HORROR BUSINESS EPISODE 150: The Masque Of The Red Death & The Evil

Horror Business

Greetings, and welcome back to Horror Business. We have one awesome episode in store for you guys because we’re talking about two films directed or produced by the late great Roger Corman: 1964’s The Masque Of The Red Death and 1978 The Evil.

First and as always thank you to our Patreon subscribers. Your support means the world to us and we are eternally thankful. If you would like to become a Patron, head to patreon.com/cinepunx. Thanks in advance! Also, a huge thank you to the fine folks over at Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations, the premiere screen-printing company of the Lehigh Valley. Chris Reject and his merry band of miscreants are ready to work with you to bring to life your vision of a t-shirt for your business, band, project, or whatever else it is you need represented by a shirt, sweater, pin, or coozy. Head on over to www.xlvacx.com to check them out. Thank you also to Essex Coffee Roasters, purveyors of freshly roasted coffee and doers away with of coffee elitism! Head to www.essexcoffeeroasters.com to check out their fine assortment of coffee and enter CINEPUNX in the promo code for ten percent off your order! Also thank you to Paul Sharkey for his MANY technical contributions to this show and others on the Cinepunx network. Head to www.mechanicalsharkmedia.com for all your miscellaneous production (and mechanized shark!) needs!

We start by talking about some of the things we’ve done involving horror recently. We talk about seeing the film The First Omen, and Liam talks about I Saw The TV Glow. Justin talks about the films Arcadian, Imaginary, as well as some of the films he watched at Chattanooga Film Fest, which you can read about at Cinepunx.com!

Up first is The Masque Of The Red Death. We discuss the film’s depiction of theistic satanism, which differs from traditional satanism in that it worships Satan, in addition to the film’s ambivalence as to whether God and the Devil are real, as opposed to its depictions of plagues as anthropomorphized characters.

We discuss the film’s theme of class consciousness; in that it not only depicts Prospero as evil because he worships the devil but also because he is rich and negligent towards his poorer charges. Justin talks about the source materials criticism of the decadence of the rich and their disdain of the lower classes and how ahead of the curve it was, and we discuss the film’s criticism of royalty and inherited power and its connection to the immoral nature of kleptocracy as well.

We talk about how Prospero’s objectification of the lower class is even more evil than mere apathy for them, and some of the film’s “stellar” production choices, including the colored rooms, costumes, and set design.

We talk about Vincent Price’s ability to add dignity to an otherwise less than dignified film, and how even though it’s not traditionally scary it’s still a successful horror film. We close with discussing Roger Corman’s far reaching impact on the history of film.

Up next is The Evil. We give a summary of the film and talk about the somewhat absurd setting of it to begin with. We discuss how we weren’t particularly fond of this movie but at least it’s a bad movie made earnestly and talk about some of the more ridiculous elements of it.

Liam discusses the film’s inability to transition from “upsetting part to not upsetting part”, which leads into a discussion of the appreciation we have for movies that acknowledge even if the characters survive, they are still going to be emotionally devastated and how movies that don’t acknowledge that often strain the suspension of disbelief.

We talk about the frustration with the character’s initial refusal to admit anything is strange or off about the house, as it completely negates the purpose of a horror movie about ghosts.

As always thank you for listening and to everyone and anyone who donated on Patreon, checked this episode out, or shared a tweet/shared a post on FB/gave us love by recommending us to someone. We love you forever for listening and donating. Any questions, comments, suggestions for movies and guests, or if you yourself want to join us for a movie viewing or even an episode, can be sent to [e-mail]. We would love to hear from you! Thanks always to Justin Miller, Jacob Roberts, Paul Sharkey, and Doug Tilley for their technical contributions and fliers, Mike Smaczylo for the shirts and fliers (you can check more of his work out at here), and also thanks to Josh Alvarez for the theme song, Chris, Brad, and LVAC for the support and buttons (check them out at www.xlvacx.com and on Twitter), Essex Coffee Roasters (www.essexcoffeeroasters.com) and a HUGE thank you to anyone who retweeted us or shared something on Facebook that we posted. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thehorrorbiz666, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/thehorrorbiz66, check out our Spotify account at Cinepunx, and remember to rate, review, and subscribe to us on ITunes. In fact, if you write us a review, email us with your mailing address and we’ll send you some free pins and stickers! Check out www.cinepunx.com for more info on some of our other podcasts, some ultra stylish Cinepunx related merchandise, and how you can donate to our Patreon! Until next time…thanks!

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