was supposed to be a horror movie.
Really..
Director Chuck Russell has been looking back at the movie, and he’s revealed that New Line had a very different take on the film originally. “It’s a great example of really fighting for your vision in a film. We changed it from a horror film into a comedy. It was original conceived as being a horror film. That was a real battle. New Line wanted a new kind of Freddy movie”, he said...
I am curious if the film's face would have measured up high as a horror.. especially with Jim Carrey?
I think yes.
Though Carrey's RIDDLER was a debauchery in the BATMAN FOREVER movie, he is fully capable of serious roles, as we have seen later in his career.. One achievement on the serious note (though humor was added) was one of my favorite movies from the 20th century: THE TRUMAN SHOW.
Other comedians went serious with good results, too. Such as Robin Williams in WHAT DREAMS MAY COME and ONE HOUR PHOTO. ONE HOUR PHOTO may have one of the scariest films in general I have ever seen..
But the MASK worked as comedy. And I think --I really do--that it would have as horror too.
With the modern stint of remakes and re-imaginations, I would not be surprised if we see the MASK unmasked as a horror one day sooner or later..