The Mask

Historically important as the first official Canadian made horror film, and in 3-D no less, "The Mask" offers up a pretty damn creepy head trip. It's never as compelling outside of its nightmare / 3-D sequences, but it's nicely atmospheric and definitely very well acted. The visuals by Slavko Vorkapich (who scripted and designed the major set pieces) are most compelling, and could easily freak some people out.

Allan Barnes (handsome Paul Stevens) is a psychiatrist with a crazed patient named Michael Radin (Martin Lavut). Michael had been messing around with a mask which he "borrowed" from a museum, and putting it on has been driving Michael mad...and homicidal. Michael commits suicide, but before doing so, mails the mask to his shrink, and the good doctor finds himself just as fascinated by and obsessed with the thing when HE starts trying it on. Allans' concerned fiancée Pam (lovely Claudette Nevins) and his associate, Professor Quincey (Norman Ettlinger) worry about his sanity and potential for violence.

This is good fun, even if the story is pretty familiar overall. At least, this story does its job of setting up those set pieces, which just aren't the same when viewed in 2-D. That mask itself is pretty cool, whether or not somebody is wearing it. The film is produced & directed by Julian Roffman (who also produced "The Pyx", which is worth seeing), who only made a handful of films during his life and career, and is solidly acted by a cast that also includes Bill Walker as a dedicated detective, and Anne Collings as Allans' secretary.

The movie does put forth that idea that masks like this merely channel a persons' own actual thoughts and personality, much the same way that the same named Jim Carrey fantasy of 1994 did.

Seven out of 10.

... I don't know if that's correct, but I liked it. Paul Stevens stars as a psychiatrist who feels guilt after a patient dies. The now-dead man worked in antiquities and had recently acquired a mysterious mask that he claimed had sinister mystical attributes. The patient had mailed the mask to the doctor, who decides to try it on, only to discover that his patient was right. Also featuring Claudette Nevins, Bill Walker, Anne Collings, Martin Lavut, Leo Leyden, and Norman Ettinger.

When originally released, audience members were given 3D glasses in the shape of small masks, and they were prompted to don them whenever the mask is worn onscreen. They were treated to nightmarish sequences in 3D. These are the best parts of the film, featuring foggy ruins filled with corpse-like people, masked killers, and human sacrifice. The rest of the movie is rather unmemorable, but the nightmares/hallucinations caused by the mask make this a worth-see for horror enthusiasts. The version I watched had the 3D sequences intact, and luckily I had some old cardboard 3D glasses laying around.

This early 60's horror film is one of the slowest moving ones ever. The film begins with an awesome title sequence...some flickering abstract lines, mixed with some deliciously eerie music. Following that (and before the story actually starts), we have one of the most dreadfully boring narrators ever in the history of film, explaining to us what a mask is, and that when the characters in the film put on the mask of the title, we are to do the same with our 3-D specs.

The story itself is a bore, painfully written and with some ludicrous, laughable acting (my favorite was the grumpy landlady). The 3-D sequences are something else entirely from the rest of this film. You'd think they came from a different movie. They are moody, eerie, well thought out and put together. Some of the in-your-face effects still don't work well (even in a theatre) but they are hokey good fun. However, once the non-stereo scenes come back on...they are redundant and increasingly annoying. Still, this is a cult classic by any standards, and you can't help but love it. Understandably, it has quite a following.

Yes, I have to agree that this is really not a great film. However, as the previous reviewer has commented, it is worth watching at least once for the 3-D sequences, which were done by the famous Slavko Vorkapitch. The premise is actually a great use of the 3-D medium. Whenever the main character puts on the haunted mask, that is the cue for the audience to put their 3-D glasses (Which were in the form of a "Mystic Mask" when I saw this in it's original theatrical release in 1961!). He then has these wild 3-D dream sequences, which are definitely the ONLY good part of the film. In order for this to work in ANY movie theater the 3-D sequences are in the anaglyph format, which uses the red and green glasses, and does not require a special projection lens or silver screen. The film is otherwise black and white, except for the 3-D sequences, which use the red and green encoding to create monochromatic 3-D. It should be noted, however, that this process does not translate very well to video. The 3-D effect may be significantly reduced or not work well at all, depending upon the monitor, color settings, etc. Probably the laserdisc version of this will have the best 3-D effects.

the story is a bit spooky but quite cool and mostly contains brutal horror scenes. the movie itself is a cool thing for a forthcoming psychiatrist, the content is kind of very ill. i liked the movie for its kind of filmmaking and using of 3D FX (pleez note that the movie is from '61). an indian mask is found and used/misused by a doctor who experiences his own dark thoughts coming to real life. dream sequences in 3D (nearly), movie is in b/w.