Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Bergorks
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Justina
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
TwylaLucy
I just watched the recent 3-D restoration. I thought it was a well done B movie. The storyline was interesting, acting was good.
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
redwriteandblue
A lot of "B-movie" SF/horror films of the 1950's are known for their cheesy monsters, cheap sets, and mediocre acting ... that all still works, somehow, to make up for an entertaining film that often becomes a "guilty pleasure". Such is the case for most of THE MAZE, a oddball of a film, originally shot in 3D and released in 1953, that starts off with plenty of mood and atmosphere. Kitty (Veronica Hurst) is a very attractive, upper-class blonde English gal who is engaged to the handsome, lively and upbeat Gerald (Richard Carlson) - who, just prior to their wedding, has to make an emergency trip back to Scotland when his uncle passes away. Soon after his departure, Kitty receives a note from him, breaking off the engagement and saying that Gerald is remaining in Scotland. Disturbed and worried, Kitty ventures with her Aunt Edith (Katherine Emery, who also sporadically narrates the film) to Scotland and one hell of a creepy, moody castle with even creepier, moodier servants. Worse still, Gerald is not only angry and insolent that they've come, he's also lost all his vitality and happiness ... and appears to have aged twenty years from when Kitty last saw him only weeks ago. There's something weird going on here, and it all centers around a huge hedge maze that sits just outside the castle walls. Entrance to it is forbidden, and one of the provisions of Kitty and Edith's continuing to stay (Kitty hoping for a way to help Gerald) is that they must be locked in their rooms every night - leading to more weirdness, as Kitty notices/hears something heavy being dragged past her door in the middle of the night (among other strange occurrences). Everything in the film builds up to the maze, and the secret Gerald and the castle's servants are hiding there - and the movies does its job well in building up a sense of foreboding and suspense ... only to end in one of the dippiest, most lame endings that almost spoils the entire experience of watching the film. So although I had some fun with most of it, the "WTF" of an ending in no way lived up to all that had gone before.
Prichards12345
I've docked two stars from this film for what must surely be one of the silliest endings in horror movies - and that's saying something! This is up there with the climax of Night Monster for sheer cheek, but for around an hour this is an absorbing and atmospheric Gothic drama.Richard Carlson, always a welcome presence, plays the heir to a Scottish laird called away from his pre-nuptial holidays in the South of France by some strange emergency at his ancestral home - a rambling castle he hasn't visited in years. Promising to return to his fiancé as soon as he can, he then does a disappearing act, before writing a mysterious note telling his beau she's the next Jennifer Anniston! Naturally she doesn't take kindly to this, and with Aunt in tow (you can tell this was made in the pre-rock and roll era - the leads would be groovy teenagers if this had been made in 1958) she undertakes the trip to the castle, where the sinister servants and her one-time love are acting all mysterious....The Maze of the title is a part of the castle grounds, and seems to hold the key to the mystery. What are those strange slopping sounds heard in the night? Why must everyone be locked up in their rooms at a certain time each evening? The answer, when it comes, proves to be hilarious. MAJOR SPOILER HERE. Er, it turns out to be a 200 year-old frog, who happens to be one Sir Roger! A deformed ancestor who has an extended life, is very shy and retiring and yet cultured. (come off it, guys he's a frog!) The minute he's discovered Sir Rodg takes a great froggy leap through a window to his doom. You might say he croaked! Cue Carlson's laugh-out loud explanation for the mysterious events...All I can say is they must have some sizable insect life in the Scottish Highlands to keep Kermit, er, Sir Roger, well-fed. Okay, I fess up. It's a bloke in a frog suit....There's one great Lovecraftian shot of the frog fumbling about in the darkness which is genuinely creepy, though. And if you can get past The Muppet Show explanation you might like it.
