The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The Masque of the Red Death is a 1964 American-British horror film, directed by Roger Corman, starring in the Vincent Price, Hazel Court and Jane Asher.

It is the seventh of a series of eight Corman film adaptations largely based on Poe's works made by American International Pictures.

Plot
The story is set in Medieval Europe. The Satanist Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) invites several dozen of the local nobility to his castle for protection against an oncoming plague, the Red Death. He believes he is protected because of the deal he made with Satan.

The local peasantry, or anyone the Prince suspects of having the plague, are killied by crossbow fire outside the castle walls. Prospero orders his guests to attend a masked ball and, amidst a general atmosphere of debauchery and depravity, notices the entry of a mysterious hooded stranger dressed all in red.

Believing the figure to be his master, Satan Prospero is horrified at the revelation of his true idenyitly. It is the Red Death itself, who clarifies to him that no deal will save him from what is to come since people all create god and satan in their own image at the expense of the truth. He then kills all his guests and then him.

After that he meets with other cloaked figures, each wearing a different colour.

They are the White Death, the Yellow Death, the Golden Death, the Blue Death, the Violet Death and the Black Death. They all tell about the people they have taken down. To them the Red Death says he only left six people alive. After that they continue their journey of death.

Cast

 * Vincent Price - Prince Prospero
 * Hazel Court - Juilana, his mistress
 * Jane Asher - Francesca, a peasant girl
 * David Weston - Gino, Francesca's lover
 * Nigel Green - Ludovico, Francesca's father
 * John Westbook - The Red Death (uncredited)
 * Patrick Magee - Alfredo
 * Paul Whitsun-Jone - Scarlatti
 * Robert Brown - Guard
 * David Davies - Lead Villager
 * Skip Martin - Hop Toad, a dwarf jester
 * Verina Greenlaw - Esmeralda, Hop Toad's dwarf lover

Production
In 1961, Corman decided he would make ''Masque. ''It had, however its delays, because Corman had a great deal of trouble coming up with a screenplay he was happy with. Finally, he was happy with an early draft from Charles Beaumont, which  R. Wright Campbell finished, because he was too ill to do that at the moment.

Trivia

 * A dialogue from the movie can be heard during almost two minutes of the gothic metal/doom metal Norwegian band Theatre of Tragedy's most acclamied song, And When He Falleth, acompained by instrumental arrangements.


 * Several short quotes have been used by Entombed on the album Clandestine.