Review of The Masque of the Red Death (1964) by Phil H — 04 Jan 2016

This was a pleasant surprise. I find most Edgar Allan Poe adaptations to be lame, excluding that marvelous James Mason narration of THE TELL TALE HEART, and perhaps most especially THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER also featuring Vincent Price and directed by Roger Corman.

Corman oversaw this tremendous adaptation of THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH which elaborates on the cruelty of the wealthy during the Dark Ages and adds a little Satan worship in for fun. More could have been done with the lighting and toning down the extravagant rainbow of costumes. Those lifted the mood a little too much for my liking, but overall this was quite an impressive expansion on Poe's original short story.