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.
Scott LeBrun
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.
Michael_Elliott
The Mask (1961) ** (out of 4)Dr. Allan Barnes (Paul Stevens) is working with a troubled man who comes into his office claiming to have murdered a woman due to a mysterious mask in his possession. The doctor doesn't believe this so the man kills himself but before doing so he mails the doctor the mask. Soon the doctor is curious to try the mask on and then he begins to see the evil visions it offers.THE MASK is a fairly interesting movie from Canada that has a lot of interesting ideas and some great images but sadly the entire thing is so poorly acted and is so cheaply produced that in the end it comes across as a disappointment. I will admit that I could only watch the movie in 2D so I'm really not sure how well or poorly the 3D effects were.As for the film itself, as I said the performances in the film really aren't all that special but what really kills the film is the low-budget and the direction. Whenever the movie isn't involved in the "mask vision" then there's really nothing too interesting happening. The entire story is interesting but the majority of the movie happens as characters discuss the mask and its effects and none of them is all that captivating. Another problem is that the editing is so poor that it doesn't help things either.Where the film does succeed is in the visions. Again, some of it is poorly staged due to the budget but there are still some pretty interesting stuff that seems to be influenced by some of the movies from Italy including Mario Bava's BLACK Sunday. The images of the various zombie like creatures are rather effective as are the smoke and skull images. Perhaps their impact were even stronger in 3D. With that said, THE MASK certainly has enough interesting things to make it worth viewing, although the end result should have been better.
fertilecelluloid
The 3-D process used by the producers of this odd flick was called Nature Vision. Like most 3-D efforts such as "Comin' At Ya" and "The Man Who Wasn't There", the whole point of the exercise was the 3-D. In this, also known as 'Eyes of Hell", the 3-D sequences are pretty effective and trippy and quite bizarre. They also feel like they were shot for another film. The bridging story about a man receiving an Aztec mask is rather slow and ponderous and stylistically inert. But when the hallucinations occur, triggered by the mask, the imagery becomes psychedelic and surreal. There isn't much violence or bloodshed, but the use of the process is respectable. I saw this originally at a drive-in and I well remember the original, colored ad mat (red) that promoted the film's gimmick.
AD
