The Masque of the Red Death / The Premature Burial
by Roger Corman
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DVD details
Actor: David Weston, Hazel Court, Jane Asher, Nigel Green, Vincent PriceDirector: Roger Corman
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 169 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-08-27
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of The Masque of the Red Death / The Premature Burial
DVD Review: Double Your Terror
Summary: 5 Stars
[This review is part of my 31 days of Halloween series.]
This is a fantastic double-your-horror bill.
MASQUE OF THE RED features B horror flixs luminaries Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher & Nigel Green under the equisite direction of Roger Gorman. I use the designation "B" lovingly & in homage to Roger Gorman's frugal ways in making these movies not only possible, but also making them forever remembered.
The plot is simple. Plague is ravaging the countryside & the only place of safety is in a Satanic prince's castle. Well, his quests think it's safe, but they are really going from the pot into the fire. In addition to the acting & direction & script, other outstanding elements in this movie are the costumes & the splendid use of color, the choreography, and the strange dream sequence.
PREMATURE BURIAL stars veteran Ray Milland & Hazel Court. The plot revolves around the very real fear people had of being buried alive at the end of the Victorian era--well, just about everybody was buried alive at the end of the Victorian era, but that's a whole other tale of terror. I remarked about this in my review THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER because this fear figured in that plot too, but it takes center stage in PREMATURE BURIAL.
Before the 20th century the process of death & decomposition was little understood. For example, the belief in vampirism was in part fueled by the fact that some exhumed bodies still looked lifelike, the nails appeared to have grown because the tissue around them had retreated; in like manner the teeth appeared longer & blood seemed to be on the lips as another stage of the natural process. When people suspected someone of being a vampire, they opened the grave & saw all this & when they drove a stake in the chest sometimes the body seemed to groan as air was forced into the chest gavity.
These signs also caused people to think that premature burial was more prevalent than it ever could have been--or at least one would hope. Again, some corpses from graves that were open for one reason or another appeared to have, in fact, been buried alive--all beause of the ordinary process of decomposition.
In the film Ray Milland's character has the fear big time & his efforts to prevent being accidentally buried alive are trully obsessive & appropriately creepy.
Both these films are outstanding dark flowers of their genre.
Transylvania
Darklore Manor
Shadow of the Raven
DVD Review: Red Death is among us..............
Summary: 5 Stars
Great classic to own. Remeber seeing this on tv as a kid. Vincent Price did a excellent acting job as always. Filmed in a creepy backround. A satanist with a uninvited guest. Premature Burial is just as good. Both films would make a late night scare!DVD Review: Wonderfully cheesy Satan worshipping flick
Summary: 4 Stars
While this bears only slight resemblance to Edgar Allen Poe's story, it's a fine piece of B movie schlock, with Vincent Price in his sinister element. It's superb fun and well worth the money. DVD Review: No One Can Escape Death
Summary: 5 Stars
Horror legend, Vincent Price, stars in "The Masque of the Red Death." He delivers a great performance as one of the most despicable, evil villains of his career, Prince Prospero. While the Red Death rages throughout the countryside, killing most everyone in its wake, the heartless, merciless, Satan worshipping Prince Prospero takes refuge in his mighty fortress. Roger Corman spent more money and time producing this film than he did on any of the other versions of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, and it definitely shows. The settings and costumes are extravagant.
"The Masque of the Red Death" is one of the most violent of the Price movies I've seen. Never a dull moment. Prince Prospero thinks that he can escape death, but no one can. In the end, death finds Prince Prospero.
In "The Premature Burial," another man, Ray Milland, tries to escape death but can't. Originally, Vincent Price was suppose to play Milland's role but couldn't because he had an exclusive contract with AIP. (Later, Pathe, which owned "The Premature Burial," was bought by AIP.) I'm glad Price couldn't; he was always better at playing the villain than he was the tormented hero.
Milland is Guy Carrell who has an unhealthy obsession about being buried alive - an obsession that grows into madness. Not as lavish and extravagant a production as "Masque of the Red Death," "The Premature Burial" is, however, very entertaining. The body count is low compared to "Masque," but it becomes very violent towards the end. However, it is more gothic than "Masque." Corman used the lightning and fog machines quite liberally throughout the film.
The buxom beauty, Hazel Court, is in both movies. Her diverse roles prove what a wonderful actress she was.
This double feature from MGM is a must have for fans of Vincent Price, fans of gothic horror, and fans of good classic horror cinema. Each movie will make you ponder your own death long after you've seen it.
DVD Review: 'Masque' Is Excellent; 'Burial' Is Pretty Good
Summary: 4 Stars
A two-in-one pairing in which one half of the bill clearly overwhelms the other, with 'The Premature Burial' a decent film that fans of this era of horror will want to watch, and with 'The Masque Of The Red Death' as the real must-see.
In 'Masque Of The Red Death', the red death plague is ravaging the medieval countryside, and people are looking for refuge wherever they can. A trio of peasants - a young couple and the girl's father - wind up taking shelter at the grand castle of Prospero (Vincent Price, in one of his alltime greatest roles), a twisted despot. In this palace where Prospero and a host of unlikable nobles - all ruled over with an iron fist by Prospero - have squestered themselves in comfort against the ravages of the plague, the trio becomes Prospero's prisoners. The lord of the castle is a cruel master with a warped sense of humor. Among the most intriguing angles of the movie is the strange relationship that develops between Prospero and the 'peasant girl' Francessca (Jane Asher). Francessca is a courageous and compassionate girl, with a real nobility that the barons and aristocrats in the castle only have title to. As her spirit fails to falter or change, Prospero seems increasingly fascinated by her. He seems to develop a respect and affection for her - not neccessarily a romantic affection, but perhaps something more like an uncle or even a father. But being unfamiliar with either respect or love (fatherly or otherwise) Prospero doesn't quite seem to recognize the feelings, and is thus made all the more curious. The supernatural elements of the movie enter at the great masquerade ball the castle's master stages and orders everyone to attend, and certainly put forward some unusual notions. Masque Of The Red Death is captivating, atmospheric, not at all campy, and makes outstanding use of color, music and production design.
'The Premature Burial' is one of Roger Corman's few horror entries not to star Price, instead featuring Ray Milland in the lead role as a man so obsessed with a fear of being buried alive that he constructs a special crypt and coffin designed for escape should that fate ever befall him. Of course, an unexpected monkeywrench ends up being thrown into the whole plan. With talented people on both sides of the camera and with a solid idea behind it, this probably should have been better, but it was one of those cases where things didn't click and the whole ended up being less than the sum of its parts. It's an alright watch; though it was filmed in 1962 it may appeal more strongly to fans of horror and suspense from a decade or more earlier - actually probably more to suspense fans because its hold on its status as a horror movie is somewhat tenuous.
Overall the disc offers one of the most essential horror movies from the 1960s in Masque and a good bonus in Burial. A definate pick for fans of Price/Corman/Poe or of similar horror from the era, like Hammer's movies.
Description of The Masque of the Red Death / The Premature Burial
The Masque of the Red Death: Death and Debauchery reign in the castle of Prince Prospero (Vincent Price), and when it reigns... it pours! Prospero has only once excuse for his diabolical deeds--the devil made him do it! But when a mysterious, uninvited guest crashes his pad during a masquerade ball, there'll be hell to pay as the party atmosphere turns into a danse macabre!The Premature Burial: Talk about a tortured artist! Oscar winner Ray Milland is Guy, a medical student and painter whose obsessive fear of being buried alive compels him to build himself a tomb with a view, equipped with everything he can think of to escape death. But it's when his long-suffering wife convinces him to destroy the tomb that he finds himself in the gravest danger!
The Masque of the Red Death (1964) is Roger Corman's, and most people's, choice as the best of the Edgar Allan Poe pictures. Masque offers the expected creepy atmosphere and violence against peasants, plus metaphysical ponderings and pointed satanic cruelty. (Corman was operating as much under the influence of Ingmar Bergman as of Edgar Allan Poe.) Nicolas Roeg's color cinematography and Daniel Haller's elaborate production design would be stellar in any Hollywood A-movie; the mono-colored rooms of the prince's castle are a startling effect. Vincent Price is in fine fettle as Prince Prospero, the devil-worshipping sadist who throws lavish parties while the countryside is ravaged by the plague.
The Premature Burial (1962) substitutes Ray Milland in the usual Price role. He's a snarky landowner (with a sideline in art--dig those mod paintings) haunted by the fear of being buried alive. This single-minded focus limits the film, but it also adds to the smothering sense of anxiety that prevails throughout its unhealthy scenario. Luscious Hazel Court is Milland's new missus, and old-school cameraman Floyd Crosby proves his facility for photographing women in a classical style. Lots of cobwebs-on-candelabra in the customary Corman-Poe manner, with special emphasis on Milland's crypt, with its supposedly foolproof exit schemes. --Robert Horton
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