When Roger Corman Meets Edgar Allan Poe: Gothicism in “The Masque of the Red Death”, from the Book into the Screen

Abstract

This research work deals with “The Masque of the Red Death” (1842) written by Edgar Allan Poe and its film adaptation (1964) directed by Roger Corman. It highlights the main differences and similarities between them focusing on several hints of Gothic features in an attempt to see how Roger Corman succeeded in creating the gothic mood. In order to conduct such a research, this dissertation is divided into two chapters. The first chapter will shed light on the American Gothic literature in the nineteenth century. Then, it will revolve around the link between literature and film adaptation. Besides, it will tackle the issue of fidelity and adaptation. The second chapter is concerned with analyzing the gothic characteristics in both short story and its movie adaptation with a comparison between the two. Besides, it will provide an evaluation about the movie speaking about the factors behind the success of the film adaptation.