The Mask (1961 film)


The Mask is a 1961 Canadian surrealist horror film produced in 3-D by Warner Bros. It was directed by Julian Roffman, and stars Paul Stevens, Claudette Nevins, and Bill Walker. It was shot in Toronto, Ontario and is the first Canadian horror film.

Plot

The story concerns a psychiatrist, Dr. Allen Barnes, who obtains a mysterious ancient tribal mask. Whenever he puts on the mask, Barnes experiences dream-like visions which become increasingly disturbing and violent. The visions begin to alter Barnes' personality, and eventually drive him insane.

Cast

3D Sequences

The 3D sequences were designed by montage expert Slavko Vorkapich, and feature an array of distinctly psychedelic visuals, some of which are mildly gruesome. "It sends you into this weird surrealistic world," enthused Cramps singer and horror aficionado Lux Interior, "with dry ice all over the floor, zombies roaming about and girls being sacrificed."

Release

Home media

The Mask was released on VHS in 1990 by Rhino Home Video as part of their Midnight Madness series of films hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
The Mask was released on DVD by Cheezy Flicks on September 30, 2008. In 2015, the film was restored by Toronto Film Festival and copyright holders 3-D Film Archive for theatrical and 3-D Blu-ray/DVD release from Kino Lorber.

Reception

The Mask received mostly negative reviews from critics upon its release.
Time Out was harshly critical of the film, calling it "totally banal", and criticized the film's use of 3D as being " tacky in the extreme". TV Guide awarded the film 1/5 stars, writing, "Despite the unique audience participation gimmick, this is a fairly uninspired horror film. The plot is full of gaping holes that simply can't be covered, and a lot of loose ends are never explained at the climax. There's lots of gore in the 3-D sequences, but there's no suspenseful buildup."
On his website Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings, Dave Sindelar criticized the film's "weak" script, and middle section. However, Sidelar did commend the film's 3D sequences as being "truly bizarre, full of unsettling and grotesque images, and with a nightmarish stream-of-consciousness technique", even though they didn't make sense when compared to the overall plot.