Wildly considered the best of Corman's Poe adaptations, The Masque of The Red Death tells the story of Prince Prosperois, a diabolical man who has sworn his elegance to the devil, ruthlessly terrorizing the plague-ridden peasants from behind his Castle walls. The story begins in a small peasant village, where Prince Prosperois first learns of the Red Death plague. Instead of attempting to help the villagers, Prosperois decides to burn the village to the ground. When two villagers, Gino and his father-in-law Ludovico stand up to the diabolical prince, they are ordered to their death. Right before Prospero has them slain, Gino's beautiful wife, Francesca, intervenes, begging for their lives. Enchanted by her beauty, Prosperois decides to take Gino and Ludovico as prisoners for the time being, also bringing Francesca along, hoping to corrupt her. Roger Corman's The Masque of the Red Death is a lavish gothic horror tale that is most memorable for Vincent Price's devious performance as Prince Prospero. This is Vincent Price as his worst, a devil-worshiping, one-percent-er, who shows no mercy in routinely having peasants slain or tortured for his own personal gain. In making a pact with the devil, the prince believes he has risen above mortality, finding himself in for a rude awakening when coming face-to-face with the masque of red death. Certainly one of Corman's more "high-quality" efforts, The Masque of the Red Death features lavish production design that is pulsating with color. While the film is worth your time for the Price performance alone, The Masque of The Red Death has some interesting things to say about humankind's need and desire to quantify the afterlife, with both the Prince and the peasants having their own form of god or higher power that they aspire too. The film, and short story, is an interesting commentary on this, arguing that death itself does not respond to a higher-power, being something that simply exists as a part of nature.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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