The Masque of the Red Death (play) to create hidden set pieces within the performance in response to themes of the main show, including Kneehigh, Blind Summit, Julian Fox, Kazuko Hohki, Hannah Ringham and BAC's Young People's Theatre. Despite the title, the show was actually based on eight Edgar Allan Poe tales, including "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Black Cat", "William Wilson", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "Berenice", "Ligeia", "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether", "The Telltale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado". The show did not utilise a central narrative beyond the loose themes of The Masque Of The Red
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