THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1989)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS*

Though this MASQUE is yet another "phony Poe" movie that captures nothing of the writer's unique appeal, it's certainly the best of the three films British producer Harry Alan Towers made with American journeyman director Alan Birkenshaw circa 1989. In fact, this movie shares with 1989's TEN LITTLE INDIANS the same top-billed stars-- Frank Stallone, Brenda Vaccaro, and Herbert Lom-- as well as having been shot mostly in South Africa. (I assume the exteriors showing a Bavarian castle were put together thanks to Towers' legendary European connections.) Stallone and Vaccaro definitely don't deserve their top billing in MASQUE, and though Lom's role is more substantial, viewpoint character Rebecca, played by Michelle McBride, provides the heavy lifting here. In addition, the real star of the show is MASQUE's psycho-killer, and though she doesn't have very good motivations at least she racks up a pretty strong body count.

Rebecca journeys to the Bavarian castle of a famous rich guy, Ludwing (Lom). He's holding a lavish costume party for his many acquaintances and hangers-on, and one of those guests is soap-opera actress Elena (Vaccaro). Rebecca, in line with her profession as a photographer-paparazzi, hopes to get some sensational photos of the aging soap-queen, though the only thing Elena does at the bash is to canoodle with some much younger men. I assume that the part of Elena was concocted to give Vaccaro a role, since it would have made more sense had Rebecca been focused on the mysterious Ludwig. In any case, she counterfeits an invitation to the party and dons a Cupid-costume, all the better to conceal a camera in her bow. 

Some reviews call this a "slasher." But since the victims are brought together because of the partygoers' indebtedness to wealthy Ludwig, the movie has more structural resemblance to "mystery killer" films, ranging from the "old dark house" flicks of the thirties to the aforementioned TEN LITTLE INDIANS book/play by Agatha Christie. MASQUE does have a killer dressed up in a costume like that of Poe's Red Death, but one can find cloaked murderers in the 1930s as well as in the 1980s-- though the level of violence here is definitely post-slasher. This "Red Death" does want to wipe out all of the partygoers, which is about the only element the movie has in common with the Poe story. Since writer Michael Murray had also worked on the other Towers-Birkenshaw collab of 1989, THE HOUSE OF USHER, he apparently decided to up the Poesque elements by having one victim killed by a knife-edged pendulum.

It takes a while for Ludwig and his guests to twig to the fact that some of the attendees are being murdered (including early fatality Elena), and when they do, the film faces the usual problems of the "old dark house" plot: "how do you keep the pool of victims available for further murders?" Ludwig, who's fixated on keeping his guests together as his extended family, uses mechanical gates to keep everyone confined to the castle, though clearly, it's the script that keeps the panicky guests from escaping by other means. Ludwig is never a serious contender for the Big Reveal, and indeed he's slain by the serial slayer.

The writer doesn't bother with leaving clues to the mystery killer's ID; after a half dozen partygoers are slain, an airheaded actress named Collette (Christine Lunde) simply reveals that her intent was to kill off all the other hangers-on so that Ludwig would devote his attention to her. Of course, her killing Ludwig doesn't track too well with that motivation. But at least MASQUE ends with a lively set-piece: that of Rebecca fist-fighting Collette for three-four minutes before Collette meets her doom. 

There's nothing special about MASQUE, but production values are decent, Lom has some good moments, and McBride makes her simple character appealing throughout. Devotees of bad acting may be disappointed that Vaccaro isn't terrible, but Frank Stallone's nothingburger role as a Bavarian duke should take up the slack.