Comin’ At Ya 3D certainly isn’t a masterpiece of cinema and yet the film offers some of the most audacious 3D footage committed to film. When Comin’ At Ya 3D was released in 1981 it paved the way for that decade’s onslaught of 3D films.

3D cinema has existed since 1900 at least albeit in experimental form. In the early ‘50s many 3D films were released that covered the gamut of genre, horror and mainstream films perhaps the most surprisingly being the John Wayne starrer Hondo. Flash-forward to the present day and 3D technology has evolved in theaters and the home. In a matter of years the world will enjoy a type of 3D that doesn’t require glasses. In the meantime films like Comin’ At Ya combine an old school tongue in cheek approach to the admittedly niche genre.

Comin’ At Ya unfolds in a straight-ahead spaghetti western mode. A couple about to be married have their wedding ripped apart when bad guys kidnap the bride, and the groom is shot and left for dead. Victoria Abril, later a muse for Almodovar in several films, stars with Tony Anthony who himself also designed the 3D lenses used for projection of the film.

The 3D action literally pokes, jabs, quivers and rains down on the eyes of the viewer. To its credit Comin’ At Ya 3D has a visual aesthetic that gives the audience the feeling that they are staring into the heart of the action. Comin’ At Ya opens this weekend at the Alamo Drafthouse Mason Road location.

- Michael Bergeron