House Of Wax

Australia / USA, 2005. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton, Jared Padalecki, Jon Abrahams, Robert Ri’chard.

I started watching this under the impression it was a remake of the 1953 classic of the same name which starred Vincent Price, so was a little disappointed to find that all it shares with the original is its title and the idea of humans being turned into waxworks. This is enough for Charles Belden, the author of the original story, to be credited but not enough to save it from being a predictable, formulaic horror movie. We’re into the slasher genre here, with six young people finding themselves at risk from a couple of deranged brothers in a ghost (or should that be wax) town. For fans of this type of movie there’s enough creepy moments, unpleasant murders and copious blood flow to keep them satisfied I guess, though they should note that they will have to wait an hour or so before anyone is killed. This is presumably to allow time for what might be called character development, though to be honest just as much could have been achieved in fifteen minutes. It’s simply not necessary – we’ve soon worked out who’s who and their relationship with each other and by the time we’ve done that we can also predict the likely survivors (or the last two to die) in the slaughter to come. Celebrity watchers may be interested in the inclusion of Paris Hilton in the cast; her acting is unremarkable but no less competent than anyone else in the movie. For me there was little interest until the grand finale where Graham ‘Grace’ Walker’s set design really comes into its own as the House Of Wax itself burns down. I was pleasantly reminded of those final scenes of the Roger Corman/Vincent Price series of horror pictures in the early 60s. Great stuff, but I could have done without the hour and a half which preceded it.