Review of The Masque of the Red Death

For the best of his big screen Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, Roger Corman hot footed it to England where the movie qualified for the Eady Levy affording it a greater budget and filming time. Corman expanded Pope's original story to incorporate plot elements from another of his short stories called 'Hop-Frog,' and the macabre affair sees villainous Vincent Price playing the evil Prince Prospero, a devil worshipping and cruel dictator in medieval Italy, who holes up in his castle with the local gentry while the local peasants are ravaged by the plague. Shot in glorious technicolour by a certain Nicolas Roeg on sets used for the BAFTA award winning movie 'Becket,' the movie is more like a work of art than a film. Roeg use of blood red colour will sear your corneas, and the climatic dance of death is a particular highlight. The impressive supporting cast includes Jane Asher, Nigel Green and Patrick Magee (who is set on fire whilst wearing a gorilla suit by a vengeful Skip Martin).