Charlie Polinger will write and direct a ‘darkly comedic’ spin on The Masque Of The Red Death, with Sydney Sweeney set to star.
A24’s The Masque Of The Red Death is set to go before cameras at some point this year and according to Deadline, Sydney Sweeney is top of the studio’s list to headline the project. It’ll be the feature debut of Charlie Polinger, a New York filmmaker and theatre director.
Based on a dark short story from Edgar Allen Poe, The Masque Of The Red Death centres on a group of privileged nobles who lock themselves away for endless revelry while a plague decimates the outside world. Given Poe’s gothic horror style, you can imagine that not everything goes to plan for the wealthy partygoers.
Whether its Parasite, Triangle Of Sadness or The Menu, we’ve seen a surge of ‘eat the rich’ films of late and The Masque Of The Red Death could be another entertaining entry in this blossoming genre. However, we wouldn’t expect the film to get too hung up on Poe’s short story, given that the upcoming A24 film is said to be ‘wildly revisionist and darkly comedic.’
At the very least, that could mean a contemporary re-telling, perhaps aimed at a Gen Z audience. After all, the world that young people are set to inherit isn’t without its problems (this observation is not exclusive to this site), and a film using a single setting and the theme of class exploitation to explore those ideas could certainly resonate.
That would certainly explain Sydney Sweeney’s casting, should she end up taking the lead role in he project. The actor is currently filming The Housemaid, Paul Feig’s latest thriller, due to arrive later this year. She’s also filmed a Christy Martin biopic, along with having several other projects at various stages of pre-production, including the title role in Edgar Wright’s planned Barbarella remake.
We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it, but more tales inspired by Edgar Allen Poe would definitely be welcome. Netflix’s Poe-centered gothic adventure tale The Pale Blue Eye was a fun watch back in 2022 and since then, Mike Flanagan bought us a heavily-revised TV take on The Fall Of The House Of Usher, which actually included a spin on The Masque Of The Red Death.
We’re keen to see what Polinger is cooking up, however, when the story gets the feature length treatment courtesy of A24.
