“Rose Red” is essentially a remake/homage of Shirley Jackson’s immortal classic “The Haunting of Hill House.” It concerns a sprawling, allegedly haunted mansion that looms empty over the landscape, waiting for some unlucky souls to come calling. Sure enough, a parapsychologist and a team of psychics head to the house for a weekend to investigate. Drawing on Jackson’s story and several supposedly real-life haunted locations, like the Winchester Mystery House, King’s lengthy teleplay resulted in a 3-part miniseries that clocked in at 255 minutes and cost a hefty (for TV at the time) $35 million price tag, with a cast that includes Nancy Travis, Julian Sands, Melanie Lynskey, Emily Deschanel, and more.
“Rose Red” isn’t what I’d call one of King’s best works. Sure, it has its charms, and I kind of miss the old days when King could churn out a miniseries and make it a big event (see also: “The Stand,” “The Shining” miniseries adaptation, and “Storm of the Century”). But the acting in “Rose Red” is too broad for its own good, and the scares just aren’t there, even though the film throws a ton of people in ghoul make-up our way. We also get a bonus moment where King cameos as the world’s oldest pizza guy, though, so that’s something. But the version of “Rose Red” that exists now (it’s currently streaming on Hulu if you’re interested in checking it out for yourself) has nothing to do with Steven Spielberg.
But it almost did.