A psychiatrist doesn't believe an ancient sacrificial mask is causing one of his patients to commit murder but when the guy mails it to him before killing himself, the good doctor gets a chance to find out...
What would have been just another low budget black & white horror film almost rises to the occasion once it switches over to 3D whenever someone dons the mask to experience surreal, nightmarish visions that must have scared the pants off kids at the time, judging by the film's many IMDb reviews. The cheesily avant-garde visions are ambitious, I'll give them that, but the rest of the film is a little too slow-moving for its own good and the low body count doesn't help, either. That said, I'm a sucker for ancient artifacts that still possess the power to wreak havoc in the present day and the mask in question, found during a South American archaeological dig, was once used for human sacrifice just like the horrific Aztec ceremonial cloak in the classic Cornell Woolrich horror yarn, "I'm Dangerous Tonight". Tobe Hooper turned that tale into an OK TV movie and I also liked "The Cheaters", an episode of Boris Karloff's THRILLER, where a pair of antique bifocals cause wearers to see things as they really are.
What would have been just another low budget black & white horror film almost rises to the occasion once it switches over to 3D whenever someone dons the mask to experience surreal, nightmarish visions that must have scared the pants off kids at the time, judging by the film's many IMDb reviews. The cheesily avant-garde visions are ambitious, I'll give them that, but the rest of the film is a little too slow-moving for its own good and the low body count doesn't help, either. That said, I'm a sucker for ancient artifacts that still possess the power to wreak havoc in the present day and the mask in question, found during a South American archaeological dig, was once used for human sacrifice just like the horrific Aztec ceremonial cloak in the classic Cornell Woolrich horror yarn, "I'm Dangerous Tonight". Tobe Hooper turned that tale into an OK TV movie and I also liked "The Cheaters", an episode of Boris Karloff's THRILLER, where a pair of antique bifocals cause wearers to see things as they really are.