History Series / RoseRed

Joyce Reardon (Creator/NancyTravis), a discredited professor of Parapsychology, wants to "wake up" the mansion by bringing in a team of [[PsychicPowers psychics]] to connect with the paranormal manifestations that might be residing there. Her team consists of [[ChildMage Annie Wheaton]] ([[Creator/KimberlyJBrown Kimberly J. Brown]]), [[GoodSamaritan Cathy Kramer]] (Judith Ivey), [[NoSocialSkills Emery Waterman]] (Matt Ross), [[DeadpanSnarker Nick Hardaway]] (Creator/JulianSands), [[WideEyedIdealist Pam Asbury]] (Creator/EmilyDeschanel), and [[CoolOldGuy Victor (Vic) Kandinsky]] (Kevin Tighe), along with [[NiceGuy Steve Rimbauer]] (Creator/MattKeeslar), [[LastOfHisKind the last-known member]] [[SingleLineOfDescent of the Rimbauer family]], and [[BadassNormal Rachel Wheaton]] (Creator/MelanieLynskey), Annie's older sister.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Ellen, who was married to John and implied to have a lesbian affair with her housekeeper Sukeena.
** in the tie in novel this is confirmed, with Ellen lusting after at least 3 women, and fighting with John about her affair with Sukeena.

* CreepyHousekeeper: Even when she was still alive, Sukeena had vibes of this thanks to her exotic nature, her accent and her slow manner of speaking. [[FromBadToWorse Once the house took her]]...
** in the tie in novel Sukeena kills at least one person while still alive, and defends Ellen from some attackers using vague magical powers.

** in the tie in novel, Mr. Corbin, after being arrested, takes out his own eyes in prison and dies from blood loss.

* {{Expy}}: Annie, of ''Literature/{{Carrie}}''. Rose Red of the Winchester Mystery House. Ellen Rimbauer of Sarah Winchester.
** There are several connections to ''Literature/TheShining'', the most notable of which are Annie and Ellen being roughly analogous to Danny Torrence and Horace Derwent and Rose Red itself to the Overlook Hotel, in particular how both structures draw power from psychics.
*** With his array of psychic powers and sarcastic but protective nature, Nick Hardaway seems a bit like a younger, race-lifted Dick Halloran (and even have similar-sounding names). He's also clearly inspired by (and was for a time theorized to be) Nick from Literature/TheLangoliers.

* HauntedHouse: Obviously. However, it is inverted in at least one literal respect: the inside of the house is not scary at all at first, with warm colors, beautiful furnishings and artwork, and only some cobwebs and dust cloths to show the place isn't lived in. This was intentional, as one of the producers stated "We wanted the place to feel inviting, to feel like a home...it's only after you're there for a while that the chill starts to set in and grab hold of you..."
** in the book Ellen calls the house Rose and says it is her friend.

* {{Jerkass}}: Emery starts out as this, especially towards Nick. After all the terrible experiences he goes through in the house, though, [[TookALevelInKindness he seems to be on good terms with the other characters at the end]].

** in the prequel, John and Ellen, though neither are super sane to begin with. John eventually develops a nasty [[spoiler:opium habit and outright threatens murder for petty things.]] Ellen actively begins to wish death on people and feed the house.

* NeverSuicide: As Cathy and the team soon discover, Rimbauer died in an apparent suicide by throwing himself from an upper stained-glass window; in actuality, however, he was murdered by Ellen and Sukeena. The tie in novel clarifies it was actually [[the house and/or April]] who kills him for getting in the way of construction. Ellen and Sukeena absolutely intended to murder him. Averted with Posey.

** In the past, it is made very clear how much of a monster John Rimbauer was, and the viewer's sympathy is clearly meant to be with Ellen and Sukeena (and the miniseries is pretty successful in this regard); this is made even more clear in the prequel film and book''The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer.'' But by the time of the present, having become ghosts in the house, both Ellen and Sukeena have just as clearly [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil become depraved and wicked as the house itself]], to the point [[MotiveDecay their only motivation]] is killing/absorbing more people, making the house grow, and in Ellen's case [[spoiler:trapping her own great-grandson into becoming part of/fueling Rose Red and helping it grow]]. The revelation of their murder of John is thus also played as a DarkSecret rather than just a KarmicDeath. As a result, even though the viewer can sympathize with them at the start, by the end it's clear TheCorruption has turned Ellen and Sukeena into dark spirits that deserve to be destroyed (or at least exorcised/laid to rest).

-->''(A rat bursts out from behind a wall)''
-->'''Nick''': It's the reincarnation of Emery's mother!
-->'''Cathy''': (''chiding''): Nick...

-->'''Joyce''': When Ellen gave birth to a daughter with a withered arm, she blamed her African sickness and her husband's sexual appetites, although she wrote, "In my mind they are one", to which she added, "Damn all men".

** There are several connections to ''Literature/TheShining'', the most notable of which are Annie and Ellen being roughly analogous to Danny Torrence and Horace Derwent and Rose Red itself to the Overlook Hotel, in particular how both structures draw power from psychics. With his array of psychic powers and sarcastic but protective nature, Nick Hardaway seems a bit like a younger, race-lifted Dick Halloran (and even have similar-sounding names).

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: While Bollinger was happy to help Professor Miller discredit Joyce with his photographs, he seems to sense something is off about Rose Red once they get there and voices his doubts to Miller...Who immediately drives away, sealing Bollinger's fate.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Pam, Vic, Professor Miller, and Mrs. Waterman all die at the hands of Rose Red, but almost everyone else is able to escape the mansion and Annie, finally broken from its control, uses her psychic abilities to destroy the mansion. Joyce also is killed by the spirits by the very thing she desired (wanting to stay in Rose Red to prove the paranormal). Despite this, the series ends with a six month gap with the surviving characters paying their respects to those who died to the mansion, which is slated for demolition]].

Joyce Reardon (Creator/NancyTravis), a discredited professor of Parapsychology, wants to "wake up" the mansion by bringing in a team of [[PsychicPowers psychics]] to connect with the paranormal manifestations that might be residing there. Her team consists of [[ChildMage Annie Wheaton]] ([[Creator/KimberlyJBrown Kimberly J. Brown]]), [[GoodSamaritan Cathy Kramer]] (Judith Ivey), [[NoSocialSkills Emery Waterman]] (Matt Ross), [[DeadpanSnarker Nick Hardaway]] (Julian Sands), [[WideEyedIdealist Pam Asbury]] (Creator/EmilyDeschanel), and [[CoolOldGuy Victor (Vic) Kandinsky]] (Kevin Tighe), along with [[NiceGuy Steve Rimbauer]] (Creator/MattKeeslar), [[LastOfHisKind the last-known member]] [[SingleLineOfDescent of the Rimbauer family]], and [[BadassNormal Rachel Wheaton]] (Creator/MelanieLynskey), Annie's older sister.

** in the tie in novel, Mr. Corbin, after being arrested, takes out his own eyes in prison and dies from bloodless.

* DoubleStandard: In-story example in Rose Red itself--thanks to the feelings of its owner, Ellen, coupled with John's villainy, the house tends to make women simply disappear and [[YouWillBeAssimilated become part of the house]] while men are outright killed.
** [[spoiler:Nick]] disappears, though. Maybe the house liked [[DeadpanSnarker his sense of humor]]? Or perhaps the need for someone with so much psychic power to feed it outweighed his gender.
* DrivenToSuicide: Douglas Posey. It didn't pay to be a known homosexual in those days, but John Rimbauer's persecution was more due to, it seemed, fears of his former partner being [[PaedoHunt a little too close to his son]] (or perhaps fear of him coming on to his boss, since they had been such [[HeterosexualLifePartners very good friends]]).
** the tie in novel makes it clear this death accelerated Rose Red's hauntings. Before then all the disappearances and murders happen in the east wing, slowly spreading out. After Posey kills himself in the west wing nowhere in the house is safe.

* EldritchAbomination: Rose Red itself, if you believe that it's [[GeniusLoci sentient]]. The prequel confirms said sentience.
** Also, EldritchLocation, AlienGeometries, SinisterGeometry, LivingLabyrinth, and BiggerOnTheInside.
* EverybodysDeadDave: [[spoiler:Emery]]

* GardenOfEvil: The ominously dead, then ominously and richly alive, solarium has definite shades of this.
** in the prequel novel, the solarium actively starts eating people and is one of the first rooms to be actively supernatural. Sukeena feeds it at least one victim, and eventually it [[spoiler:eats her.]]

* HauntedHouseHistorian: Joyce Reardon takes this role for most of the movie, with Steve occasionally stepping in to the role... to her ''jealousy.''

* HideYourLesbians: Ellen and Sukeena's close relationship. As revealed in the miniseries, Ellen and Sukeena remained close and it is hinted their relationship may have been something more than just friends. In her diary, Ellen never refers to Sukeena as her servant. First, she calls her "my friend". Later, "my Sister".

* {{Jerkass}}:
** Surprisingly, Emery started out as kind of a jerk, but most of what he said was either justified or retaliation for something Nick said. Emery comes off more as a woobie after it's him that most of the really awful things happen to, having had to witness somebody die, gone partially insane in convincing himself that it never happened, damn near got killed by several spirits and then loses his mother, not knowing until her ghost tries to kill him. [[TookALevelInKindness He also seems to be on good terms with the other characters at the end]].
** Also, at least in {{Backstory}}, John Rimbauer, to the point of being a ManipulativeBastard. See how his carelessness during adultery led to Ellen contracting some sort of venereal disease which was responsible for April's withered arm, his plots with the stable boys to hide his assignations with the maids, how he reacts to one of them disappearing (i.e., more worried she'd fled to the police and would rat on him), his [[DrivenToSuicide driving his business partner to suicide]] rather than be outed as gay, his ordering the arrest (and torture) of Sukeena for April's disappearance, as revenge for the [[affair Ellen is having with Sukeena.]] He only agrees to allow Sukeena back if she and Ellen [[have a threesome with him. Whenever he wants.]] His fate is definitely a case of well-deserved LaserGuidedKarma.
** Professor Miller. He constantly insults and belittles Joyce for her interests in the supernatural, and used Kevin Bollinger to spy on and mock Joyce and her plan in the school newspaper. While it ''is'' understandable that he's skeptical, it seemed more like he was desperate to ruin her. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And he yelled at a student who was pretty much observing him after Joyce scared him shitless]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick. He routinely uses Emery as a target for his snarks, but he shows many times that he is a great guy nevertheless. Including a moment or two for Emery, surprisingly.
* TheLoad: Rachel, most of the time, and lampshaded by [[Creator/MelanieLynskey her actress]]: "I spend all my time saying 'Annie, are you okay? Steve, are you okay?' I'm not a psychic, so I'm not any use when all the paranormal stuff starts happening." Still a BadassNormal though, and in the end, her status as TheHeart and MoralityChain for both Annie and Steve may be what saves them.

* MalevolentArchitecture: Rose Red has freaky architecture ''by design'' thanks to Ellen and Sukeena's overzealous desire to please the house, ranging from a perspective hallway and a mirror library to an upside-down room and a rose window tower. But when the house [[GeniusLoci awakens]] and draws on psychic energy, it can, as Nick says, "be as big as it wants." Corridors change direction, people can get lost just going around a corner, whole sections of the house switch places, at one point an endless stairwell freaks out Emery, and even having a ball of string to follow won't take you back where you started without cleverness and telekinesis. While Rose Red was inspired by the Winchester Mystery House, the most ominous aspect here is that even after Ellen and everyone else had died, the house continued to grow and build itself. It's one of the more convincing and disconcerting effects in the miniseries.
* ManChild: Emery has shades of this, due to the fact that he's still under the thumb of his [[MyBelovedSmother Beloved Smother]].
* MeaningfulName: Invoked in story with Ellen's son: "I shall call him 'Adam,' for he shall be the first."

* [[MrExposition Miss Exposition]]: Joyce is this for the whole first part of the miniseries, explaining the history of the Rimbauers and Rose Red to her party of psychics. While she was a university professor so the location was a natural choice, the fact she [[LectureAsExposition briefed them in an actual lecture hall]] may count as a LampshadeHanging. She continues to be so while giving the tour of Rose Red (something Emery [[SarcasmMode remarks on snidely]] later), until Nick and Steve take over her duties when [[LaughingMad she is]] [[UnusualEuphemism indisposed]].

* NoSocialSkills: Emery

* RealityWarper: Rose Red

* [[SpookyPainting Spooky Photo]]: While there is a painting of Ellen Rimbauer in the foyer of the house, it is never viewed as particularly ominous even with the tracking shots and the play of light and shadows on it. However, the wedding photo of the Rimbauers in the attic becomes positively nightmarish when Ellen's face morphs into a fanged corpse which then lunges through the shattering glass at poor Cathy.
* StalkerShrine: Downplayed, and crossed with ShrineToTheFallen since the subject is dead, but the wall of photographs in Joyce's office depicting shots of both Rose Red and Ellen Rimbauer certainly partakes of the feeling of the trope...especially in one shot when, after believing she's succeeded in getting Rachel and Annie onboard and is admiring the wall, she sits back in her chair with a disturbing and unsettling smile; the viewer can practically hear her thinking, "I'm coming (home), Ellen" as a [[MirrorCharacter parallel]] to Ellen's own enraptured words upon first seeing the completed mansion, "How beautiful you are, Rose Red."

* DeathBySex: Sukeena invokes this by seducing John so that she and Ellen can push him out the window.