The Masque of the Red Death (1964 film) The Masque of the Red Death (1964 film) The Masque of the Red Death is a 1964 horror film directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price. The story follows a prince who terrorizes a plague-ridden peasantry while merrymaking in a lonely castle with his jaded courtiers. The screenplay, written by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell, was based upon the 1842 short story of the same name by American author Edgar Allan Poe, and incorporates a subplot based on another Poe tale, "Hop-Frog'". Another subplot is drawn from "Torture by Hope" by Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. It is the
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film) film was produced as a compensatory package for Lugosi and Florey, after both were dropped from 1931's "Frankenstein". Lugosi had originally been cast as Dr. Frankenstein, and the film was to be directed by Florey, who had been developing the coveted project. Lugosi was subsequently demoted to play the mute monster, however, which he claimed to have turned down. Florey was replaced as director by James Whale, as producer Carl Laemmle was both unsatisfied with Florey's work on the project, and had given Whale first choice of any Universal property at the time. The box office results for "Murders in