THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
The hell of the ball
RELEASED OUT NOW! 1964 | 15 | Blu-ray/dvd/download
Director Roger Corman
Cast Vincent Price, Hazel Court,
Jane Asher, David Weston BLU-RAY DEBUT
B-movie king Roger Corman employed the usual MO for his seventh Edgar Allan Poe film, using the writer’s slender story (about a masked ball in the midst of a deadly plague) as the third act – but also incorporating Poe’s “Hop-frog” (about a vengeful dwarf ) as a subplot.
Vincent Price is deliciously louche host of the masquerade Prospero, a spiv-tached Satanist who delights in all manner of decadence and defilement. The film is surprisingly hard-edged (expect cleavage-branding and a raven-peck death) and Price, spitting lines like “Garrote them!”, is clearly, ahem, having a ball.
It looks glorious – on another level to the average Corman production – thanks to the reuse of sets from Becket, and the presence behind the camera of a young Nicolas Roeg. The presentation of the story’s series of chambers where everything is one brightly coloured hue is beautifully done.
It does at times feel rather padded out. And Corman’s decision to cast a young girl as Hop Toad’s love interest results in some toe-curlingly uncomfortable moments… But it remains Corman at his best, proof that with time and resources he was capable of something special.
Extras This immaculate 4K restoration reintegrates censors’ trims (like a brief glimpse of a naked Jane Asher falling into a bath); you can also choose the theatrical cut. Kim Newman and fellow film writer Sean Hogan provide a well-informed commentary. Also new: a dry piece by a film studies prof (10 minutes) on the use of colour/censorship history. You also get a 2013 BFI Q&A with Corman (61 minutes), and a 2002 interview (19 minutes). Plus: trailer, gallery, booklet, four art cards.
Jane Asher was dating Paul Mccartney at the time. Macca visited the set one day and had lunch with her and Corman.