The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

My take: It’s a bit too theatrical for my liking, but it has Vincent Price in it. So, I watched until the end.

Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

There is not a Vincent Price movie I don’t like, but this is definitely one that I don’t love. The Masque of the Red Death is the movie version of the classic Poe tale.

The story follows a young peasant girl, Francesca, who is kidnapped by Prince Prospero, played by Vincent Price. He takes her after her father and brother defy him and also after he discovers that there is a plague in the town known as the red death. Then he burns her village to the ground. Poor girl.

Of course Prince Prospero turns out to be an even bigger jerk than he first appears. He reveals to Francesca that he is a satanist and a downright cruel ruler. Francesca works to escape, but Prince Prospero is too wily for her. But the Red Death is also wily in its own way.

It’s an okay story for a period piece, but the sets and costumes made the movie feel like a piece of bad community theater. Vincent Price was the only thing worth watching in the movie, but that may be just because I am such a huge fan of his work.

I would still recommend this movie to people who like period movies, Poe-inspired horror and Vincent Price films.

I got the movie on a disc via Netflix, but you can also find it online in some hidden corners of the Internet. Here’s the trailer via YouTube:

You see that dance scene at the beginning of the trailer? That is when I actually rolled my eyes.