The Masque of the Red Death
Roger Corman
- 1964
- USA, Great-Britain
- Fantasy / Horror
- 1h30mn
- Original version with French subtitles
- Color
In the Middle Ages, satanist prince Prospero terrorizes the surrounding population. When a plague called The Red Death afflicts the country, he invites the nobles to a ball, where they must partake in sadistic games.
Corman’s ultimate Poe adaptation, with a higher budget than his other films, transcends the writer’s morbid poetic short story with its amazing formal treatment, pushing visual experimentation to extremes, from its fabulous Gothic sets to the psychedelic lighting by cinematographer Nicolas Roeg. This refined and cruel tale about death, coupled with a tragicomical reflection on good and evil, invoking both Shakespeare and Bergman, remains one of the filmmaker’s most ambitious and successful films and also gives Vincent Price one of his most memorable roles.
Credits
- With : Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher, John Westbrook, Patrick Magee...
- Screenplay : Charles Beaumont, R. Wright Campbell
- Photography : Nicolas Roeg
- Editing : Ann Chegwidden
- Music by : Dave Lee
- Production : Roger Corman
