The Masque of the Red Death

Yay!! Frank Stallone is in this movie! No where near as good an actor as his more famous brother - an actor of immense depth and range (Rocky, Rambo, Tango [or was he Cash?], the goalie in "Escape to Victory", the guy in "F*I*S*T*", the dude from "Cliffhanger" - the list is endless) - but still, he blows everything off the screen with his sensitive portrayal of the Duke.

No, really, this movie sucks, don't waste your life on it. Go rent "The Godfather".

And, trust me, that song will haunt your dreams...

I really enjoyed this movie. I thought that Michelle McBride was a refreshing and exciting actress who balanced brilliantly with the other cast. She looks great and boy is she sexy. Frank Stallone made a perfect Duke. He's a great actor; does a fabulous tango - not easy to do. Herbert Lom was fun as the mad King Ludwig and the lovely Brenda Vaccaro gave a sterling performance as usual. The story was good - I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next and the thrills and fears of an old fashioned horror story were certainly there. Some pretty good visual effects and an exciting twist on the original Edgar Allan Poe story by action director Alan Birkinshaw. The scene with the pendulum in the clock was one of the best dramatic scenes from any Edgar Allan Poe movie I have ever seen. It left me clinging to my chair in a cold sweat. I believe Birkinshaw also made the House of Usher and the award winning Punch with Donald Sutherland. All in all, it was an entertaining and exciting piece of cinema. More please. More.

Why? Why? Why? Why does Frank Stallone get work? How does he get it? Sorry...that's my spiel on Frank Stallone. He stars in this awful film version of the classic Poe tale about a dying millionaire who throws a castle costume party that's a killer.

I saw this film by mistake on Tv. It wasn't really bad, but the acting and the plot was. The only plus was that it had these kind of original and gruesome murders. If you rent it you'll use the ff button a lot.

You're probably unaware that they remade THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH in 1989 and there's a good reason for that: it's an utterly generic B-movie and not very good either. It was shot by British director Alan Birkinshaw, best known for the grubby slasher KILLER'S MOON back in 1978, and filmed in South Africa along with a handful of other Poe remakes. The plot is only loosely based on the Price film, set at a Hungarian castle where a rich nobleman is holding the titular masque.

It's cheesy stuff for sure, with plenty of wooden acting aside from the reliable Herbert Lom in a supporting role; Frank Stallone is one of the worst culprits but I was disappointed by the female lead too. The "red death" himself has been refigured as a slasher killer, going around cutting throats and limbs, so expect some gore and torture devices borrowed from Poe. A few fun references, like a guy dressed as Chaney's Phantom at one point, but not enough to make this remotely entertaining.