The Masque of the Red Death

R

1990

1 hr. 34 min.

Horror

List

69%

16 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A dying millionaire (Herbert Lom) throws a castle costume party that's a killer.

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Audience Member

Some of the best uses of lighting and color I've ever seen, even for a sometimes hokey plot about Satan worshippers, it will give you chills.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/29/18

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Audience Member

Worked on this, My family worked as extras, supplied horses and other animals for this film. Fun film to work on.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

This is a beautifully short film full of vivid colours with a strong cast.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

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Audience Member

One of Corman's better Poe films. A sadistic satanic prince revels in his tortures and toys with death.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

Old School Goodness...

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Audience Member

The Masque of the Red Death is another successful collaboration between Roger Corman and Vincent Price based upon stories by Edgar Allan Poe. It was a film that Corman wanted to make earlier in his career, but he feared that he would be accused of plagiarism. Because of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal being popular at the time and containing some of the same ideas and imagery, he put the film on hold. Many consider this to be one of Roger Corman's finest efforts, and I would go so far as to call it a masterpiece. It doesn't go over the line in making Price a relentless and crazy villain like he was in Witchfinder General, nor does attempt to ape Poe's work for its own evil purposes (the inclusion of Poe's story "Hop-Frong" was to merely give the film a subplot). It's a beautiful film that walks down mostly familiar territory, especially if you watch these films back to back today. They may be a bit dated, but you can't deny how well made and acted they are. This one in particular is a gem in Corman's filmography.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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Alan Birkinshaw

Director

Frank Stallone

Duke

Brenda Vaccaro

Elaina Hart

Herbert Lom

Ludwig

Michelle McBride

Rebecca

Christine Lunde

Colette

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Keith Phipps

The Dissolve

Ratcheting up the aristocratic decadence of the Poe story and throwing in some satanism for good measure.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 22, 2013

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

Price ... is at his most deliriously malevolent.

Rated: B+

Jun 25, 2005

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Matt Brunson

Creative Loafing

Perhaps the best of the Poe-Corman-Price pics, with Vincent delivering a potent performance as Prince Prospero.

Rated: 3.5/4

Oct 31, 2013

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Steve Biodrowski

ESplatter

[Producer-director Roger] Corman does the best work of his career, aided by the wonderful cinematography of Nicolas Roeg.

Jul 23, 2008

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Mark Bourne

DVDJournal.com

If you die having seen only one Vincent Price movie, you could do worse than to have it be Masque.... Corman's most opulent and visually impressive Poe picture, and his grimmest.

Apr 5, 2006

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Michael Szymanski

Zap2it.com

Rated: 1/5

Sep 21, 2005

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Synopsis

A dying millionaire (Herbert Lom) throws a castle costume party that's a killer.

Director: Alan Birkinshaw
Executive Producer: Avi Lerner, Harry Alan Towers
Screenwriter: Michael J. Murray
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English