The Masque of the Red Death / The Premature Burial

"Masque of Red Death" is definitely the best of the Corman/Price/Poe series. While many point out the well-budgeted, lavish set in comparison to the previous films, I believe this one is superior based on the story and solid characters alone.

It departs from the formula of the others in the series by being more tightly focused, more sinister, and the least camp of them all. It is refreshing to see Price maintain a sinister voice with his character that leaves little room for calling him "campy" or overdone. It's also nice that, as Prospero, he is not the usual loner, isolated in a decaying castle and pining over some lost love that still haunts him. This film moves away from that yet still utilizes the Vincent Price mannerisms we all love, but laser-focused and more potent with a singular character type.

The Man in Red's presence and voice is perfectly chilling and gives this picture much more weight with his mystery, measured philosophy, and subtle power.

apart from it being the wrong region although not the retail fougt
but mine. the service was very quick and the item was undamnge had been the rigth region i probley give 5 stars

[This review is part of my 31 days of Halloween series.]

This is a fantastic double-your-horror bill.

MASQUE OF THE RED features B horror flixs luminaries Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher & Nigel Green under the equisite direction of Roger Gorman. I use the designation "B" lovingly & in homage to Roger Gorman's frugal ways in making these movies not only possible, but also making them forever remembered.

The plot is simple. Plague is ravaging the countryside & the only place of safety is in a Satanic prince's castle. Well, his quests think it's safe, but they are really going from the pot into the fire. In addition to the acting & direction & script, other outstanding elements in this movie are the costumes & the splendid use of color, the choreography, and the strange dream sequence.

PREMATURE BURIAL stars veteran Ray Milland & Hazel Court. The plot revolves around the very real fear people had of being buried alive at the end of the Victorian era--well, just about everybody was buried alive at the end of the Victorian era, but that's a whole other tale of terror. I remarked about this in my review THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER because this fear figured in that plot too, but it takes center stage in PREMATURE BURIAL.

Before the 20th century the process of death & decomposition was little understood. For example, the belief in vampirism was in part fueled by the fact that some exhumed bodies still looked lifelike, the nails appeared to have grown because the tissue around them had retreated; in like manner the teeth appeared longer & blood seemed to be on the lips as another stage of the natural process. When people suspected someone of being a vampire, they opened the grave & saw all this & when they drove a stake in the chest sometimes the body seemed to groan as air was forced into the chest gavity.

These signs also caused people to think that premature burial was more prevalent than it ever could have been--or at least one would hope. Again, some corpses from graves that were open for one reason or another appeared to have, in fact, been buried alive--all beause of the ordinary process of decomposition.

In the film Ray Milland's character has the fear big time & his efforts to prevent being accidentally buried alive are trully obsessive & appropriately creepy.

Both these films are outstanding dark flowers of their genre.

Transylvania
Darklore Manor
Shadow of the Raven

Great classic to own. Remeber seeing this on tv as a kid. Vincent Price did a excellent acting job as always. Filmed in a creepy backround. A satanist with a uninvited guest. Premature Burial is just as good. Both films would make a late night scare!

While this bears only slight resemblance to Edgar Allen Poe's story, it's a fine piece of B movie schlock, with Vincent Price in his sinister element. It's superb fun and well worth the money.