey jack-taw! I've been called many things, but never that.

Kay Waterman: You took my Emers.
Bolinger: Say cheese.
Joyce: No! Stay away from me!
Kay Waterman: He's gone.
Dr. Miller: You were right, Joyce. I apologize. There is another world. It's quite wonderful.
Nick: Joyce.
Vic: I'll show you the garden. There's lots to investigate.
Dr. Miller: And the best part is, you never have to leave.

Cast

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  Encyclopedic article on Rose Red (miniseries) on Wikipedia

Works by Stephen King
  Novels     Carrie (1974) · 'Salem's Lot (1975) · The Shining (1977) · The Stand (1978) · The Dead Zone (1979) · Firestarter (1980) · Cujo (1981) · Christine (1983) · Pet Sematary
  (1983) · Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) · The Talisman (1984; with Peter Straub) · It (1986) · The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) · Misery (1987) · The Tommyknockers (1987) ·
  The Dark Half (1989) · Needful Things (1991) · Gerald's Game (1992) · Dolores Claiborne (1992) · Insomnia (1994) · Rose Madder (1995) · The Green Mile (1996) ·
  Desperation (1996) · Bag of Bones (1998) · The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) · The Plant (2000; unfinished) · Dreamcatcher (2001) · Black House (2001; with
  Peter Straub) · From a Buick 8 (2002) · The Colorado Kid (2005) · Cell (2006) · Lisey's Story (2006) · Duma Key (2008) · Under the Dome (2009) · 11/22/63 (2011) ·
  Joyland (2013) · Doctor Sleep (2013) · Mr. Mercedes (2014) · Revival (2014) · Finders Keepers (2015) · End of Watch (2016)  
  The Dark Tower series     The Gunslinger (1982) · The Drawing of the Three (1987) · The Waste Lands (1991) · Wizard and Glass (1997) · Wolves of the Calla (2003) · Song of Susannah (2004) ·
  The Dark Tower (2004) · The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)  
  Richard Bachman books     Rage (1977) · The Long Walk (1979) · Roadwork (1981) · The Running Man (1982) · Thinner (1984) · The Bachman Books (1985) · The Regulators (1996) · Blaze (2007)  
  Short fiction collections     Night Shift (1978) · Different Seasons (1982) · Skeleton Crew (1985) · Four Past Midnight (1990) · Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) · Hearts in Atlantis (1999) ·
  Everything's Eventual (2002) · Just After Sunset (2008) · Full Dark, No Stars (2010) · The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015)  
  Non‑fiction     Danse Macabre (1981) · Nightmares in the Sky (1988) · On Writing (2000) · Secret Windows (2000) · Faithful (2004; with Stewart O'Nan)  
  Screenplays     Creepshow (1982) · Cat's Eye (1985) · Silver Bullet (1985) · Maximum Overdrive (1986; also director) · Pet Sematary (1989) · Sleepwalkers (1992) · A Good Marriage
  (2014) · Cell (2015; with Adam Alleca)  
  Teleplays     "Sorry, Right Number" (1987) · Golden Years (1991) · The Stand (1994) · The Shining (1997) · "Chinga" (1998; with Chris Carter) · Storm of the Century (1999) · Rose
  Red
(2002) · Kingdom Hospital (2004) · Desperation (2006) · "Heads Will Roll" (2014)  
  Comics     Creepshow (1982) · Heroes for Hope (1985) · The Secretary of Dreams (2006) · The Dark Tower (2007–) · The Stand (2008–2012) · The Talisman (2009–2010) ·
  American Vampire (2010) · N. (2010) · Road Rage (2012) · The Dark Man (2013)  
  Musical collaborations     Michael Jackson's Ghosts (1997; with Michael Jackson) · Black Ribbons (2010; with Shooter Jennings) · Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2012; with John
  Mellencamp
)  
  Anthologies edited     The Best American Short Stories 2007 (2007; with Heidi Pitlor)  
  See also     Last words in the works of Stephen King · {{Media based on Stephen King works}}  
Adaptations of works by Stephen King
  Films     The Shining (1980) · Cujo (1983) · The Dead Zone (1983) · Christine (1983) · Cat's Eye (1985) · Silver Bullet (1985) · Stand by Me (1986) · The Running Man (1987) · Tales from the
  Darkside: The Movie
(1990) · Graveyard Shift (1990) · Misery (1990) · The Lawnmower Man (1992) · Sleepwalkers (1992) · The Dark Half (1993) · Needful Things (1993) · The
  Shawshank Redemption
(1994) · Dolores Claiborne (1995) · Thinner (1996) · The Night Flier (1997) · Apt Pupil (1998) · The Green Mile (1999) · Hearts in Atlantis (2001) · Dreamcatcher 
  (2003) · Secret Window (2004) · Riding the Bullet (2004) · 1408 (2007) · The Mist (2007) · Dolan's Cadillac (2009) · A Good Marriage (2014) · Cell (2016) · It (2017) · It Chapter Two (2019)  
  Carrie     Carrie (1976) · The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999) · Carrie (2002) · Carrie (2013)  
  Creepshow     Creepshow (1982) · Creepshow 2 (1987) · Creepshow 3 (2006)  
  Children of the Corn     Children of the Corn (1984) · The Final Sacrifice (1993) · Urban Harvest (1995) · The Gathering (1996) · Fields of Terror (1998) · Isaac's Return (1999) ·
  Revelation (2001) · Children of the Corn (2009) · Genesis (2011)  
  Firestarter     Firestarter (1984) · Rekindled (2002)  
  Trucks     Maximum Overdrive (1986) · Trucks (1997)  
  Pet Sematary     Pet Sematary (1989) · Pet Sematary Two (1992) · Pet Sematary (2019)  
  The Mangler     The Mangler (1995) · The Mangler 2 (2001) · *The Mangler Reborn (2005)  
  Television     Episodes     "Gramma" (1986) · "Sorry, Right Number" (1987) · "The Revelations of Becka Paulson" (1997)  
  Series     Golden Years (1991) · The Dead Zone (2002–07) · Kingdom Hospital (2004) · Haven (2010–present) · Under the Dome (2013–15) · 11.22.63 (2016)  
  Films or miniseries     It (1990) · The Tommyknockers (1993) · The Stand (1994) · The Langoliers (1995) · The Shining (1997) · Quicksilver Highway (1997) · Storm of the Century
  (1999) · Stephen King's Desperation (2006) · Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006) · Bag of Bones (2011) · Big Driver (2014)  
  Salem's Lot     Salem's Lot (1979) · A Return to Salem's Lot (1987) · Salem's Lot (2004)  
  Sometimes They Come Back     Sometimes They Come Back (1991) · Sometimes They Come Back... Again (1996) · Sometimes They Come Back... for More
  (1998)  
  Rose Red     Rose Red (2002) · The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2003)  
  See also     {{Stephen King}}