Customer Reviews

The Mask

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Been waiting for this one to get to DVD. My review will be updated when I get the disc, but for now I'll comment on the movie itself and not the disc quality.

FWIW this was also known as Eyes of Hell, it is a 1961 low-budget Canadian horror film produced in 3-D by Warner Bros.

This is a really great B horror flick. One of those Friday night Shock Theater gems for sure. The 3-D sequences, four in all, last only a few minutes each. They were designed by montage expert Slavko Vorkapich, and feature an array of distinctively psychedelic visuals, some of which are mildly gruesome. A crude electronic music score enhances the strangeness of the 3-D scenes.

The movie is well done considering it's low budget, the story concerns a young scientist who obtains a mysterious ancient tribal mask. Whenever he puts on the mask he experiences weird dream-like visions which become increasingly disturbing and violent. The visions begin to alter his personality, and eventually drive him insane! Wee, what great Friday night fun! Pretty obvious where the later comic book and Jim Carry movie plot line came from.

UPDATE: As far as the disc quality, it's good, very watchable for a budget film, don't expect a flawless presentation as I'm pretty sure no master exists that would be better than this disc. Highly recommended.

This is a difficult movie to rate because it's so odd it needs to be seen no matter what someone might think of its quality. It is one of only two films directed by Canadian Julian Roffman. I got a chance to see this when it was originally released in the theatres. The studio used some of the 3-D "dream" sequences in the TV campaign and to a little shonicker like myself who was only 9 at the time, this looked like the greatest movie in the world. When I did in fact see it I thought this was right up there with the best of them. Well...upon viewing it as an adult on video, it wasn't quite that good, but it's a wiild flick to behold nonetheless. The 3-D sequences are outrageous. Viewers are treated to the likes of the hero rowing down the river Styx in a coffin while a skeleton-faced demon spits fireballs at him. Of course those fireballs are coming right at you and it's really nifty. These sequences looked as though though they were designed by Salvador Dali. And to a kid who couldn't tell a Roger Corman budget from a Cecil B. DeMille budget, this was the bee's knees. Of course the bones show when you get older and this film could have used at least a few more dollars. The non-dream sequences are a little dumb and slow, and the "don't do drugs or this is what will happen to you" subtext is a bit dated, but this is a definite must see for anyone who can appreciate the sheer energy and imagination involved. One could easily call this "gorilla film making." Also, the opening scene, where viewers witness the murder of a young woman, the camera is P.O.V. and it is truly frightening. So much so, that the rest of the movie can't quite sustain that level of intensity. Do yourself a favor and buy this movie. It's a cheap date and it even comes with 5 pair of 3-D glasses. It makes a great party experience. Thanks to those whacky folks at Rhino Video for digging up this little gem.

I saw this movie on TV many years ago. As I was much younger, and as I recall, up to my eyebrows in "refreshments", I thought it was a great movie. So when I saw that it was finally on DVD, I HAD to get a copy. It was, at the time, a fairly original idea. And as my old friend Greg Horn (see review above) said, its obvious where the idea of the comic book and Jim Carry movie originated.

Well, despite the flaws in the movie, I certainly got my money's worth. The flaws were absolutely hilarious. The director must have been on some strong medication - probably to offset the tiny budget and third rate actors he was forced to work with. I lost count of how many times the script referred to it being night (i.e. the psychiatrist driving his car and picking up his secretary, whom he was banging behind his fiance's back, in broad daylight, parking his car, and telling her to "Look at the stars!"). The fight scene near the end between the shrink driven mad by the mask and the dour, half-baked looking police detective was hilarious; especially the pathetic parody of a karate chop to the shoulder that finally subdued the hapless lunatic. There were too many holes in the plot to keep track of without taking notes. And EVERYBODY was smoking cigarettes like there was no tomorrow!

But it was the dream sequences and accompanying music that really made the film. The sequences were directed by Slavko Vorkapich; and you knew where the loin's share of the film's budget went. These scenes were quite well done. There is a feeling of fear and nightmarish surrealism in them that one wouldn't expect from the rest of the film. The effects utilized the limited technology of the day with a deft artistry. The 3D element (BTW, the DVD comes with a free pair of 3D glasses; a nice bonus) didn't hit me all that strong. Maybe it was me. But despite this, the dream sequences made the film.

I was also interested in the idea the film presented of exploring the depths of the human mind. Such ideas were rare for 50's grade B (or C) horror flicks. But The Mask wrestled with the idea in a way that was heroic in light of the limits of budget and talent. Somewhere, someone may have been trying to get an idea across and make a statement.

There were also bonus previews of various lost films, serials, and advertisements that were just as hilarious as the bulk of the film.

I gave this four starts partly because of the brilliant creativity of the dream sequences and partly because of the fact that the DVD as a whole was an eloquent relic of a bygone era. The demented innocence of the beginning of a headlong plunge into a spiritual emptiness that has since engulfed the whole of humanity. Yet, looking at it cannot help but bring a smile to our faces. Personally, I'm not the type to long for the "good old days". Nor am I much interested in current popular trends - which will doubtless go the way of the dinosaur and films like The Mask. My own "now" is far too interesting and fulfilling to live in such fantasy worlds. But an occasional visit to the "Old Neighborhood" is always refreshing, enjoyable, and puts things in a delightful perspective.

I saw this movie at the RKO theater in the Bronx back in 1961. I was 11 years old. I remember being so scared I left the theater with 3D glasses in hand, before the movie ended. I sort of forgot about this movie until I saw Jim Carry's campy version with the same name and similar plot. For years I tried to find this original 1961 version which I just found on Amazon. I was anxious to see how scary it really was, now almost 50 years later.
The movie: For an early 1960's horror flick, I found it pretty good. I can see how this would scare a young kid as some of the psychedelic sequences were rather gruesome, but mild by today's standards. In addition, I'm sure the 3D effect added to my horror back then. The DVD comes with 3D glasses, but I didn't seem to get the full 3D effect watching it on TV - maybe they work better in a dark movie theater. I found the quality of the DVD to be fairly decent. BTW, the DVD includes advertisements and previews of serials from the 60's. One of the serials is about Jesse James trying to clean up his bad name. There was something familiar about Jesse that kept bugging me. The way he rode his horse in that crouched leaning forward position...and that voice...then it hit me - it's Clayton Moore! So if you ever wanted to see the Lone Ranger without the mask (excuse the pun), here he is...
In summary, I found the movie enjoyable. At 6'4'' and 310 lbs. I was able to sit through the entire movie this time. However, I did store it in my locked basement freezer - just in case...

Here's an odd one - a 3-D film released a few years after the 3-D craze ended, in which only certain sequences actually require those infamous red-blue glasses. This film revolves around a psychiatrist (played by a Martin Landau lookalike) who becomes obsessed with a presumably Central American mask, and believes it has supernatural powers. Most of the movie has awful continuity and plotting that goes absolutely nowhere; I'm convinced that there's at least one reel of missing footage near the middle. Technically, it's got that Twilight Zone/noir look that many horror films of the late 1950s/early 1960s have.

The dream sequences, however, are why the film is remembered. They are filmed in 3-D, and have suitably eerie and surreal imagery. Yes, at times they simply poke scary props at us. But there's an attention to detail and an attempt to capture the look and feel of a nightmare or a hallucination. In fact, if this were a better movie, I'd suggest that the story is an allegory about drug abuse given the trippy nature of the dream imagery.

Definitely an acquired taste, but worth having if you caught it on TV back in the 1980s or are a fan of bizarre movies like "The Trip."

I saw this movie as a child at the theatre. I was scared ****less!! Now, having children and grandchildren of my own, I enjoy watching those things that impressed me so much as a child. Now that there is EBAY and VCR's, I bought a copy of The Mask. It even had a pair of 3-D glasses inside. I like to watch this show when I'm home alone.

In the normal scheme of things I would have given this bit of schlock-horror two stars--and that would have been on a good day. But THE MASK has two things going it for it: it has 3D and a cheap purchase price. The entire film seems to have been created purely in order accomodate the 3D effects. A psychiatrist (Allan Barnes) has a homicidal archeologist patient who swears up and down that he was just fine until he put on an ancient Indian mask the local museum dug up--and now, under the mask's influence, he has fearful fantasies, nasty nightmares, and (dare I say it?) the urge to kill. Our intrepid analyst doesn't believe a word of it, so the archeologist goes home and kills himself... but not before mailing the mask off to the doctor who failed him. Does the doctor put on the mask? Since we've only gotten about fifteen minutes into the movie he darn well better.

Each time the doctor puts on the mask he has the same fearsome fantasies and nasty nightmares as his deceased patient--only now we see them, and THEY ARE IN 3D! Now, the video comes with all sorts of warnings that everything from visual impairments to bad color settings on your screen will affect the effect, so you're pretty much on your own here. For myself, I found it worked pretty well as long as you were watching the movie in a pitch black room. But the fact that the movie is sometimes in 2D and sometimes in 3D has a peculiar result: its fun to put the glasses on and off, but it takes a few minutes for you to begin to read the film as 3D, and then when you taken the glasses off to see the 2D part you feel slightly askew because you're still sorta seeing red out of one eye and blue out of the other.

Several reviewers have commented that they found parts of the film pretty creepy and the 3D sequences really imaginative. I myself thought the whole thing was about as frightening as a box of dry cereal and the 3D bits--they were fun enough, but let's face it, this aint no CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. And unlike another reviewer, who said he got FIVE sets of glasses with the video, I only got TWO, and that sorta killed any ideas I had for using the film as a party flick. Still, the ten-to-fourteen year old crowd will get a kick out of it, and it's all just silly enough for grown ups to find mildly amusing too. So PUT THE MASK ON NOW and have some foolish fun!

The Mask 3D
I saw this movie in the theater in 1961. It was an experience that I never forgot. I had seen 3D movies before, but this one was different not just because it was so modern in style. I mean it was about common normal looking people instead of glamorous Hollywood-ized stars. But the 3D sequences were unforgettable. As you probably already know only small parts of the movie are in 3D, but those parts are completely different from the main movie because they are psychedelic dream fantasies that appear only after the movie character puts on his mask (and you put on yours). It made a lasting impression in my little ten-year-old brain and I longed over the decades to see in again.
This DVD presents the movie just as I remembered it. My DVD came with only one pair of plain white cardboard 3D glasses and were folded wrong with the red lens on the right which then turns the 3D effect inside out making things that are supposed to pop out, recede instead. And that brings me to my main gripe with 3D movies in general, even those being made today. People have misunderstood the 3D effect from the very first movies. Look at the antique stereoscopes or even the 3D Viewmaster slides and you will notice that their approach to using 3D was 180 degrees from every 3D movie made in that 3D is actually a BIG BOX that you look into, (and despite all efforts and propagandized exclamations to the contrary), the audience never has the sensation that things are popping out of the screen. Many people believe that they had to duck whenever the big stick was pointed at the camera because they were told to, but if they really look at the picture they will see that the big stick doesn't pop out but rather, the background recedes toward the horizon and the attempt just creates a fuzzy two-headed thing floating about the screen. This `Comin' at Ya approach is somewhat clownish in effect unless handled carefully. Just look at movies that were filmed in 3D but later released in 2D. Exaggerated angles of various gestures and props seem like those used in the silent films 100 years ago.
There was one other thing. All these years I remembered the movie ending with an explanation that the mask, although 500 years old, had a narcotic in it that was injected into the wearer with little barbs whenever it was put on over the head. This DVD does not have any ending like that at all and I wonder if all this time I was superimposing that ending from another movie onto this one, or was it edited off the end of this DVD version?

I remember this one. We were given 3-D glasses going into the theater and were told, "When the guy in the movie puts HIS mask on, put on YOURS!!" Needless to say, there were plenty of BOOO!!! moments. Kind of suspicious of how it will look now. But back then.........if you're into nostalgia and remember this, then buy it. If not, you might e=want to pass.

...during this movie's infamous 3-D dream sequence. What made the matter worse is that the theatre was unnecessarily freezing: they could have turned on the heat, but I guess they were going for that William Castle thing... You were supposed to slap on your glasses as the hero was putting on the mask. I recall skulls with melting eyeballs, druids rowing down the river Styx, murderous looking events in these dream sequences...I must've been 7 or 8 at the time so I was indelibly marked. What also made matters worse is that my olders brothers were laughing about me being scared spitless...nowadays since every kid of 7 or 8 has been treated to the likes of Freddy and Jason, it wouldn't even cause a shiver to youngsters. I believe, however, it would be still fun, to kids nonetheless.