Really Surprised!

Nice effects though.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

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.

This was a Canadian film ,produced by independent film maker Julian Roffman who help created the Canadian film industry.This was a sequel to a movie that he did call the Brood.When it was distributed to the United states it did not do well.The mask was a mainstream concept,This is the first time that the 3D sequence were converted to Polaroid for the Blu-ray version.I remember seeing this on t.v. ,when Television corporations were putting out 3D classic locally ,but the sequences were in anaglyph 3d.I did not like the story back then ,but now I do.Seeing it in 1:85:1 makes it look better.The sequence were originally design by Slavko Vorkavich,who was a film maker and special effects artist.He did a lot of montages for Hollywood films.What I did not understand as when D.r Allan Barnes ,played by Paul Stevens,When he went into the psychedelic world wearing that mask,why it was portrayed by his ex patient ,who had killed himself ,portrayed by Michael Radin,rather than Paul Stevens.This is the way the filmmaker did this.Claudette Nevins Plays the doctors girl friend,who takes the mask away from him and tries to return it to the museum,since it was stolen,once she realized it was affecting him.Although small budget and limited it was still very entertaining .In the Blu-ray disc includes some short and montage sequences that Slavko did as a filmmaker and special effects Film artist,02/29/16

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.

I cant help but think perhaps if i was a bit older, I would have appreciated this movie more..but as it goes, I was only six. My brothers went to the movies earlier that year you see to watch the wonderful and enlightening Born Free..I wanted to see that. But no..by the time I got to go to the movies it wasn't playing in our neighborhood any longer and this was. The Mask..yikes. This is the very first movie i ever saw in the theater and well lets just say it was pretty confusing and scary. I do remember some parts of it being very colorful..:). Anyway, this memory has haunted me for all these years so I was bound and determined to find it and watch it again. Thanks to ebay and the US postal service, I should have this lovely film within a couple of weeks maybe even sooner, so that i can pop open a soda and grab a bowl of popcorn and reminisce..now if I can only find some 3D glasses I will be all set....