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Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: November 24th, 2015.
Director: Julian Roffman
Cast: Paul Stevens, Claudette Nevins, Bill Walker
Year: 1961
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The Movie:
Released in the United States as Eye Of Hell, Julian Roffman's 1961 Toronto-lensed The Mask is deliriously odd slice of Canadian cult cinema. The film is historically significant as not only the first Canadian feature length horror movie but also the first Canadian feature film to include 3-D footage.
The story begins with a scientist named Michael Radin (Martin Lavut) who finds a strange South American mask at the Museum Of Natural History where he works. He tries the mask on and odd things start happening - he starts seeing visions of murder and mayhem and as such, he comes to the conclusion that the mask somehow brings to life the evil that awaits in man's subconscious mind.
Michael heads out to talk to his shrink, Allan Barnes (Paul Stevens), about these visions but being a shrink and all, Barnes tells him that this has nothing to do with the mask but is in fact simply his mind playing tricks on him. Seeing no other viable alternative, Michael kills himself but before he does he mails the mask to Barnes. A cop named Martin (Bill Walker) investigates Michael's death and winds up paying Barnes a visit but after he leaves, Barnes opens the package he's just received and puts on the mask himself…
Played completely straight and very well put together from a technical standpoint, this movie really stands out. While it owes a bit to William Castle style gimmickry, the 3-D sequences (“Put on the mask NOW!†we're told to ensure we've got our glasses at the ready) are really well done and effectively bizarre. The non 3-D scenes offer up enough in terms of story and character development to hook us in but it's these nightmarish visions from another world that really stick in your craw, kind of like the more extreme scenes of a film like Jigoku (except nowhere near as gory). These scenes play without any dialogue and offer up a pretty wild take on what it might be like to journey through Hell, complete with snakes and fire and smoke and masked denizens galore! Although they don't make up more than sixteen minutes of the movie's full running time, once you see them you won't soon forget them.
Quick in pace and slickly photographed, the movie features some pretty decent work from the cast members. Martin Lavut is pretty solid here, particularly when he first sees what he sees, while Paul Stevens as the very practical psychiatrist is also quite good.
Although the film was made on a low budget, Roffman was savvy enough in the director's chair to not overstep. As such, yes, some of the effects are a little old fashioned and maybe a little creaky but when they're photographed and presented as they are here, with a fairly unnerving 'Electro Magic-Sound' mix behind them, they work incredibly well. Roffman is also clever enough to ensure that the 3-D scenes work in the context of the story itself. These never feel crammed in simply to have the 3-D scenes appear at the three separate intervals where they are used, but they do in fact add to the story itself.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kino brings The Mask to Blu-ray with 3-D sequences provided in both stereoscopic (3-D television required) and anaglyph formats (red/cyan glasses not included), the film's infamous 3-D segments have been remastered from the original 35mm left/right elements for a recent 2015 Toronto International Film Festival restoration. The results of the efforts behind this restoration are excellent. The film is presented here in fantastic condition with only some very minor damage evident sporadically throughout playback. Depth and texture are consistently impressive while contrast on the black and white picture looks very good. Detail is strong here as well and the 1.78.1 framing of the AVC encoded 1080p presentation looks just fine. Both 3-D and 2-D versions are included on this disc but you'll need a 3-D compatible set and player to access the 3-D version.
Audio chores are handled by way of a newly restored 'Electro-Magic Sound' track in the form of DTS-HD 5.1 (for the 3-D scenes) and 2.0 Mono tracks in English. The 5.1 option does some interesting things with channel separation for the effects and the score while the mono option plays things straight and true to source. Both options sound very good with properly balanced levels and are free of any hiss or distortion. No alternate language options or subtitles have been provided.
Audio commentary by 3-D film historian Jason Pichonsky that is part analysis and history of the film and part crash course in the 3-D filming process employed in this particular feature. It's a great mix and a very comprehensive examination of The Mask that does exactly what a good commentary should - provide the right mix of history and insight. This is complimented really nicely by a twenty-one minute long making-of documentary entitled Julian Roffman: The Man Behind The Mask.
Kino have also included a selection of short films by visual consultant Slavko Vorkapich, the first of which is the eleven minute long 9413: The Life and Death Of A Hollywood Extra. The second short, at two minutes in length, is entitled Abstract Experiment In Kodachrome and that's a pretty accurate description of what we see. Also included along with this material are six separate Montage Sequences running approximately twelve minutes in length. Another short film, One Night In Hell, is also included here and you can watch it in 3-D or 2-D. This was created by the Unanico Group as collaboration with Brian May and it's an interesting piece where we see a skeleton head through a bizarre and nightmarish 3-D world. Brian May and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra provide the music for this seven minute oddity. You can also watch the 3-D scenes from The Mask on their own in anaglyph format, there's about sixteen minutes of footage here (though you'll need your own red/blue glasses).
Rounding out an already impressive array of supplements are four trailers for the feature, a handful of television, a 3-D Setup video (for monitor calibration), menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
The Mask was an unlikely choice for a special edition Blu-ray release to be sure, but Kino really went all out on this one and the world is a better place for their efforts! The movie is a lot of fun, almost surreal in spots, and Kino has really knocked this one out of the park. The transfer is fantastic, the audio very strong and the extras both comprehensive and frequently quite fascinating.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
