Review: The Masque of the Red Death

Vincent Price plays the sadistic Prospero, a Satanist and hedonist who burns down an entire village believed to contain one person afflicted with the Red Death. Jane Asher is Francesca, who begs Prospero to at least spare the lives of her father (Nigel Green) and beau (David Weston). He decides to keep all three of them prisoner in his castle instead, with plans to personally corrupt Christian follower Francesca. Meanwhile, Prince Prospero and his orgy-loving sycophants are preparing for an upcoming masque. Hazel Court plays Prospero’s Satanist mistress Julianna, whilst Patrick Magee and Skip Martin play Alfredo and Hop Toad, a couple of plotters in Prospero’s castle. Meanwhile, a mysterious Man in Red (John Westbrook) looks set to descend upon Prospero’s castle.

 

I wouldn’t say I was underwhelmed, but when I first saw this 1964 Edgar Allen Poe flick from director Roger Corman, I wasn’t as big on it as many others seem to be (It’s easily the most critically acclaimed film of Corman’s directorial career). It was the last of the Corman-Price-Poe cycle that I had watched, and I simply preferred “Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and especially “The Tomb of Ligeia”. Getting another look at it recently, I’ve come to really appreciate it. Without question it’s one of the best-looking colour films ever made, with top-notch art/set direction and cinematography in particular. For a film that, like always with Corman, had a fairly modest budget, he really made those dollars go as far as possible. The interior set design is just a work of art, with each room’s interior having its own colour. It may not have been a mega-budget film, but Corman and his crew somehow manage to make it so stunningly (and richly) colourful that the only word you can use to describe it is opulent.

 

I have to say, it’s a bloody good film, and it’s easy now for me to see why it’s so well-respected. It’s the most ambitious and artistically-minded film of the Corman-Price-Poe cycle, and features an excellent performance by star Vincent Price. More measured than some of his work, but certainly not subtle, it’s probably my second favourite Price performance of the cycle, after “The Tomb of Ligeia”. He gets one wonderfully insinuating line: ‘Tonight after the masque, I’ll initiate you into understanding!’. Hazel Court is also excellent back-up as Julianna, though obviously it’s not easy to notice anyone else with Price and the set design taking centre stage. In support, the always solid Nigel Green has a somewhat thankless role, whilst Patrick Magee is equally disgusting and pathetic. Then again, the entire population of Prospero’s court is fairly rotten, decadent and pathetic. Meanwhile, the ‘commoners’ outside are plague-stricken and dying. If there’s one dud in the cast, and in fact it’s the only flaw in the film, it comes in the form of the James MacArthur wannabe romantic lead David Weston, who is practically invisible on screen. Listen out for John Westbrook giving a real Christopher Lee vocal imitation masterclass as The Man in Red. He’s so dead on that lots of people (including at least one family member of mine) were initially convinced it was an uncredited Lee doing the job.

 

Meanwhile, a lot of these sorts of films have a fiery finale, but this one goes to blazes in the opening 10 minutes! Corman goes absolutely bug-fuck crazy with one aquamarine-hued dream/nightmare sequence. It’s a shame Corman turned into more of a producer-businessman after a while and abandoned directing altogether after 1990’s “Frankenstein Unbound”. When the material was right (as it is here), he was a really good filmmaker. We also get one of the better and more mature music scores of the cycle by David Lee (who did a fair bit on British TV).

 

Presumably influential for filmmakers like Dario Argento, this gorgeously coloured, stunningly shot (by future arty-farty director Nicolas Roeg) horror film is definitely one of the better Corman-Price-Poe films. Price is excellent, Hazel Court is terrific too. Scripted by Charles Beaumont (“The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao”, “The Haunted Palace”) & R. Wright Campbell (“Machine-Gun Kelly”, and my favourite biker film “Hell’s Angels on Wheels”), it’s a really good film, if not my favourite of the Poe cycle. It sure is stunning to look at, though, and it’s a travesty that the film wasn’t even nominated for Set Design and Cinematography Oscars, it deserved to win both categories. Must-see if you’re a Vincent Price fan, horror fan, or interested in set design/colour cinematography.

 

Rating: B+