Protraph
Lack of good storyline.
Cleveronix
A different way of telling a story
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
moonspinner55
With only two weeks to go before her wedding, a young woman finds herself in distress after her fiancé, a jovial Scotsman, travels to his ancestral estate in the Highlands after the death of a relative...and does not return. The woman's aunt receives a cryptic note weeks later saying the man is canceling the wedding plans, so the girl and her aunt take it upon themselves to travel to the spooky spread and confront him. Perplexing, methodically-paced and oddly entertaining yarn originally presented in 3-D, which explains the acrobatic act near the opening. It doesn't cover all its tracks by the final reel (such as why the Scotsman has supposedly aged 20 years in two months), but the production and set-designs are quite nifty for a B-movie. The cast is solid as well, though the picture could do with a little levity or personality. ** from ****
Rainey Dawn
Kitty and Gordon loved each other. One day Gordon fled to his castle and wrote Kitty that he could never see her again, the marriage is off. Of course Kitty had to know why so she and her aunt go to the castle. Gordon, looking 20 years older, told them to leave but they were able to stay in a locked room over night then to leave in the morning - and do not try to get out and go into the Maze. The aunt had a slight cold that morning and the irritating Kitty told Gordon they could not leave over her poor sick aunt - pushing her way to stay long enough to find out what is going on with Gordon. Later on she finds a way to push Gordon into letting a group of people into the castle with them to stay. And NO ONE is to go into the Maze outside. What is up with that Maze? It's a rather boring film most of the time, suspenseful other times - but that crazy "a-MAZE-ing" ending is worth quite a few laughs. It's unbelievable! I have a feeling this film's ending was not even scary to 1950s audiences and dang sure isn't by today's standards. It's funny! No one is to tell the ending according to the film's poster and I won't be the one to spoil it for first time viewers - all I can say it is a completely unexpected and hilarious ending.I didn't see this one in 3D but why should I? Nothing happens until the last 10 minutes anyway.4/10
Robert J. Maxwell
You have to admire Richard Carlson. He was reliable, almost handsome, had an MA from the University of Minnesota, wrote novels and plays, and projected intelligence, boldness, tension, and earnestness that were perfectly suited to the unusual subject matter of hi later career. He was an exceptionally unexceptional actor but he was THERE for you.The opening is a brief flashback to a mysterious event in a 17th-century Scottish castle. Then a shot of a pleasant lady speaking directly to the audience (originally in 3D) and introducing us to the story we're about to follow. I like the lady too. Katherine Emery is Aunt Edith, and she had a pleasant, relaxing smile and I believed every word when she explained, "I guess it all started with an engagement party at Cannes, on the Rivera." She continues to do the voice over for the rest of the film. Dissolve to Carlson and a few others at a gay nightclub in which an attractive young girl is flung around with abandon by a couple of men in tuxedos. One of the guests, uncredited, is the immortal Bess Flowers, whose entire career consisted of playing uncredited guests. Carlson seems to be enjoying himself immensely. He's engaged to Emery's niece, Veronica Hurst.His holiday is interrupted by a message from that Scottish castle, called Craven. Carlson must fly to Scotland immediately. He's next in line to inherit the castle and the title of Baronet that goes with it. The castle has no modern conveniences -- no telephone, no electricity -- and stands just as it did hundreds of years ago. Still, his fiancée doesn't object, although she muses that "I suppose I'll get used to being addressed as Baroness." (You bet you will.) He does not return. Instead he sends a message to the aunt and his fiancée dissolving their arrangement. Hurst is distraught, as who wouldn't be in such a circumstance? Hurst and Emery travel to Craven Castle to find Carlson put out by their visit. What's worse, he's turned twenty years older in the past few weeks. He reluctantly puts them up for the night, cautioning his sinister butler to lock all the doors. Strange slithering sounds are heard in the hallway. Hurst is resolved to find out what the hell has been going on, and she sneaks out that night and begins exploring the cobwebbed ruins. A bat flies at her, or rather into the 3D camera lenses.It's impossible to know why bats have such a bad reputation. They mean no harm. One night, standing on the lip of the Grand Canyon, I tore a piece of scrap paper into bits and flung them into a floodlight, only to be surrounded by thousands of bats with a dawning sense of disbelief. Two or three of the more adventurous entangled themselves in my hair and I toppled helplessly into the canyon. But two days later they brought me up by mule, bloody but unbowed, still at peace with bats. Anyway, Hurst makes it to a grimy window that overlooks the back yard. There she sees a gigantic maze with dim figures moving through it.The next morning she finds a webbed footprint on the staircase and another in the gravel before the maze. At this point it's beginning to look less like a horror movie or science fiction than one of Edgar Allan Poe's fantasies. Nothing that happens from that point on changes anything.
Hitchcoc
The idiotic conclusion to this film ruins all the work that went into a pretty well paced and presented horror film. I mean, even the dumb amphibian thing could have been done in a better way. I mean, did he have to be a big bullfrog? There are other issues at work here. First of all, the spoiled tiresome people who are at the center of this thing are insufferable. They are non-productive stuffed shirts, full of themselves and do nothing. One of them is a doctor, I guess. They make cutesy remarks and tell tired jokes. Then there's the young woman who can't take no for an answer. She has not an ounce of respect for the guy she feels she is saving. Then there is the big secret. Why did this guy feel he needed to stay there and throw his life away, lurking in the hallways with those servants. And tell me if I missed something. Why did he age? If the maze was the cause, what exactly is in the maze. Everyone else runs around in it. I have limited writing ability, but I would bet you that I could rewrite three or four scenes, change the creature, and make this a nice horror/mystery movie. Did anyone say when it was over that it was just plain ridiculous. One last thing. The Aunt that narrates this insults our intelligence by explaining everything to us. Maybe the screenwriter could have done that.
