Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971 film) century theatre troupe in Paris specializing in gory, naturalistic horror plays in the fashion of the Grand Guignol. The director, Cesar Charron (Jason Robards), is presenting Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue". Cesar's wife, the actress Madeline (Christine Kaufmann), whose mother (Lilli Palmer) had been murdered by axe, is haunted by nightmares of an ax-wielding man. Then, suddenly, Rene Marot (Herbert Lom), a former lover of Madeline's mother thought long dead after being horribly disfigured on stage, mysteriously returns and begins murdering members and ex-members of the acting troupe, confounding the Paris police, who initially suspect Cesar. Gordon Hessler was
The Masque of the Red Death (1964 film) Red Death" back, because of the similarities, but it was really an artificial reason in my mind," he later said. Eventually he decided to go ahead and do it anyway. Another fact in the delay was that Corman had a great deal of trouble coming up with a screenplay he was happy with. Drafts were written by John Carter, Robert Towne and Barboura Morris, but Corman was not happy with any of them. There were also a number of rival adaptations of "Masque" being mooted around this time. The Woolner Brothers announced a film based on the story as did