Frightening but Forgotten Stephen King Miniseries Continues to Find New Life on Hulu
Last October, Hulu answered the prayers of countless Stephen King fans by putting the Rose Red miniseries on their platform. Previously not available to stream, it was a herculean task to watch the series if you didn’t already own it in physical form.
Now, horror fans can either discover the manor’s hallowed halls or re-open old wounds. And over six months after the miniseries hit Hulu, it’s still going strong.
In Rose Red:
A college professor and a team of psychics investigate an old, abandoned house at the request of the man who has inherited it. Hoping to explain some of the mysterious deaths and disappearances on the property, the psychics stay in the mansion, but unleash a terrifying force that threatens to destroy them all.
Rose Red was a three-episode miniseries that aired on ABC for three consecutive nights, starting on January 27, 2022. Craig R. Baxley, who previously helmed the Storm of the Century miniseries, directed all three episodes. Like many Stephen King adaptations, it has a stacked ensemble cast, including the late Julian Sands, Kimberly J. Brown, Melanie Lynskey, and Emily Deschanel.
The Rose Red miniseries has quite an interesting production history. Stephen King initially wanted to write a haunted house film and pitched a script to Steven Spielberg. That script began as a loose remake of the 1963 film The Haunting. It was also partially inspired by the Winchester Mystery House and a haunted house from Stephen King’s hometown. But after the release of the 1999 film of the same name, and a few arguments with Spielberg, King pivoted to make the script more expansive and epic. Thus began Rose Red.
However, progress on the Rose Red script halted after King was hit by a car in June of 1999. After he recovered, King finished the script in a month, adapting it to the miniseries format rather than a feature film script. With producer Mark Carliner on board, who had previously produced The Stand and Storm of the Century, pre-production started in July 2000. The rest, as they say, is history.
One shocking fact about the film’s production involves the death of actor David Dukes, who died due to a heart attack just one day before filming his death scene. So, they used a body double for the scene, with King rewriting parts of the script due to the actor’s untimely passing.
Fans today still love the four-hour miniseries, some even asking Stephen King to remake it today for a modern streaming service. Check out some fan reactions below:
Rose Red is streaming now on Hulu.
What do you think of this Stephen King miniseries? Are you going to check it out now that it’s streaming? Let us know on Twitter and Instagram @DreadCentral.
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