Everyone remembers the first time they watched a movie in 3D. Mine was Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. What do you mean you don’t know it?

It’s the one where Freddy Krueger terrorises a bunch of kids. In 3D! Well, we were told it was three dimensional by the guy in Ritz (yes, Ritz). He even supplied us with those red and blue glasses.

Of course, when we watched the movie there were a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, but underneath we new that 3D was just rubbish. And it was rubbish that simply wasn’t new.

The movie business had been using 3D tech for years to entice people back to the cinema. The ’50s was a golden era for the technology, with films like House Of Wax and Son Of Sinbad coming right at you from the theatre screen. In other words, it’s a gimmick and a very expensive one at that.

3D revolution

Skip to 2008 and the whole 3D revolution is happening again. As I write James Cameron is polishing off Avatar, his 3D sci-fi epic, while The Nightmare Before Christmas and the like are getting 3D makeovers. There’s even some 3DTVs trickling through.

The problem is, you still have to wear glasses – which is not great if you actually wear glasses. Or even if you don’t wear glasses, donning a pair of oversized 3D specs makes you look like Timmy Mallet. Not to mention that sitting and squinting at a 3D image for too long gives you the mother of all headaches.

To be fair, there’s been some 3D movies of recent times that look okay. U23D at the IMAX was a recent one that was realistic enough and even made some people sitting next to me say that ‘it looks like you’re just there’.

If I’m honest, it scared me so much being close enough to Bono that I could almost ‘touch’ him that I have not managed to sleep properly since. And that’s not the cinematic experience I want to have.

Granted, there’s a sea change happening with the 3D at the moment. Technology is in place and will hit consumers soon that will allow you to watch 3DTV without the glasses.