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Red River Scrapbook
The Critical Couch Potato's Fright Flick: "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer"
By J Osborne
Oct 14, 2003
LionsGate Home Entertainment released the DVD "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer Oct. 14.
This made-for-television movie definitely qualifies as one of the better horror movies this year. It has great historical period detail, and is suitably creepy, all the way through.
It's a good little ghost story. Not bad at all. A few spooky scenes, the acting is solid, and the computer generated effects are kept to a minimum. It's very enjoyable. It reminded me, somewhat, of last years winner, "The Others. "
The story and acting were well done and pretty easy to follow. To say the least, it does keep your interest. It starts out with the building of Rose Red and how there was a murder the day that a young and engaged Ellen Rimbauer first lays eyes on the place.
The movie does came up short in that it stops before Ellen and her faithful friend from Africa also disappeared or had something happen to them in the house, according to the Rose Red release.
The diary entry "narrative device" works fairly well and the first instance of the house acting against a houseguest who reads from Mrs. Rimbauer's personal log was well-staged.
The performance of the Chinese medium was also quite effective and I felt that it gave the movie a certain positive "class" for how it forecasts that house's verdict on the unfaithful and abusive husband.
The movie gains a tense scene or two by moving out of the book's first-person narrative, but it uses special effects, subtle though they may be, for scenes that are, in my opinion, best left to the imagination.
The DVD has no recognizable stars, and this releases weight rests firmly on Lisa Brenner's slim shoulders, and she does a fine job bringing Ellen Rimbauer to life. The biggest fault with this otherwise well-done tale is that one of the most important characters, Rose Red, never comes to life.
This film is more than just a haunted-house story.
The descent into madness that all the characters suffer is believable. There's never the desire to yell at the screen, "Quick, you idiot, get out of the house!" We understand why the characters stay in Rose Red, from John's disbelief in the supernatural to Ellen's growing obsession and belief that the house is protecting her from her husband's evil behavior.
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is less a horror story than a drama about a tragic love triangle, with Rose Red filling one of the leads. While there are some scary and distressing moments, this is primarily Ellen's story, and we tumble into her world. John is scarier than Rose Red to the viewer, because we see this tale through Ellen's point of view and through the words of her diary.
Steven Brand and Tsidii Leloka offer excellent backup for Brenner in their key roles. Brand becomes truly villainous as Ellen's husband, John, and Leloka, who repeats her role from the miniseries, is magnetic as Ellen's confidant. But it's Brenner who brings this story to life, through her sympathetic portrayal of Ellen.
As a horror story, "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer" is not scary enough. The tale is an intriguing one, the actors well cast, the costumes well done and the script is handled well. Changes I would have suggested is to have given the house Rose Red a more chilling atmosphere, removing the gratuitous sex scenes in Africa and at Rose Red and continued the tale until Ellen also succumbs to the house's evil.
Cast: Lisa Brenner, Steven Brand, Kate Burton, Tsidii Leloka, Brad Greenquist, Deirdre Quinn, Tsai Chin, Courtney Taylor Burness, Frank Buxton, Jacob Pearce Guzman, Eric Keenleyside, Ridley Pearson, Secunda Smith, and Kyle J.M. Thompson
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| The Rimauer mansion as it appears in "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer" |
