Rose Red (miniseries) - Reception

Reception

Rose Red, which aired during sweeps, was a ratings hit with an average of 18.5 million viewers over three nights and an 8.5 rating.

Critical reception to the miniseries was mixed. The New York Times called it fun if not terribly original:

Most of the way, the cast, directed by Craig R. Baxley, show restraint (under the circumstances). Until they are overwhelmed by the inevitable unraveling of reason, Ms. Travis's Joyce and Mr. Sands's Nick are two people you would definitely want along the next time you bunk down in a ghostly manse. The production, including Stuart Robertson's visual effects, serves the story without overwhelming it. Rose Red is a clever tale to the end. You'll never be tempted to take it seriously. But if you let it hook you, you won't be tempted to turn it off. —

Another critic noted that, while the miniseries moves along "effectively", the effort seemed "padded to more than four hours" with "needless exposition ... and repetitious spookhouse sequences". Daily Variety was more critical of the miniseries, however, noting that "All of the elements that make a King story so accessible and entertaining are missing from this production." Daily Variety praised director Craig Baxley's direction, cinematographer David Connell's camera work, Craig Stearns' special effects and production design, and young actress Kimberly Brown's performance. But the magazine concluded that the over-long script and "backstories, particularly the origin of the house, are so convoluted and ill conceived, even the best f/x can't save the day." Critic Laura Fries had particularly severe criticism for actress Nancy Travis:

It's hard to say whether or not Travis is simply the wrong choice for Reardon or if she just took the wrong approach. For the entire mini, the actress grimaces like a rabid dog; her character frothing at the idea of recording psychic anomalies at the expense of everyone around her. Most important, however, she never convincingly demonstrates the kind of power of persuasion it takes to win over strangers to do her character's bidding. —

Other critics panned the screenplay as "dumbly, numbly entertaining pastiche" and "a strained struggle for cogent characters and a coherent story line", but praised the production for its sound, visual effects, music, and make-up.

Other reviewers found little to praise in the miniseries, however. "Rose Red is a rambling wreck of a film...about as scary as a hangnail," said the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "...It is made-for-TV pablum, meant to satisfy unsophisticated palates the way restaurants make ordinary food seem appetizing with highfalutin menus." USA Today focused on what it felt was a poor story and slow pacing: "...a numbingly predictable series of seen-it-before jolts...played at exceedingly slow speed." Many critics were unimpressed with the special visual effects which others had found praiseworthy. "Rose Red," said the New York Daily News, "...is a haunted-house story that's told so slowly, it's almost inert. The climactic special effects are even worse, guaranteeing that—should you last to the end—the only screaming you'll be doing is with laughter." Critic and academician Tony Magistrale felt the miniseries over-relied on special effects so much that it felt "oppressive", concluding:

the miniseries spends an excessive amount of time dramatizing the shocking and horrific displays of the house's reanimation and not nearly enough effort examining why any of these displays are relevant to a larger purpose.... While the film's super-annuated Halloween tricks are often visually and technically stunning, they also tend to weaken the seriousness of Rose Red's storyline and dominate it at the expense of character development. —

Most damning of all, he concluded, was the lack of character development: "...there are few characters in the miniseries that we care about—and certainly no one to inspire the heroic imagination, as does Wendy Torrance in the minseries version of The Shining or Mike Anderson in Storm ."