I'm warning you, this is scary...

In 1961, the Hollywood thriller fad was long over, and so was the 3-D craze. The Mask represented a reinvention of 3-D horror, the more so because it didn't come from Hollywood. It was the first Canadian-made film widely distributed in the United States, and the only one in 3-D. It tells the story of a psychiatrist who is driven to nightmarish hallucinations by a mysterious mask, which he cannot stop putting on.

The narrative scenes are mostly long stretches of boredom, and the story is frankly rather pointless; but the hallucination sequences are truly, hauntingly, scary. Fire, smoke, skulls, demonic rituals... if you're expecting the standard 1950's horror schlock, perhaps a man in a gorilla suit and some stock orchestral music, you will be surprised by this clip, and maybe terrified. Okay, I warned you. Go ahead and watch, if you dare.

The Mask is available on DVD (and comes with two pairs of 3-D glasses) for $14.99 at Brutallo.com.