Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

jadflack-22130 Restricted somewhat by it's low budget, this Canadian made horror film is interesting, and I would imagine be even better, if seen in it's original 3D form. The effects in the "flat version"look like they could be effective. Film starts off well, but nothing really is explained and film's climax is disappointing, but overall not a bad little "B" movie.

ctomvelu1 The 1961 THE MASK is about a psychiatrist who is given an ancient Aztec or Mayan mask by a patient who has just died. The doctor feels compelled to put the mask on, and has horrific visions of the walking dead, sacrificial altars and weird chambers with plenty of fire to boot. Sort of like Orpheus in the underworld. It was shot in 3D, and I can tell you from first-hand knowledge how absolutely terrifying this movie was when I saw it on its initial release. I was 11 at the time. Loud, electronic music made it even harder to sit through. It was Canada's first shot at a horror film and is almost, dare I say, a work of art for the set pieces the doctor experiences each time he wears the mask. The movie, which could just as easily have been a stage play, holds up very well, at least in the 3D segments. The rest is simply filler. Remade many years later with Jim Carrey, but with a decidedly different approach.

MARIO GAUCI There are several firsts associated with this obscure but stylish horror item: it was the first Canadian film to be widely distributed in America; it was the first product in the genre to emanate from the country (so, keeping David Cronenberg in mind, it has a lot to answer for); and, it was the only Canadian production ever to be (partly) shot in 3-D! Given the film's successful combination of art and exploitation, it should come as no real surprise, therefore, to find its director Julian Roffman later engaged as a producer on another notable Canadian horror film, THE PYX (1973) as well as the cheesy exploitation flick THE GLOVE (1979); interestingly enough, my twin brother and I also emerged with divergent opinions on this one but, judging by the final star rating, there can be no doubt as to who eventually won the argument…although, admittedly, his similarly less enthusiastic judgment of THE UNSEEN (1945) had just made me reconsider my own! Actually, this was my second stab at acquiring the film as my first attempt only provided me with a faulty copy. The plot deals with the deadly effect that an ancient burial mask has on whoever happens to don it – from the young disturbed kid being treated by his skeptical shrink at the start of the film (driven first to a homicidal fury and then suicide) and later on, the psychoanalyst himself who receives the mask itself in the mail (a last-minute gift from his former patient)! The film's real raison d'etre and true coup is the surrealistic externalization of the psychoanalyst's demented hallucinations in a reddish-hued Hades (in an otherwise monochrome film) peopled with eyeless arm-grabbing zombies, with the exception of one literally eye-popping specimen, that anticipate the look (complete with monastic attire) of 'the vampires' in THE OMEGA MAN (1971). Ostensibly, these 3-D nightmare sequences (preceded by the ominous off-screen "Put the mask on...now" command – obviously a cue for the audience to put their special glasses on – and underscored by jazzed-up music) were the brainchild of celebrated and multi-talented artist Slavko Vorkapich – best-known for co-directing (with Robert Florey) the avant-garde short THE LIFE OF 9413, A Hollywood EXTRA (1928) and devising the montage segments in Frank Capra's MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) – but, apparently, his ideas proved too ambitious for the low-budget afforded them and, consequently, they were (mostly) discarded…even if he is still given full credit for them in the film's opening titles.

TonyDood This movie really grows on you. Yes, it's true, the non-3D parts are boring, but I find them functional. Like any good freak-out movie, if it was all a freak out, you'd get worn out fast. This is like a freak-out musical in a way, where the freaky scenes are the equal of big musical numbers.A doctor is turned on to a creepy mask by one of his patients who has turned into a homicidal maniac. Next thing you know, the doctor is trying on the mask and going insane, and oh what a mess, and his girlfriend and everyone, and blah blah blah. Meanwhile, in the hallucinogenic mask sequences, you get to experience what it must have been like to be on LSD in the 60's. There's a whole "alternate world," where a strange, mutated man is milling around, looking for the woman (?) he is in love with in a fever dream landscape where there are skulls and burning hands and satanists and gore and other neato stuff. And it's all in bizarro 3-D! Even if it doesn't work well all the time, it's still mighty disturbing, especially for a movie from 1961! The images, and the incredible, collage-like soundtrack to the freak sequences will linger on your brain long afterwards, in the same way that wearing those horrible glasses leave an impression on your eyes after you take them off for the "normal" scenes. You're exhausted, and confused, and weirded out.Yay