#305 -- The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Director: Roger Corman
Rating: 3 / 5

And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

To me, Edgar Allen Poe is like the Shakespeare of horror. You really have to think to understand exactly what it is he's trying to say. There are obvious points to his stories, but there's always a hidden meaning that is usually more terrifying than the obvious. He was a poet; whether you're speaking of his stories or his poems, all of his work is poetry. I read The Masque of the Red Death in high school, and I re-visited it after watching this movie starring Vincent Price. I felt something was missing from the movie, and felt the need to feel that which the original story had to offer. If you look into the meanings behind the story, you'll find that it is a very deep and terrifying tale, both things I didn't get from the movie. That's not to say that the movie is bad, because it's not; but to get the full effect of this story, you'll need to read Poe's original version.

This adaptation adds a little more depth to the character of Prince Prospero. In the story, he was simply a man who offered a safe haven from the plague of The Red Death, only to have it invade his castle and destroy everyone within. In the movie, however, he definitely had ulterior motives. Prospero (Price) was a devil-worshiper who planned to offer all of his guests as sacrifices to the Prince of Darkness. In the end, the unknown figure who showed up in the middle of Prospero's masquerade ball, once revealed, shared the Prince's face. I feel like this implied that Prospero himself was the Red Death, because he had brought death and decay to his constituents. Since it took place in the 12th century, his being the Prince gave him reign over all in the villages surrounding his castle. He was not a benevolent man; he was quite evil, cared nothing for his people and killed those who defied him without so much as blinking. In a sense, he was death.

The movie was filled with abduction, betrayal and murder. The part of Prospero was played wonderfully by Vincent Price, and Hazel Court (who played Price's wife in The Raven) played the part of Prospero's most faithful follower. The movie wasn't bad, as I said, but it was missing the depth of the original story. It did have a few deep elements: the implication that Prospero himself represented death. But the original was an allegory for the different stages of human life, with the personified "Red Death" representing an entity that one meets at the last stage. There was a tiny hint of this in the movie, but it wasn't explained quite enough. Yes, the story itself was quite vague and requires a bit of thought to fully comprehend (at least on my part). The movie was just as vague as vague, which I feel only brought it down. It is not a literary work of art; therefore it can't afford to remain so vague to its viewers, especially since it obviously wasn't a complete adaptation. It didn't take absolutely everything from the story; it threw its own plots and back-stories in there, so I feel that it should have explained things a bit better.

Even though they were both quite vague, I felt something deep and meaningful while reading the story that the movie couldn't give me.

#298 -- Madhouse (1974)

Director: Jim Clark
Rating: 4 / 5

This was another one of those, "Ah, fuck it" type of deals. I was searching through Netflix for a while and couldn't decide on what to watch. I happened upon this one, Netflix thought I might like it, and I knew that Vincent Price was in it. I was tired of looking. So I trusted Netflix, and used my instinct and the knowledge that Vincent Price fucking rules, and I settled on it. Turns out, it's a pretty great movie.

Vincent played Paul Toombes, a man who became famous by playing a character called Dr. Death in a series of horror movies. During a party for the movies, his soon to be trophy wife was brutally murdered and be-headed. Paul honestly didn't know whether or not he committed the murder, and this led to his being institutionalized. He was never convicted of the murder, he was released back out into the public, and then he was sent to London to start working on a TV show based on his old movies. He stayed with his old friend Herbert, as well as an old co-star, Faye, who had lost her beauty, lived in the basement and was obsessed with spiders. They started shooting the television show, and before long, more people started getting killed by a strange man dressed as Dr. Death. And Paul still wasn't sure whether or not he was to blame. It seemed like, any time Dr. Death was involved, he went into a sort of trance, and woke up with someone dead. But could there be more to the murders?

Vincent as Dr. Death

What I liked about the movie was the suspense factor. Usually, in older movies like this, there's practically none -- at least not for me. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that it's actually quite suspenseful and fast paced. In the beginning, it's obvious to everyone that Paul is to blame for the murders. But as the movie progresses, more people are added to the list, until practically everyone Paul knows becomes a suspect. I really didn't know who to blame for the murders, though I did have my suspicions. That was the fun in it. There was practically no gore whatsoever, and where it was present it was in very small amounts. It wasn't a gore fest, but it was exciting. The excitement came from the chase. It came from trying to figure out just who the murderer was, and if Paul was, in fact, killing people without remembering it. By the end, it turned into a full-blown slasher movie, with people running through the studio being chased by the Dr. Death style killer.

Vincent Price was wonderful as usual, but his role in this movie was kind of weird for me. Since he wasn't sure if he was the murderer or not, his character played out like one of the victims, which is strange. I'm used to seeing him as a villain, and this movie showed me that 'ol Vince really didn't know how to scream. Any time he'd find a dead body, he'd let out the weirdest scream I've ever heard. I guess he was used to making other people scream, and it all just sounded weird to me. But that's probably just because I prefer him as a villain. By the end of the movie, his old creepiness came back, and he ended things with a rather magnificent soliloquy that, for me, answered the age-old question "why in the hell do people like horror movies?" So, if nothing else, Madhouse was a learning experience. Now when people ask me that question, I have a definite answer for them, and I thank it for that. It's nice to finally understand my weirdness.

The killer Dr. Death

I'd also like to mention one Adrienne Corri, who played Faye, the basement-dwelling spider lover. This woman was creepy as shit, and I think she should have been the star of the show, rather than the fake Dr. Death (alongside Vincent Price, of course.) She could have been one hell of a serial killer, and he was pretty frightening. I really loved the character, and Corri played her extremely well.

So, despite the lack of gore, and Vincent Price's weird screaming, Madhouse is a wonderful slasher movie with bits of humor, a cool story, great actors, nice suspense, and a fast pace. It's great for Price fans, or horror fans in general, I say. Check it out. You won't be sorry.

#292 -- The Raven (1963)

Director: Roger Corman
Rating: 4 / 5

Years ago, I knew absolutely nothing about this version of Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem. My dad told me about it, and it was one particular scene he described that made me really want to see it: something about Vincent Price being put into a hole and then using his arms like wings to get himself out. Seriously? Gotta see it. So I watched it, and then I watched it again. I honestly think it only gets funnier the more you watch  it. IMDB says it's a comedy/fantasy/horror movie. I can definitely see the fantasy and horror aspects of it, but there's no denying the fact that it's mostly a comedy. This shit's funny, that's the bottom line.

So, at the beginning we've got a voice-over quoting The Raven. Then we've got a Dr. Craven (Price) sitting in a very luxurious room, drawing a neon-colored raven in thin air using only his finger. Yep, he's a fucking wizard. Or sorcerer, whatever you want to call him. In the movie, they call him a magician, but what he does is so much more than that of your regular magician. Anyways, while he's drawing this raven, he hears a peculiar rapping at his chamber door (it's actually the window, but you get my point), so he goes to see what the noise is. It is a beautiful raven. He asks the thing if it wants to come inside, it dips its head in reply, and he lets it into his room. It flies around for a minute, he talks to it, and eventually it starts to answer. You would think that, maybe Mr. Craven is losing his mind, but that's not the case. This raven is actually a man, a fellow magician who was turned into a bird during a magic duel. He came to Craven in hopes that he could help restore him to his rightful form. There's a potion that will do this, and the raven knows the ingredients, but Craven has to go down into his father's old laboratory to get them. The thing is, Craven is apparently a vegetarian, and the ingredients are extremely disgusting to him. He needs things like dead man's hair, jellied spiders, evaporated bat's blood, and other nasty things. But he's a benevolent man, so he helps the raven. Together, the get the potion going, the raven drinks it, and he turns back into a man.

The raven's name is actually Dr. Bedlo, and he was turned into a raven by Dr. Scarabus, who happens to be the Craven family's rival. Bedlo wants to return to Scarabus' castle to have his revenge on the man, and he wants Craven to accompany him, but he refuses, saying that Scarabus is far too dangerous a man. And Craven, lately, has been living a pretty tame life since his wife Lenore passed away. Bedlo, seeing a photograph of Lenore, tells Craven that he swears he saw the woman in Scarabus' castle only the night before, and Craven becomes convinced that the man has imprisoned his late wife's soul, so he finally agrees to go along. Craven's daughter, worried about her father's safety, also tags along. Before they leave, Bedlo's son Rexford shows up, and he goes along as well. Together, they all travel to the castle of Scarabus to see just what's going on. The whole thing turns out to be a scheme set in motion by Scarabus, because he wants the secret to Craven's wonderful magic. He's an evil, evil man, and the movie ends with an epic duel between the two.

There are many, many great things about this movie. First, let's talk about Craven and Scarabus' duel. It's pretty corny, but the effects were better than I would have expected. They've got streaks of light/power coming from their fingertips; they can make things appear out of thin air, and yes, Vincent Price did mimic a bird in order to get out of a hole that Scarabus created in his floor. There were also a lot of great people here. There was Vincent Price as Dr. Craven, of course; Boris Karloff was Dr. Scarabus, and Rexford Bedlo was played by a very young and handsome Jack Nicholson. Dr. Bedlo was played by a guy named Peter Lorre. I've never seen him in anything else, but I think he's wonderful. His character was an alcoholic, and he was absolutely hilarious. Besides all that great stuff, the movie was written by Richard Matheson, the same guy who wrote the book that I am Legend, as well as several other movies, was based on. So, Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Richard Matheson, and the funny guy Peter Lorre...Ready to see it yet?

Even though all of these things I've mentioned are great in themselves, there's only one thing you really need to know about The Raven. A magical duel between Vincent Price and Boris Karloff. 'Nuff said.