Event

MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH in 35mm

New 35mm Print!
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
Directed by Roger Corman * 1964
Between 1960 and 1965 Roger Corman, master of exploitation filmmaking and financing, made a string of eight films for low-budget powerhouse American International Pictures from unusual source material, the decidedly antiquarian (and public domain!) short stories of 19th century writer Edgar Allan Poe. The seventh of these films, a comparatively more expensive production (only by Cormans standards, mind you), is a medieval tale of a villainous prince and his castle guests attempting to outwit and outwait the mysterious red death ravaging the countryside around them. They pass the time with sadomasochistic masquerade balls and satanic rituals (let me speak to you about the anatomy of terror is a party pick-up line for the ages), but even deals with the devil may not be enough when the plague without becomes the plague within. Vincent Price is truly at home as Prince Prospero, a genteel monster who enjoys commanding his party guests to bark like dogs and mansplaining Satanism to Francesca, a young God-fearing girl hes kidnapped from the village, played by a wide-eyed 19-year-old Jane Asher. "Masque" is spellbinding, wicked, and unabashedly indulgent a groovier, trashier Powell & Pressburger film with comically large candles, ludicrous hats, and dripping dungeons for days. Scripted by "Twilight Zone" stalwart Charles Beaumont and shot in dazzling color by cinematographer-turned-director Nicolas Roeg. Restored by the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation (RL)
90 min * American International Pictures * 35mm from the Academy Film Archive, permission Park Circus

Preceded by: Bimbos Initiation (Fleischer Studios, 1931) 16mm 7 min