The Masque of the Red Death (1964 film) said he always felt "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" were the two best Poe stories. After the success of "House of Usher" (1960), he strongly considered making "Masque" as the follow-up. In 1961, Corman announced he would make "Masque" from a script by Charles Beaumont to be produced for his Filmgroup Company. However, he later said was reluctant to move forward because it had several elements similar to "The Seventh Seal" (1957), and Corman was worried people would say he was stealing from Bergman. "I kept moving "The Masque of the
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971 film) hired to direct the film. Hessler says he felt the story was so familiar it needed to be changed, so he and writer Christopher Wicking decided to do it as a play-within-a-play, with a mystery happening around a theatre that was putting on a production of "Murder in the Rue Morgue". The new storyline owned a lot to "Phantom of the Opera". Hessler said Vincent Price "was very upset that he wasn't in" the film "but I had nothing to with that." He thought Price was having contractual fights with AIP at the time. Hessler says AIP hired Jason Robard