Popular reviews

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  Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 5

  if i was living in the middle of a pandemic i would simply hide out in vincent price's psychedelic satan cult castle for rich perverts.

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  Review by nathaxnne [hiatus] ★★★★½ 38

  i regret to inform that here in 2018 AD we now have a famously germophobic ruler who in making a pact with evil has sealed off the border to those fleeing death whilst amusing himself with games of cruelty and moral corruption directed at his courtiers who laugh uproariously as the whole of the world dies around us and it is not remotely as awesome as i had been promised. i await a refund and would like to speak to your manager.

  woe betide those who believe stolen wealth and sufficient walls can keep from them that which awaits us all!

  
  
  

  
  ((tfw u get married to satan, drop a bunch of acid, die a thousand deaths and finally come down…

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  Review by Ian West ★★★★½ 10

  As colorfully stunning as just about any Hammer picture of its time, each scene pops vibrantly with beautiful camerawork from Nicholas Roeg, all while Vincent Price achieves the perfect mixture of devilish charm and insidious evil. 

  This adaptation of Poe’s short story adds some extra things to the source material but also once again shows the often undervalued directorial efforts of Roger Corman—who achieves more with less better than just about anyone. I think The Haunted Palace and this may be my favorite of his ‘Poe Cycle’.

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  Review by pd187 ★★★★½ 2

  people do NOT hoard masques of the red death! they are in short supply and must be reserved for prince prospero & others on the front lines of our depraved satanic bacchanal!

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½

  87

  So scrumptious and evocative that the vast variety of colors are appropriately out of place, with each element at the mercy of your gaze. Combined with DP Nicolas Roeg flooring it through such decadent, crazed, and delicious rooms, this AIP production is nothing less than a stirring, devious descent into falsity and the breathless force of oblivion.

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 7

  Brightly colored gothic horror inspired by Poe (and coming a lot closer to the original story than, say, The Raven), this is an eerily beautiful film. I actually was a bit shocked when Vincent Price outright declared his allegiance to Satan; I expected some sort of work around, some sort of avoidance of the topic. Instead, Corman's film embraced the villainy, declared Satan the master of the universe and the death of God, and then toppled it all with the most gorgeous grim reapers ever (fuck off, Gaiman). This is pre-psychedelic kaleidoscopy painted on the grimmest classic horror. Vincent Price seems to relish his role here, which turns what would be hammy into the exquisite.

  December count: 94/100

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  Review by Mandrakegray ★★★★½ 2

  "Why should you be afraid to die? Your soul has been dead for a long time."

  I found this to be sadly beautiful. A superlative take on Edgar Allan Poe's short story. Price is at his peak, and this is arguably Corman's finest hour.

  First off, all hail those evocative opening credits! I love the splash of red, and that's a cool effect with the rose. It immediately hints at the level of class this Corman production possesses as a whole. The tale has Prince Prospero dismissive of the provincial types of the village he oversees, which is now dealing with a plague known as the Red Death. He burns the location in an attempt to contain the sickness. Meanwhile,…

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  Review by laird ★★★★½ 1

  "Satan. The lord of flies. The fallen angel. [Vincent Price whisper the only way Vincent Price could whisper] The devil."

  This the best looking of the Corman Poe adaptations (shot by Nicolas Roeg!) that I've seen, with a bold color palette leaning towards very-1964-modern psychedelic poster art shades of blue, teal and yellow (like this kind of), and of course deep, deep, deep red. Has almost the air of something like Fellini Satyricon, La Grande Bouffe or even Salo, ultimately less about Satanic evil and more about excess, greed, indulgence, wrath and cruelty: Real end of the empire human flaws that assure mutual destruction and total annihilation. These themes would resonate with Cold War era audiences as much as contemporary…

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★★★ 1

  The Masque of the Red Death is considered by many to be the finest film in Roger Corman's Poe Anthology. Who am I to argue? The film is absolutely electric - a powerhouse performance from Vincent Price, beautiful Gothic visuals and a heavy plot with themes of class, death and religion. While the Red Death sweeps the land, the rich and prosperous look to tyranny to shield them from pestilence. Tyranny comes in the form of Prince Prospero whose sadistic court offers a safe haven to those he deems worthy. Everything in this film is lifted by a keen attention to detail - the vibrant colourful visuals depict disgusting decadence which shows off the dichotomy between the rich and the…

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  Review by Rafael Jovine ★★★★½ 6

  Action!-The March of the (3) Rogers: B Is For Corman

  The first picture I saw by Corman and Vincent Price remains one of their greatest efforts to this day. After nearly seven Poe adaptations, the filmmaker chooses to go for his most ambitious to date. The settings and overall production design are outstanding. This film's costumes are fantastic, and they assist us to believe in our characters and the locations they inhabit. And it goes without saying how magnificent the cinematography is, with its lush colors and heightened feeling of amazement, as even the false landscapes add to the appeal and are effectively interwoven into the plot.

  To be honest, the performances are far from stellar. In fact, the line…

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  Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★ 1

  Vincent Price is excellent in this Roger Corman directed ideological horror film that's adapted from a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. His portrayal of Prospero, a dictatorial prince who victimises the local peasantry while a fatal plague devastates the country, sees him largely self-isolating within the intertrial walls of his castle with a small gathering of attendants who satisfy his unreasonable debauchery as he busily enunciates about his belief in the superiority of Satan and the demise of God.

  The isolated crowd, which is an all-round great cast, soon begin to conduct themselves strangely and eagerly attain much happiness from reverting to a less than developed state which Corman captures through some splendid direction to ensure this being a highlight within his filmography. The exaggeratedly elegant coloured costumes together with the sets function incredibly agreeably together, and they build an almost mythical atmosphere that serves the culmination of the film flawlessly as it morphs with strange surrealism.

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  Review by Joe ★★★★½ 1

  Crazy to imagine something this focused on perversion and degradation, this balletic, this European was a popular drive-in favorite with teens in the mid 60s. It loses its way a bit whenever Price isn't onscreen, but when he is, it coooooks - this might be his very best villainous role, a touch of camp but resonant in his cruelty and inhumanity.

  It's too bad we never got those White Death, Blue Death, Yellow Death, or any of the other Death movies we were promised.