Book-To-Movie: ‘The Masque of the Red Death’

Credit: Pixabay

We all know that this Halloween will be unlike any other we’ve experienced. This year many of us will be required to wear masks. Many of us already are. At least in public, that is. Needless to say, the pandemic has made it necessary. Things are going to be very isolated compared to other years. Fewer trick-or-treaters in the streets, at the malls and downtown commercial areas. There will be fewer parties, or at least fewer guests at them. But it doesn’t mean that the fun has to end. There are always alternatives. One is: buy candy and other treats from the store, stay in with your family and eat them (the treats that is, not your family!) while watching scary movies, playing Halloween related games, or/and reading/telling scary stories. Make it a party inside your house limited to your loved ones and keep the plague out! Which this month’s Book-To-Movie review is exactly about that: keeping the plague out. We are reviewing Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, and the 1964 Roger Corman movie adaptation of the same name! 

‘Masque of the Red Death’: The Short Story

Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” is about a prince named Prospero who neglects his subjects and shuts himself and favourite members of his court in one of his abbeys to hide from the plague called the Red Death. Inside they have a ball, literally. More particularly it’s a masquerade and so with everybody in costume things get pretty carnivalesque. They think they are safe, but the Red Death shows up as an uninvited guest, a red clothed corpse-like spectre.

 

Poe does a great job conveying the tension of a diseased setting. He concretely describes this beginning with the very first paragraph: “The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men.” This passage in particular really reminds us of our current Covid-19 situation since many unfortunate victims have been, at least relatively, isolated from their families and friends while being treated. Many even die alone. That’s definitely no party. So, Poe conveys a very disturbing image of the plague and its effects. 

Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Arthur Rackham

Another image that works really good in the story is of the giant clock that stands in the black chamber, the last in a row of monochromed chambers (each with its own colour). The clock is described with a pendulum that swings “with a dull, heavy monotonous clang . . .” It gives the sense of life only lasting so long and of an approaching death. Any time the clock strikes the hour the partying stops as if time and even life itself stops, and people are nearly in a trance waiting for the chiming to end, and when it does the party resumes. But it isn’t always like that. At midnight, the clock chimes one final time and after that the party’s over. Literally and forever. This isn’t only so for the guests but for the evil Prospero as well.

‘Masque of the Red Death’: The Roger Corman Film

Even though Roger Corman’s movie adaptation of “Masque of the Red Death” doesn’t capture that feeling of tension and madness that Poe’s short story does, it’s still there. As with the short story, the movie opens with a person suffering death from the disease, but we also meet the spectre of the Red Death (known as The Man In Red in this film) in that first scene. In the short story, he doesn’t show up until the end. Instead of the corpse-like figure he is in Poe’s story, he looks more like a normal human being with the exception that he’s totally red. Yet the cloak and hood he wears gives him a bit of that menacing look.

 

The Red Death figure in this movie comes across as more sympathetic in his interaction with certain characters than he does in the short story, a bit too sympathetic for the horror movie that this is. At one point, he acts as wise man/sage to one of the main characters, Gino, giving him advice on how to rescue his wife from Prince Prospero’s castle. He even plays cards with a little girl! Tarot cards that is, yet in an affectionate manner. But he has no mercy on the evil Prospero or his guests at the masque the prince throws.

Prospero in this movie, played by Vincent Price, is evil to where the audience loves hating him. Because of that, as with so many of his other characters especially in other American International productions, Price plays his role really good and convincingly. He tries to seduce Gino’s wife, Francesca, but Francesca holds true to her faith both in God and her husband, a bit typical for a woman’s role while at the same time she tends to be the main protagonist. She, her husband, and many other characters are ones that are added to the story which is the case with almost all full-length feature films based on Poe short stories, especially this one since the original tale is not much longer than three pages. 

While Prospero in the short story is simply an oppressive prince, in this movie he is not only oppressive and tyrannical but is Satanical—he’s a devil-worshipper. In which this role works really good with his character and enhances his evil towards the lower classes that he literally shuts out of his care. It’s a character that reminds us much of certain rulers of today, including ones in our own nation of the US, right? 

While the movie’s settings are atmospheric--especially the castle, its mono-coloured chambers, and the dungeon--it doesn’t quite convey the tension in the imagery that Poe’s short story does. There is blood both from the Red Death’s killings and, even more graphically for its time, from a raven attack. But the imagery of fear such as the clock is not as strongly emphasised as in the short story. Speaking of the clock, the one in the movie is not as giant as the one in the story seems to be described as and it is in a room other than the black chamber. These two changes take away the menacing look of the clock, especially since the black room is where the terror seems to come from. 

Another image is one that runs throughout this movie and is not in the short story: the Tarot deck. The spectre of the Red Death is always playing the Tarot cards and so this enhances the theme of fate, the worst fate being, of course, death. It actually frames the story in this movie. The movie’s ending is more optimistic than that of the short story while it still gives that sense of dread and looming death. Overall, the movie was made really good, and Corman always directed with an intriguing surrealistic style. This includes the nightmare sequence, in which in this movie the scene is flooded in a dull green light and distorted by the camera which conveys more of the nightmare experience.

 

Corman’s filming techniques in “Masque” don’t quite live up to the strength that Poe’s prose techniques do in his short story. However, it is the director’s unique, nightmarish vision of apocalyptic death and disease and the supernatural figure behind the two. These are three elements that are also in Poe’s story. Like Poe’s story, this movie reminds us of the very plague the world has been facing and dealing with since the beginning of the year. Therefore, both the short story and the movie adaptation’s relevance to our own reality spans the eras. 

Vincent Price: 5 Movie Gift Box at Amazon

Patreon© Page News

This week I added both the poll benefit and the book discount benefit for the month to my Patreon creator page. That latter benefit is a very special one: “The Fool’s Illusion” is discounted at 100 percent off the regular price. Yes, my collection of short fiction is free for patrons of my page! And that’s no foolin’, no Halloween trick. In fact, I would call it a Halloween treat! But the offer doesn’t last for long. To see how you can take advantage of these benefits, go to my Patreon page and learn how to become a member.

Because of the Halloween rush that I’ve been doing both here at the Fantastic Site, on my Patreon Page and elsewhere, I might take a break from the blog next week especially since next Saturday is Halloween. For the most part, I’ll be staying in watching horror flicks, eating sweets, reading horror tales, and keeping out the plague. But I’ll be here that Wednesday for November’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog hop so join me here then. I may even be on Facebook throughout the night, commenting on the movies that I watch, so feel free to join me there if you’d like. 

Have a fun, safe Halloween. Especially make sure you stay safe this year; stay in if you can and find an alternative way to celebrate and keep the Covid Death out. If, by any chance, you do go out, don’t forget to wear your mask. That is your Covid-19 mask, even if having to wear it under your Halloween one. So, how do you plan to spend your Halloween during this time of plague? Feel free to leave your answer in the box below. Take scare and 

Until next time . . . 

Credit: Pixabay.com