I was perusing through one of my local video stores last weekend looking for something new to check out. I saw a decent title and a pretty cool boxcover to a movie so I picked it up. It looked like a good haunted house story. After reading the back and finding out that Stephen King had a hand in it, I almost put it down. However, I am not one to hold a grudge, and millions of people worldwide do enjoy his stuff, so I thought I would check it out.

This movie is basically a companion piece to Rose Red, which I have not seen. I believe Diary was a miniseries and is supposed to explain in greater detail the hauntedness of the house that is being investigated in Rose Red.

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is indeed a story about a big haunted house.

The movie takes place around the year 1900. The house was made by John Rimbauer for his new bride. Since the initial building process of the house however, several mishaps and a lot of all around bad luck have been happening. I think it has to do with being built on an old Indian burial ground or something lame like that. Anyway, the house takes on a life of its own and is out to essentially protect Ellen.

John Rimbauer is this really rich guy. I think he was in the oil business, but I am not sure. Anyway, he is a world class jackass. He is always looking for other women to have sex with and torture and he is an all around not very nice guy. However, he did initially woo Ellen into marrying him, despite some ominous warnings from some “friends” of hers. Of course she is pretty much an idiot anyway. On their honeymoon, they went to Africa. There, she was drugged and ended up being a 3rd wheel in a menage-a-stuffed tacofest with another honey. Not a great sign. I guess that things were different back then.

Anyway, the house sees John and his adulterous actions as a potential threat to Ellen, so what does the house do? Well, instead of making John suffer, the house starts making all of John’s female “acquaintances” disappear one by one. So much for taking care of a problem at its source. Anyway, throw in a séance or two and some haunted house cliches, and you have the making of horror movie mediocrity at its finest!

Anyway, counting the plot holes, the seemingly misguided actions of the house, and the fact that I believe this was made for tv, this was a pretty average movie. It was a little too long and uninteresting. It did look good though. The acting was good and you could tell a good amount of money was spent making it and setting the tone.

I am not a Stephen King fan, by any stretch of the imagination. However, this movie was consistent with my expectations. If you dig Stephen King, or like tamer, longer, in-depth movies, check it out. Otherwise, check out something else.

I give this move 5 out of 10 hidden sex rooms that you can drive your car into and park in if you like.