3/5 The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer DVD
  by Jeannine M. McCarty (Columbus, OH)
The movie was not close enough to the book for me...they did a good job on it though.

5/5 Wonderful
  by Truda Norman (MN, USA)
I had to have this because I have the 2nd one, Red Rose. Love it.

5/5 Another Good Movie
  by Terry L. Mozingo (Tombstone, Arizona United States)
This movie is the prequal to Rose Red. It fills in the questions of the past events of Rose Red.

5/5 Diary of Ellen Rimbauer
  by Margarette M. Kring (Baldwin City, KS)
It is an unforgettable story of a woman with a husband who drove her to madness. The house,{Red Rose} must have been cursed from the day the foundation was laid and all of its evil transported to Seattle.
I have watched this twice and will probably watch it a dozen times more. It is a gripping tale. Be sure to watch Rose Red.

5/5 Good prequel.
  by Amber (Georgia)
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.