One movie. Five people, living or dead, at the screening. Who and why?

Today’s screening: “Masque of the Red Death”

One of eight gloriously lurid Poe adaptations directed by American B-movie auteur Roger Corman, this colorful tale of pestilence, corruption and Satanism, released in 1964, loosely adapts and combines Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories “The Masque of the Red Death” and “Hop-Toad.” Essentially, the sinister Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) joyfully tortures a village full of long-suffering peasants while hosting an elaborate, hedonistic costume ball for fringe members of the aristocracy, who are seeking shelter from a deadly bleeding disease that’s sweeping the countryside.

Anton LaVey (1930-1997), Founder – The Church of Satan

A mere two years after Vincent Price’s turn as the Satanist Prospero, Anton LaVey, already known around San Francisco for his occult lectures and paranormal research, founded the Church of Satan. Coincidence? Rather than have LaVey expound upon his best known works, “The Satanic Bible” and “The Satanic Rituals,” this film should spur some conversation about his lesser-known books, “The Satanic Chef” and “Satanic Jokes for Goateed Folks.”

Howard Zinn (1922-2010), Political Scientist

Sure, the highly controversial and recently deceased socialist-leaning populist historiographer probably hasn’t even gotten a chance to ghost flush the toilets at “The Weekly Standard,” but I can’t leave him out of this screening. Corman’s portrayal of Prospero’s relationship with the peasants – from the indiscriminate killing to the kidnapping of virgins in the name of forced Satanic conversion – plays out like a series of early scenes from the hypothetical “A People’s History of Europe.” Even if Zinny finds the socially just ending to be insultingly unrealistic, it’ll be worth it just to hear him reminisce about past outrages, present iniquities and the drinking game he played with Noam Chomsky where they watched “24” and solemnly took a shot every time a character’s human rights were violated.

Edgar Allen Poe, (1809-1849), Author

Obviously, Poe should get a chance to watch Corman’s adaptation of his classic story. And, if there’s time, “Wall-E.”

C.J. Peters (1940- ), Field Virologist

Famous for helping to control epidemics of deadly hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola and Hanta Virus (the book “Hot Zone” and the film “Outbreak” were inspired by his research and field work), Peters could provide speculative scientific insight on the titular “red death,” a fictional hemorrhagic fever that spreads rapidly via man-sized crimson-shrouded party crasher. Questions for Peters could include, “generally, what’s the mortality rate of a virus like this?” and “is actual Ebola as monochromatic in its wardrobe selections?”

Aeschylus (?525 BC- 456 BC), Playwright

Though best known for writing stage adaptations of mythological tragedies (“Agamemnon,” etc.), Aeschylus’ oldest existing play, “The Persians,” not only dramatizes the then-recent fall of the Persian Empire, but also opens with what is often credited as the first Western example of a performed dream sequence. As such, Corman’s love of psychedelic dream sequences, as evidenced by Prospero’s mistress’ emerald-tinted descent into Satanic allegiance, owes something to the ancient playwright… and Aeschylus is here to collect (I imagine this as the pilot episode of a series called “Aeschylus Collects,” in which Aeschylus is portrayed as a broken man, displaced in time, with 1,000 lost hopes and 1 gun that shoots nets.)

*On a more serious note – if you haven’t seen Corman’s Poe adaptations, you’re a wiener.

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