2014 Film OCD #134 - The Masque of the Red Death finds Roger Corman at his most experimental and visually inventive with obvious assistance from Nicolas Roeg. Its definitely the best looking of Cormans Poe films. And Vincent Price is always a welcome presence. It needs to invent a lot to flesh out the very short story and pulls in Hoptoad for additional material but makes it work in the end. At least if youre not bothered that it isnt particularly scary. Obviously the big and obvious thing to comment on is the art direction and colors which are all terrific. Since the story calls for the banning, for the most part, of the color red it makes them inventive and really sets the film apart from what Hammer was doing. They dont stop experimenting there with a nightmare sequence and other interesting sequences. Not all of it works but its nice to see someone trying. Really its trying to stretch the story out that is where the film somewhat falters and becomes a bit repetitive. Still its a very handsome and distinctive film. Maybe as good as Corman got as a director. The Blu Ray restoration really pops on a good television too. Really a nice film for the Halloween season.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:46:18 +0000
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