The Masque of the Red Death 1964

While I was watching Roger Corman's excellent 1964 adaptation of The Masque of the Red Death I kept thinking of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal.  I don't often put Corman and Bergman in the same thought bubble, but I couldn't help it here.  Corman used a lot of imagery and themes that suggest Bergman.  I was pleased as punch when I ran across an interview in "Cinefantastique" that confirms that Corman was copying Bergman, and didn't care who knew it!  Check out the whole article here.  I bring this up first not only because I think it's cool and weird, but because The Masque of the Red Death is a really interesting, good film with deep dark themes.  Much like Bergman, Corman here is not simply making a horror film, but a meditation on morality, good vs. evil, and religion.  Yeah, that Roger Corman. 

Based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story, with supplemental material taken from Poe's "Hop-Frog", The Masque of the Red Death is the story of Prince Prospero, the Satan worshipping overlord played by the always amazing Vincent Price.  Prospero discovers that the village near his castle has been afflicted by the "Red Death."  He orders the village burned and kidnaps a beautiful young peasant Francesca (Jane Asher).  He also kidnaps her Father and lover with the idea of making them fight to the death.  Prospero is just that kind of asshole.

The Prince invites his "friends" to hole up in his castle until the Red Death threat has passed.  He plans amusements for them, including a "Masked Ball."  Meanwhile, he tries to persuade the pure Francesca to embrace Satanism.  Near the end, she nearly does, but the whole thing is interrupted by the arrival of one very uninvited guest...

As with most of Corman's Poe adaptations, we don't get to the meat of the story until the very end (a subplot from the "Hop-Frog" is merely filler but still very interesting.)  Other filler includes Prospero's mistress Juliana, played by the lovely Hazel Court, who converts to Satanism and becomes the Devil's bride.  In a crazy dream sequence, she is symbolically "penetrated" by various demons.  It doesn't surprise me that this sequence was cut in England.  I mean, she is really enjoying it!  Too bad her pleasure is cut short when Prospero has her killed by a Falcon!  This movie is that kind of crazy.

Price's performance is fantastic.  I know he often goes over the top, but I don't feel like he does that here.  He is a man of conviction, even though his convictions are evil.  I almost felt sorry for him when The Red Death comes for him at the end.  His God failed him, and we see the horror of that realization in his face during his death sequence.  We never see what happens to poor Francesca, spared by Death and reunited with her lover.  She would be the definition of PTSD.

As the film ends we return to Bergman territory.  The Red Death is playing Tarot with a child that Prospero spared in a rare display of mercy.  He is joined by others, presumably plagues and horrors, and they discuss the death and destruction they have left in their wake.   "Sic transit gloria mundi" declares The Red Death.  "Thus passes the glory of the world".  I tell you, I am going to have nightmares about these Technicolor monks!

The Masque of the Red Death is hyper colorful but still Gothic and creepy.  Shot by Nicolas Roeg, who would go on to be a big shot Director himself, this is the most "beautiful" AIP picture I have ever seen.  There is a lot to discover in this film.  The things that go on at Prospero's castle are pretty dark and twisted.  We see nothing, it is all suggested and implied.  I loved it, and I am ashamed it took me so long to see it, and so long to appreciate Corman the Director. 

The Town that Dreaded Sundown

TCM has really been delivering lately in terms of Horror programming (Thank you Mr. Turner).  I recently had the chance to catch The Town that Dreaded Sundown, which might be the best title for a horror film EVER.  But let me back up: The Town that Dreaded Sundown isn't really a horror film.  It's more along the lines of Zodiac.  I mean, it's really along the lines of Zodiac.  Both films are based on true unsolved murders. Both follow the Detectives (in the case of The Town that Dreaded Sundown, the Barney Fife type country bumpkins) who are trying to catch a masked serial killer.  Both films show how the murders terrorized the citizens of the respective communities. 

Released in 1976 by AIP, The Town that Dreaded Sundown introduced us to one of the first masked killers.  Known as "The Phantom Killer", this madman stalked and killed couples on Lover's Lanes in the Texarkana area in the late 1940s.  He may have served as an inspiration for the real life "Zodiac" killer.  The film, directed by Charles B. Pierce (who plays the bumbling Fife-like "Spark plug") is told documentary style, with a voice over narrator introducing us to characters and giving us a bit of back story. 

This technique gave the film the feel of those educational reels we used to watch in school (if you are over 35 you know what I am talking about).  But instead of "and that was the first and last time that Johnny smoked pot" we get "despite the murders, the stupid kids of Texarkana continued to park on lonely country roads and get killed in horrible ways."

This film is a weird, not always successful mix of docudrama, horror, and comedy.  Seven it ain't.  But it does have a lot of charm.  From Ben Johnson as Texas Ranger J.D. Morales to Dawn Wells (from Gilligan) as one of the few survivors of the Phantoms attacks, The Town that Dreaded Sundown is worth a look, especially if you like to get creeped out on real life horror.  "The Phantom Killer", much like the "Zodiac", was never caught.  He could have been killed or thrown in jail, or he could be an old man in a rest home, watching his story on TCM.  One never knows....

Why don't you go after Ginger!

The Terror

 I love Roger Corman.  How could you not?  He gave first chances and guidance to many of our favorite filmmakers of today, including two involved with his 1963 film, The Terror.  I am talking about Jack Nicholson and Francis Ford Coppola- they were both involved in this hot mess of a movie.  Both apparently had a hand in directing the damn thing as well... we all have to start somewhere.

You have to read up on this movie: I am not going to go into the whole mess.  The short version is Corman still had the sets and costumes from another film he was making and decided to shot The Terror with the leftovers.  The Terror had no real script, no direction, no clue.  It did have Boris Karloff agreeing to take on the role of The Baron, and the young and eager Jack Nicholson to play Andre Duvalier, a French officer.  It took me about an hour to figure out he was French.  Nicholson was pulling a Costner before he was even a big shot!  I mean he wasn't even trying! 

The Terror is sort of a Gothic ghost story/thriller hybrid that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  You can tell by watching the film that they were making it up as they went along.  The continuity errors alone are worth the price of admission.  It has great charm however.  Karloff does his best (as he always did) as the guilt ridden Baron, and Dick Miller as Stefan, his manservant, is a revelation.  Sandra Knight plays Helene, the love interest/ghost/melting face woman.  She is beautiful and amazing but I had one problem: during one scene you can see her mustache.  This sort of thing does not bother me.  Really.  But it really distracted me for the rest of the film.  Why didn't they shave it!?  I know this was filmed in 1963, but they must have had razors! 

Here is the plot best as I can tell.  Jack Nicholson was separated from his regiment.  On the beach he sees a beautiful woman who leads him to drinking water and introduces herself as Helene.  He falls in love with her instantly (as you do) and then gets very upset when she turns into a hawk that attacks him.  He finds shelter with an old witch and her mute son.  The witch owns the hawk, who is named Helene, but Nicholson doesn't believe the witch.  The mute son, who actually can talk, tells Nicholson to go the the Baron's castle and find Eric.  Because Nicholson had nothing better to do he goes to the castle.  There he meets Boris Karloff and Stefan.  They reluctantly let him stay.  While there he sees Helene again, but she is acting like a bi-polar bitch.  Nicholson confronts the Baron and he admits that Helene is Baroness Ilsa, his dead wife.  Whom he killed.  And Stefan killed Ilsa's lover: Eric.  So far so good. 

 Nicholson goes back and spies on the old witch and discovers that she had possessed the body of a young woman with Ilsa's spirit to get revenge on the Baron.  See, the witch was Eric's mother.  We don't know who Helene/Ilsa is, but we know she is the pawn of the witch.  She is trying to convince the Baron to kill himself by flooding the crypt where Ilsa is buried.  And this is where I checked out.  See, the crypt is at the bottom of the castle, and there is a special door that if opened lets the sea in.  Why would anyone do this?  What is the motivation for building something that can be flooded BY THE SEA by opening a door?  I won't spoil the ending for you (you wouldn't believe me anyway) but lets just say it makes no sense.

But if you can, by all means see The Terror.  It is cool in it's own weird little way and it is fun to see Nicholson before he was big.  Here he is basically an asshole.  I am off to buy some wax strips for my upper lip.