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Showing posts from October 21, 2010

The Masque of the Red Death (1964) - Roger Corman

Masque of the Red Death by Roger Corman is more of a work of art than a film. The movie has beautifully colored sets and perfectly constructed costumes; the acting from Vincent Price is superb and is equaled by the beautiful actress Jane Asher. However, the problems begin when we get into the storyline; the short story the film is based on by Edgar Allan Poe is, just that, short; and Roger Corman adds a few interweaving stories to drag the movie up to 89 minutes. He adds a certain flair to the movie and makes the story more his own and less of Poe's. The story is about the satanic and tyrannical Prince Prospero who rules his land and its subjects through fear. When the Red Death breaks out the Prince holes up in his castle with his "friends" for a five year long party in order to avoid the infection, however the self imposed quarantine is only effective for so long. The movie depicts Prospero and his growing paranoia, shunning friends and actually killing some o