Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A European prince terrorizes the local peasantry while using his castle as a refuge against the "Red Death" plague that stalks the land.
Roger Corman's Poe adaptation is best remembered for its sumptuous, richly colored cinematography by Nicolas Roeg — the production design and visual palette are genuinely exceptional for a low-budget horror film of the era, elevating it well above its peers. Vincent Price delivers his trademark sardonic menace as the Satanist prince Prospero, though the supporting performances are more uneven. The plot, while faithfully atmospheric in its Poe source material, is stretched thin across a feature runtime with subplots that meander. As a Corman-Poe cycle entry it has a recognizable formula, though the Roeg photography and Price's committed villainy give it a distinctive visual identity. The ending, drawing on Poe's allegorical inevitability, satisfies thematically if not dramatically.