I am woefully ignorant of Roger Corman's work, having only previously seen The Trip and Wild Angels. But The Masque of the Red Death flies in the face of what I assume one of his films will be: grandiose sets, lavish costumes and visual flair to spare (possibly thanks to director of photography Nicholas Roeg).

The intertwining stories are entertaining but mostly unimportant, ultimately serving the final moral. But there's enough Technicolor shock and gore and surrealism to propel the whole affair along enjoyably.

Oh, and Vincent Price fucking rules all.

An entertaining, lavishly corny adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story about a Satan-worshipping prince named Prospero (Vincent Price) who, in order to escape a mysterious, deadly plague sweeping the countryside known as the "Red Death," holes himself away in his castle along with several equally abhorrent members of the ruling class. Death himself still manages to crash the party, though. Literally.

Fittingly for a Roger Corman film, there are cheesy moments and some stiff supporting performances, but the film is extremely well done. It's highly cinematic, has terrific and highly detailed sets, it's directed with genuine artistry, and it has a great deal of gloomy, spooky, fog-and-shadows atmosphere. I'd even call it "classy," which is kinda rare for a Corman film. And one just can't say enough about Vincent Price. He is simply the coolest.

100 Films December Thing #12

Another great villainous performance I saw tonight was Vincent Price as Prince Prospero in this early Roger Corman. Wasn't so into the film though. It was perhaps too 'on the money' for a Poe adaptation after watching Spirits of the Dead last night. Needed some tension and a bit of directorial flair. Price is great though.

on Vincent P ... you so cray cray

and amazing

Edit: I reviewed this on my phone. Forgive me.

As a gothic horror masquerading as a costume drama that plays like second rate Shakespeare, there isn't quite enough bloodletting or suspense that the awesomely atmospheric opening scene promises. This well directed, overproduced melodrama could have used some tighter editing to quicken the pace and drop some of the non-satanic subplots. The vivid reds and B-grade cultism make it fun enough, and a magnetically hammy Vincent Price make it worth it's bloated runtime.

An entertaining, lavishly corny adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story about a Satan-worshipping prince named Prospero (Vincent Price) who, in order to escape a mysterious, deadly plague sweeping the countryside known as the "Red Death," holes himself away in his castle along with several equally abhorrent members of the ruling class. Death himself still manages to crash the party, though. Literally.

Fittingly for a Roger Corman film, there are cheesy moments and some stiff supporting performances, but the film is extremely well done. It's highly cinematic, has terrific and highly detailed sets, it's directed with genuine artistry, and it has a great deal of gloomy, spooky, fog-and-shadows atmosphere. I'd even call it "classy," which is kinda rare for a Corman film. And one just can't say enough about Vincent Price. He is simply the coolest.

5 daggers? Doesn't that seem a little unfair

This film would’ve surely given me terrible, terrible nightmares as a child.

Possibly the visually richest of Cormans Poe adaptations but just doesn't entertain like House of Usher or The Pit and the Pendulum.

Can't really rate this any higher than 3 stars as I was asleep for most of the second half which was a shame because I was really looking forward to watching it... The first half was really good though, I loved Prospero's castle.

Camp as it gets, and yet Vincent Price and Patrick Magee bring enough gravitas to the proceedings that this almost works as a serious piece of horror cinema. Almost, that is, but not quite. Camp wins the day, but regardless still worth watching for all that.

Jesús, qué viaje. Muy diferente en tono al resto de las películas dirigidas por Corman, protagonizadas por Price y basadas en obras de Allan Poe. Como las otras, es una gran película, pero The masque of red death está en otra onda muy muy tremenda, no tanto de terror sino de alucine. Como siempre, la ambientación que logra Corman retratando la pudrición en un castillo medieval es impecable, Vincent Price muestra otra vez por qué es mi actor favorito de todos los tiempos y tiene varias secuencias de WHAT THE FUCK. Dos asuntos sobresalientes a notar: los cuartos de colores y la larga marcha final de las pestes. Recomiendo ampliamente ver todas las que Corman y Price hicieron juntos, de las más grandes colaboraciones entre actor y director que ha habido en el cine.