Death knows how to party in the Poe slasher MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, on Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing.

Paparazzi photographer Rebecca (Michelle McBride, SUBSPECIES) arrives in Bavaria to sneak into an Edgar Allan Poe-themed masquerade ball thrown by wealthy producer Ludwig (Herbert Lom, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE) at his fairytale castle. Among the guests are Ludwig's small circle of favorites – those he has helped advance in their careers – including action movie star Duke (Frank Stallone, SAVAGE HARBOR), soap star Elaina (Brenda Vaccaro, DEATH WEEKEND), actress Collette (Christine Lunde, YOUNG REBELS), fashion model Kitra (Foziah Davidson, RIVER OF DEATH), and doctor Karen (Christobel d'Ortez, GOR II). Rebecca is also surprised to discover that former colleague and ex-boyfriend Max (Simon Poland, CROSSING THE LINE) has also "sold out" to become part of Ludwig's circle, but more surprising than that is that someone dressed as "The Red Death" is stalking the partygoers and gorily murdering them with each strike of the hour on Ludwig's elaborate bladed pendulum clock? After the second body turns up, most of the guests flee, but Ludwig traps Rebecca, his friends, rock singer Dallon (Lindsay Reardon, THE STAY AWAKE), and faithful butler Hans (Godfrey Charles) in the castle, but to what end? Is the dying billionaire determined to take his best friends with him to the grave or is someone else responsible for the increasingly gruesome fates in store for the party guests?

Not to be confused with the Roger Corman-produced MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH released the same year – and far more faithful to the source story than even Corman's own vastly-superior 1964 film – this MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH was part of a trio of Poe-themed slashers co-produced by former Cannon Films head Menahem Golan through severance company 21st Century Film Distribution along with Cannon-regular Harry Alan Towers (THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU) and future EXPENDABLES producer Avi Lerner (who previously dabbled in the slasher with THE STAY AWAKE) that also included Gerard Kikoine's BURIED ALIVE and THE HOUSE OF USHER, the latter helmed by MASQUE director Alan Birkinshaw (KILLER'S MOON). While THE HOUSE OF USHER was a rather grim and unpleasant affair involving premature burial, rape, decapitation, castration, and deaths by power drill, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH is a flashy, glitzy, gory take on Agatha Christie's TEN LITTLE INDIANS (the same year Birkinshaw would helm an adaptation of the Christie novel for Towers and Cannon). Like the mad doctor of the Bela Lugosi/Boris Karloff collaboration THE RAVEN, Lom's Ludwig – named after King Ludwig whose Neuschwanstein castle served as exteriors – also throws Poe-themed parties with guests referencing The Raven and Pit and the Pendulum parties, and the body count is shot through with Poe references including a black cat that turns up before some of the killings – a device also used in BURIED ALIVE – a decapitation by clock pendulum, and Ludwig's attempt to cheat death even though the Red Death is just a killer rather than a contagion. Lom acquits himself with more dignity than Oliver Reed or Donald Pleasance in the other Poe films, McBride is a plucky lead, Stallone and Vacarro seem to know the score well-enough to modulate their board performances, and the killer is entertainingly over-the-top throughout. The production design credited to Leith Ridley is made up of set flats and props from THE HOUSE OF USHER and BURIED ALIVE where Ridley worked under Leonardo Coen Cagli (KING SOLOMON'S MINES), but they are far better suited to the tackier, more garish aesthetic of a billionaire's idea of class and style. The gory prosthetics are the work of Scott Wheeler (THE MANGLER) and the playful scoring – including the unforgettable "Magical Mystery" – is the work of Cory Recht who wrote songs for Golan's trashy musical THE APPLE; but the film's most notable aspect is the striking photography of Jossi Wein – who later would become a director of Lerner's Nu Image direct-to-video action flicks – which is stuffed full of crane and dolly shots and lighting that highlights the artifice of the settings.

Released direct-to-video and laserdisc stateside as part of 21st Century Film Corporation's deal with Columbia Pictures, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH – curiously known as RIPTIDE in Germany – was late in coming to the digital format, with an appearance on TGC's DVD-R line as part of a two-disc Amazon exclusive double-bill with the 1964 Corman film. Scorpion's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen Blu-ray shaves some picture information off the top and bottom compared to the VHS transfer but the compositions never look impeded. The resolution reveals some of the rough edges of the effects but also calls attention to peripheral detail in the production design. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track is aggressive when it comes to the scoring and sound effects while dialogue is always intelligible. The SDH subtitles could have used some proofing as "Raven party" becomes "raving party."