Mark Turner I was fortunate to be managing a theater when the second wave of 3D hit theater screens. Much like the first wave that took place in the fifties these films made the decision to use the special effect in gimmicks rather than integrate the format into the story. Items were thrown at cameras, things were dropped at them and there was even an eyeball that popped out of someone's head towards that camera in Friday THE 13TH 3D. Because the effects were gimmick related and due to the bad format being used that required glasses that gave viewers headaches it soon died. Newer technology has made the format popular again but even that is beginning to wane.The first major release during that second wave of 3D wasn't from a major studio but was actually a spaghetti western that came from Italy. COMIN' AT YA! used a tried and true story and then rounded it out with enough items aimed at viewers that many who had only heard of 3D rushed to theaters to experience it for the first time. It became an immediate hit and soon other movies followed suit only to disappear for reasons I stated earlier. But this little movie that renewed interest in the format should be included in the history of movies for that reason alone, that it brought it back to life.Now MVD has brought the film to DVD for the first time. Not only that it's being offered in 3D as well as blu-ray for those who own 3D televisions. This makes it the first time you can see the film that way since it was released back in 1981.The story is simple enough. The wedding of gunslinger H.H. Hart (Tony Anthony) and his bride Abilene is interrupted by Pike and Polk Thompson (Gene Quintano and Ricardo Palicios) who shoot Hart and kidnap his bride. The duo is kidnapping women to be sold into white slavery. What is interesting to note about this sequence is that it is incredibly obvious that Quentin Tarantino used this sequence when filming KILL BILL. At moments it seems shot for shot the same as the killing of the bride from that film.The rest of the movie revolves around Hart tracking down the bad guys and trying to retrieve his wife. When Hart discovers that the brothers are taking women from all around with the intent of selling them into the brothels of Mexico, he makes it his mission to save them all. A back and forth between his taking out men, being captured, escaping and taking them on again follows until a climactic battle that takes place in a ghost town.At only 91 minutes the first question that should be asked is is there enough of a story here to make a feature length film or is it all gimmicks? The answer is yes, the story is well thought out and lives up to the movies of the time, westerns that were slowly disappearing even from Italy. Westerns for the most part always offered up simple stories of good guys versus bad. It was a formula that worked so why tinker with it? But the amount of 3D effects in the film at times slows down what we get to see. Not only that, some of the gimmicks might leave you scratching your head as to why someone thought that was something people wanted to see. But that's because we've grown accustomed to the current wave of 3D films where the 3D is incorporated into the story itself rather than just tossed in to be called a 3D movie. The novelty has worn off and it now accentuates the story rather than propels it. Knowing that the use of it in this film makes more sense where it is used simply to show 3D.There are several ways that are used to display the effect here, some good some head scratching as I mentioned. Among the bad are seeing things like beans of coins dropped from above towards the floor where the camera is located. Better usage comes from items like a snake hanging down from a board or arrows flying through the air towards the camera. Those were eye popping moments where audiences ducked while watching the film.Tony Anthony does a great job here and should have become a bigger star than he was. Having made more than one spaghetti western, including several that involved the same character only known as the Stranger, he was a recognizable face. Why he left acting behind I've yet to discover. He did invent a low cost 3D projection lens that was cheaper than the conventional lenses being used at the time so perhaps he made enough off of that to retire early. If such was the case it was a loss to fans of the genre and of Anthony.This release offers little in the form of extras but with both a regular blu-ray and 3D blu-ray included in the mix it's worth it for fans of 3D and for collectors alike. Even if you don't enjoy the format but love those old spaghetti westerns it's worth adding to your collection. The end result is a fun film that can be enjoyed either way. Now for fans we have to sit and hope that TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS comes out as well.

zardoz-13 Imagine what a standard-issue Spaghetti western shoot'em up about revenge with sadistic dastards pitted against a savvy lone wolf hero who happens to be a crack shot and then add 3-D, and you've got the best adrenalin-laced western 3-D bloodbath with director Ferdinando Baldi's "Comin'At Ya" with "Stranger in Town" star Tony Anthony. This is one 3-D movie that lives up to its title. Baldi literally sticks virtually everything in your face during this 91-minute sagebrush showdown. This is 3-D as it should have been done for the get-go. Unfortunately, Rhino Video got their fumbling fingers this masterpiece of atmospheric frontier violence and botched it as a DVD. Originally, I saw this movie in Jackson, Mississippi, when it came out in 1981, and it was terrific! The plot was as lean as Tony Anthony. Basically, Anthony plays a version of his "Stranger' again, but this time his wardrobe has changed. Gone is the serape. He wears a dress coat, vest, and looks like a conventional hero in an American western. Mind you, things have changed considerably with the release of "Comin' At Ya" in Blu-ray 3-D with "a frame by frame digital conversion of the polarized over-and-under format of the original print, sourced from a brand new inter-negative into the MVC 3-D format and a new 5.1 surround sound" audio. The quoted words are straight off the Blu-ray case. If you are an avid 3-D fan, I believe this movie was made for you, and it looks terrific, aside from some of the degradation that time has imposed on the original print. Meantime, the new 3-D glasses are nothing like the original ones. The glass look exactly like those in contemporary movie theaters. Kind of like sunglasses. The 3-D "Comin' At Ya" effects looked great on my 65 inch television. Several people have said that Anthony put together a demo-reel of western scenes and showed how they wound look in 3-D. If this is was the case, then Tony Anthony was a pretty shrewd dude. Too bad it couldn't have supervise all the other 3-D movies that came out in the 1980s. Most of them sucked terribly! Lloyd Battista of "Treasure of the Four Crowns," Wolf Lowenthal of "Get Mean," Gene Quintaro of "Sudden Dead" wrote their screenplay from Tony Pettito's story. Tony Anthony wrote under the pseudonym of Tony Pettito. The narrative portion of this western is reminiscent in some ways of Ferdinando Baldni's "Blindman," except our hero retains his sight. Similarly, the villains, led by Pike (Gene Quintaro) and his obese brother Polk (hefty Richard Palacios of "Return of the Seven"), have amassed an army of six-gunners with an arrow-shooting Indian, and they raid towns on the American side of the border for lovely dames to sell for lots of loot in Mexico. The first mistake that these bastards make occurs when they interrupt a marriage in a church where H.H. Hart (Tony Anthony of "The Stranger" movies) is getting himself hitched to beautiful Abilene (Victoria Abril of "High Heels") and wound him and abduct her. Naturally, when Hart recovers from his wounds, he rides out to recover his bride. Meantime, Pike has rounded up two wagon loads of women and he has set up an auction to sell them to the highest bidders. You guessed it: Hart gatecrashes the party. Chaos ensues with gunfire galore.Ultimately everything boils down to a contest of wits and balls between Hart and Pike. No sooner than Hart thinks that he has rescued all the women than his plans to awry. He finds himself in a neck and neck fight for life with Poke, and Abilene finds herself back in Pike's hands. Although the pared-down to absolute essentials plot is basically worth only two stars, the captivating 3-D is worth four stars. Nothing gets in the way of the action, least of all any involved dialogue. Anybody that loves Spaghetti westerns, Tony Anthony movies, and 3-D actioneer will crave this oater.

preppy-3 This movie was released in 1981 and started the 3-D phase of the early 80s when a large amount of movies were put out in 3-D. This is a western about a good guy tracking down a bunch of bad guys who are holding his girlfriend hostage.I was "lucky" enough to see this in a theatre back in 1981. The 3-D actually wasn't that good--it only worked occasionally and it didn't disguise the fact that this movie was lousy. The plot is strictly by the numbers, nobody can act and it was dull. This was just made to show off 3-D--they shove EVERYTHING in your face. Bats, rats, guns, flaming arrows... and in one hysterically tasteless shot a baby's butt is lowered onto the camera! Some of the 3-D effects that work are fun...I confess I ducked a few times at the arrows. But it gets tiresome real quick when the 3-D is used nonstop and there's nothing else even remotely interesting to keep your attention. This would be ALMOST worth catching for the 3-D...but it really wasn't that good and I heard the version on video doesn't work at all. Also you get a splitting headache from the glasses.Pointless and boring with bad 3-D. Skip it.

jdickason This was absolutely the worst movie I ever saw. Believe it or not, I paid to see this bomb at the movie theater and it is only one of two movies that I ever walked out of! No plot, poor effects, horrible script.