This Stephen King Chiller Is Now on Hulu—Is It Really as Bad as Its Reputation Suggests?
A divisive Stephen King adaptation recently became available to stream on Hulu. But should you watch it? Well, that’s entirely up to you, dear reader. But I’ll give you some context so you can make an informed decision. The film in question is called The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer.
In the film, “Dark forces invade a Seattle mansion where an industrialist (Steven Brand) lives with his submissive wife (Lisa Brenner).”
Now that we’ve established that, let’s get into the picture’s quite complicated origins. Buckle up, because it’s a bit of a doozy. The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is technically a Stephen King adaptation, but it’s not so cut and dried. The picture is not directly adapted from a book the author wrote. Nor did King write the teleplay for the film. But it is a prequel to Stephen King’s Rose Red (a miniseries that the author did write). This film was adapted from the Ridley Pearson novel The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red, which was written as a Rose Red miniseries tie-in. Pearson released the book under the pen name Joyce Reardon, PhD.
Plus, Craig R. Baxley, who directed the Rose Red miniseries, also directed the prequel film. Are you still with me? It’s complicated, I know.
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer debuted on May 12, 2003, on ABC. It wasn’t met with a great deal of acclaim at the time and not many have come around to it in the years since. But don’t take the collective consensus as gospel. You may just find something to appreciate about this divisive effort, especiialy if you count yourself a fan of Rose Red.
If you’re curious about the critical response, the film holds an approval rating of 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, with six critics weighing in. The Popcorn Meter (audience score) is a more encouraging 50%.
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is available to stream on Hulu as of the publication of this post. The platform also has Rose Red available if you’d like to experience the entire story.
That’s all I’ve got for you at present. Stay tuned to Dread Central for more killer content in the near future. If you’d like to chat about the virtues of The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, hit me up on Threads @FunWithHorror.
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