The Masque of the Red Death

A prince (Vincent Price) revels in debauchery while a plague ravages the surrounding countryside.

The Masque of the Red Death stands out among director Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, and for good reason.

The script by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell is significantly darker, and less pulpy than Richard Matheson’s adaptations. They craft a truly evil character in Prince Prospero; a man so drunk with ego and power, he’s completely devoid of any compassion or morality. For his part, Vincent Price avoids the camp and plays Prospero straight, every line dripping with condescension, and in doing so makes the movie.

Prospero ranks among the best performances of Price’s career. He’s absolutely believable, but never over the top, and his performance, much like the entire film, holds up well to repeat viewings. In fact, The Masque of the Red Death is the rare horror film that actually improves on repeat viewings, as the evil presented is so insidious, yet subtle, that each viewing still manages to make an impact.

Granted, the film’s not perfect. Though Corman keeps the film to a lean 89 minutes, the finale sequence veers dangerously close to camp during the repeated shots of leering, blood red, faces. A reworking of this sequence could have made The Mask of the Red Death a classic, but as it stands, it’s still very good.