The Masque of the Red Death

 

The Masque of the Red Death

1964

Director- Roger Corman

Cast- Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher, David Weston, Nigel Green, John Westbrook, Skip Martin, Verina Greenlaw, Patrick Magee

            

   This is one of the Vincent Price /Roger Corman collaborations that the pair did through the early 1960’s. It, like the others, is loosely based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The Poe story serves mainly as inspiration for a much larger story.

            

    Prince Prospero (Price) is an evil nobleman who terrorizes the locals under his power. He has people taken prisoner and executed at a whim. He is a loyal devotee of Satan and he seems intent on doing evil purely for the sake of evil. A plague, the Red Death, is ravaging the countryside. Prospero withdraws behind his castle walls and invites the landed gentry to join him while the commoners die. Prospero uses this as a chance to humiliate and degrade his peers. Juliana (Hazel Court), his mistress, is trying to get him to induct her into the deeper mysteries of devil worship. She might have succeeded except that a new plaything has caught his eye.

          

 

    He meets a young peasant girl, Francesca (Jane Asher), who is virtuous and kind. Prospero kidnaps her and holds her fiancé hostage.  He wants to corrupt her and turn her to evil. Prospero treats everyone else like dirt, but he dresses her in finery and is quite cordial, all the while espousing the virtues of a life devoted to evil.

            

    He throws a masquerade ball to celebrate the fact that he and all of his hangers on are safe from the plague while everyone else dies outside.  However, an uninvited guest shows up. It’s not Satan, as he hoped, but rather the spirit of Death itself. Will it spare Prospero as reward for his life devoted to evil? Will it spare the virtuous Francesca? Will it spare anyone?

            

    This movie doesn’t get into deep psychological examinations like Pit and the Pendulum or House of Usher. No one is on the verge of losing their mind. Instead, this movie is about the submission to evil. Prospero has done it and his mistress Juliana is attempting to do it.  Will Francesca submit to it as well?

      This is Corman's most straight forward horror movie with not the slightest bit of camp or humor. Its also Price's darkest film, with the one exception of Witchfinder General. The film is absolutely beautiful to look at with a superb color pallet, not quite to the extent of Suspiria, but certainly beyond what you'd expect from most horror movies. A must see for fans of Roger Croman or Vincent Price.

Witchfinder General

Witchfinder General (The Conqueror Worm)

1968

Director- Michael Reeves

Cast- Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Hilary Dwyer, Rupert Davies, Patrick Wymark, Robert Russell

            

    The witch persecution sub-genre is a niche  of the larger folk horror sub-genre. It was particularly popular from the late 1960s through the late 1970s. Despite the plots usually centering around witches and witchcraft, the sub-genre is often devoid of any real supernatural elements.

  

    The villains rather are sadistic holy men and frightened villagers who use religious duty as an excuse to indulge in perversion and murder. This movie holds true to form. The most satanic thing in this film is Vincent Price as the titular sadist.

   

    Witchfinder General is the most famous movie of this sub-genre and influenced several movies that came after it (such as Inquisition, Mark of the Devil, The Devils, Les Demons, and  The Bloody Judge.) 

    

    Though Vincent Price was usually cast as a villain, he was also usually a sort of lovable or camp villain; someone you liked and rooted for despite his nefarious plots. Not so in this movie. Witchfinder General is grim and Price’s portrayal is equally humorless. Apparently  a lot of this is due to the direction of Michael Reeves (who also directed She-Beast with Barbara Steele). 

    Reeves wanted Donald Pleasence but the studio went over his head and got Vincent Price. Reeves and Price didn't get along and Reeves was often unhappy with Price's performances and pushed him to do more. This tension translates to the screen. Though the two men didn't get along, Price would later say that he understood Reeves' vision and was grateful for the director's pushing him to such a memorable performance.

    The film has a fine cast including Richard Wynmark in a small role as Oliver Cromwell (who also appeared in Blood on Satan’s Claw) and Rupert Davies as a priest (he also played a priest that same year in Dracula has Risen from the Grave).

            

    The film takes place during the English Civil war of the 15th century. Price plays Mathew Hopkins (an actual historical figure who executed around 300 women in the span of a few years, all in the name of stamping out witchcraft). Witchfinder Hopkins is hired by villagers to investigate a local priest (Davies).

The priest is sheltering a beautiful young woman, Sara, who the Witchfinder takes a fancy to. As a quid pro quo, Hopkins spares the priest’s life in exchange for sex with Sara. Later, Hopkin’s assistant rapes Sara and this apparently causes Hopkins to lose any further interest in her. His plaything “spoiled” he decides to execute the priest for witchcraft along with several other villagers. After this, Sara’s fiancé, who has been off fighting in the war, finds out what has happened and sets out for revenge against Hopkins and his assistant.

           

   Its American release was billed under the unfortunate title, The Conqueror Worm, in an attempt to tie it, in the minds of potential viewers, to Price's other Poe pictures. For its time, the movie was considered shocking and violent, though the imitators that followed it were much more violent and shocking.  The plot is grounded in the historical events of its time which seems to make it more believable.  The movie is also usually considered one of the pillars of the Folk Horror genre, along with Blood on Satan's Claw and The Wicker Man). The main reason to watch this movie is to see Vincent Price playing one of his most villainous roles.