In Europe in the Middle Ages, a lethal plague, Red Death, is sweeping the countryside. The corrupt and corpulent Prince Prospero holds a grand masque in his castle whilst the peasants suffer outside, but Death is an uninvited guest ...
This is the penultimate of Corman's eight sumptuous Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, and one of two made in Britain (the other being The Tomb Of Ligeia). There really isn't much of a plot (the story is only six pages long), just a setup; we gaze aghast at the fat, gaudy revellers sinking in sin and the hideous, world-weary and sinister Prospero presiding over them, and wait for the moment of reckoning. What the movie is really about instead is creating the unholy atmosphere of satanic decadence described in the story, and this is where it really scores. Daniel Haller's sets are astonishing and the incredible photography is by Nicolas Roeg and operator Alex Thomson (who went on to be a great director and a great cameraman respectively). The use of colour is just stunning throughout; the left-profile shot of Court as she walks from the black room to the main hall (and a memorable death) is incredible; the purples and yellows just leap off the screen. Price and Asher are perfectly cast as amused corrupter and wide-eyed innocent, although my favourite is Court as Beelzebub's Hussy, whose gowns are the lowest-cut you'll ever see in a movie. My favourite in this series is The Pit And The Pendulum (mostly because of Barbara Steele), but this is undoubtedly the artiest and the most visually splendid.
This is the penultimate of Corman's eight sumptuous Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, and one of two made in Britain (the other being The Tomb Of Ligeia). There really isn't much of a plot (the story is only six pages long), just a setup; we gaze aghast at the fat, gaudy revellers sinking in sin and the hideous, world-weary and sinister Prospero presiding over them, and wait for the moment of reckoning. What the movie is really about instead is creating the unholy atmosphere of satanic decadence described in the story, and this is where it really scores. Daniel Haller's sets are astonishing and the incredible photography is by Nicolas Roeg and operator Alex Thomson (who went on to be a great director and a great cameraman respectively). The use of colour is just stunning throughout; the left-profile shot of Court as she walks from the black room to the main hall (and a memorable death) is incredible; the purples and yellows just leap off the screen. Price and Asher are perfectly cast as amused corrupter and wide-eyed innocent, although my favourite is Court as Beelzebub's Hussy, whose gowns are the lowest-cut you'll ever see in a movie. My favourite in this series is The Pit And The Pendulum (mostly because of Barbara Steele), but this is undoubtedly the artiest and the most visually splendid.