Masque of the Red Death-Corman's one attempt to go for broke, and a complete success. His finest hour, and Vincent is wonderful. 4 balls out of 4.

For Halloween got through the initial Universal trilogy:

Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy. Of these indisputable classics, I think Dracula is a far better film than people give it credit for and it is better than the animatedly technically superior Spanish version. Frankenstein seems like a far more modern film in nuance alone, but this is primarily from James Whale. Clive and Karloff are fantastic, but one can't help but get the feeling of the plot being a bit too oversimplified. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the heights of Bride. Of the the three, more and more over time I return to The Mummy which is easily the most underrated of the classic Universals. The most atmospheric, and possibly best shot, The Mummy is a timeless artifact haunted by Karloff's best performance , save for Bride. Despite being essentially Dracula in Egypt, the film has always worked well for me and has an intricate level of "horror" that is far more interesting and captivating than anything outright frightening. Plus I've always thought Zita Johan looks quite striking.

I think next I'll finally sit down with the 1925 original release version of Phantom of the Opera, which seems to answer my one problem with the 1929 version: the unnecessary scenes and subplots.