A young archaeologist thinks he is cursed by an Aztec mask that makes him have strange nightmares. Before committing suicide, he sends the mask to his psychiatrist, who soon plunges into the mask's nightmarish world.
The Mask (re-released as Eyes of Hell and The Spooky Movie Show) 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 written by Franklin Delessert, Sandy Haver, Frank Taubes and Slavko Vorkapich.
In a contemporary review, Howard Thompson of The New York Times commended the film's acting and cinematography but criticized the film's nightmare sequences, soundtrack and melodramatic plot. The Hollywood Reporter praised the film as "a superior horror film".
In retrospective reviews, Time Out panned the film, deeming it "a bland and hackneyed murder mystery that was spiced up by surreal nightmare sequences" and "tacky" use of 3D. Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail gave the film one out of four stars, similarly criticizing its 3D and plot and stating that its appeal was "limited to genre fetishists and popcorn-chomping ironists". Conversely, Chris Coffel of Bloody Disgusting felt that, despite a thin story, the film's psychedelic visuals, makeup effects and set pieces made it an enjoyable B-movie in the vein of William Castle.
The film has since gained a fan following over the years and is now considered a cult classic.The film was also featured in a season 13 episode of the cult science fiction series Mystery Science Theater 3000.
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