Is it just me, or does it feel like The Fall of the House of Usher was like five years ago? It wasn’t, but the Poe party is all set to continue with a “wildly revisionist and darkly comedic” take on good old Edgar Allan’s The Masque of the Red Death—which may have Sydney Sweeney as its star.
Deadline reports that Sweeney—recently seen having a very bad time in Immaculate (pictured above)—is in talks to join the film, which comes from writer-director Charlie Polinger. Polinger has only made short films so far, but his first feature, The Plague, is coming soon. Do we, uh, sense a theme here?
“The Masque of the Red Death” is a story about a prince who gathers up his hangers-on and retreats to an abbey in hopes of avoiding a terrible plague. It’s all fun and games and riotous revelry and total disregard for everyone else in the world… until the Red Death shows up. (As he does.) Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth wrote about the story for their Reading the Weird column back in 2019; as Emrys noted, “The aristocracy will always find shocking things to spend their money on, and will always believe they can stave off death and decay.”
No details have been announced about how, exactly, Polinger plans to revise and make hilarious this almost-200-year-old story, but the themes are sure still on point. Deadline says the film is expected to begin filming this year, and will be distributed in the U.S. by beloved studio A24.
