Like most people, I wasn't expecting much when I popped this one in. I figured it would be good for mocking, if anything. Hard to take a movie with Paris Hilton in it seriously, right? Wrong. DEAD wrong. "House of Wax" has become one of my all-time favorite horror films.
Summary (Spoilers):
Produced by Dark Castle Entertainment (Creators of the fantastic remake of "House on Haunted Hill") House of wax starts off like a good horror movie should-with a group of horny teenagers on a trip. They go camping, bone, their cars get screwed with, and eventually one of the girls falls into a pile of rotting animal carcasses. After a nice-but creepy- local offers said girl a ride into town for a fanbelt for her boyfriend's broken car, things start going downhill. I won't give away a ton of details, but everyone in the town is dead. And it rocks.
Review:
I don't believe horror gets any better than "House of Wax". The setting is absolutely beautiful.
If you've seen the 1999 film "House on Haunted Hill" you'll notice similarities in architecture of the asylum to many locations in the film. So many little bits of House of Wax are done in the style of Dark Castle- Check them out.
The acting is also top-notch. Everyone is cast perfectly. Even Paris Hilton does a great job because all she has to do is play a dumb slut. However, when she has to act scared, she does a pretty believable job.
The effects in House of Wax are out of sight. In the blood pit scene, it looked as though real animals were slaughtered to produce a swamp of gore. The wax figures are delightfully creepy, and in one scene the wax-coated skin is pulled off of a living person and it looks wonderful.
The plot combines noticeable elements of two horror films (Not include "Mystery of the Wax Museum", upon which this movie is based)- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Friday the 13th. However, it improves on those two so splendidly, you'll forget all about them. My favorite aspect of it is that the main 3 characters are not stupid. There's no reason to yell "AIM FOR THE HEAD, DUMBASS", or "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, YOU DUMB BITCH" at the screen, because the siblings and their friend are not complete idiots like you've seen in movies like "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" or The Friday the 13th Series (minus "Jason Goes to Hell", which I highly recommend.). They are aggressive, sneaky, and observant.
All in all, "House of Wax" is a fantastic film, with everything I personally look for in a horror movie. I feel strange doing this on the 1st review, but this gets a 10/10. I wouldn't change a thing about it, which is not something I can say about a lot of movies that aren't directed by the Coen Brothers.
TL;DR:
Go watch House of Wax. It is wonderful.
http://www.amazon.com/House-Wax-Elsiha-Cuthbert/dp/B000G7XBZI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1295748104&sr=8-4
The acting is also top-notch. Everyone is cast perfectly. Even Paris Hilton does a great job because all she has to do is play a dumb slut. However, when she has to act scared, she does a pretty believable job.
The effects in House of Wax are out of sight. In the blood pit scene, it looked as though real animals were slaughtered to produce a swamp of gore. The wax figures are delightfully creepy, and in one scene the wax-coated skin is pulled off of a living person and it looks wonderful.
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| Pictured: Wonderful |
The plot combines noticeable elements of two horror films (Not include "Mystery of the Wax Museum", upon which this movie is based)- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Friday the 13th. However, it improves on those two so splendidly, you'll forget all about them. My favorite aspect of it is that the main 3 characters are not stupid. There's no reason to yell "AIM FOR THE HEAD, DUMBASS", or "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, YOU DUMB BITCH" at the screen, because the siblings and their friend are not complete idiots like you've seen in movies like "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" or The Friday the 13th Series (minus "Jason Goes to Hell", which I highly recommend.). They are aggressive, sneaky, and observant.
All in all, "House of Wax" is a fantastic film, with everything I personally look for in a horror movie. I feel strange doing this on the 1st review, but this gets a 10/10. I wouldn't change a thing about it, which is not something I can say about a lot of movies that aren't directed by the Coen Brothers.
TL;DR:
Go watch House of Wax. It is wonderful.
http://www.amazon.com/House-Wax-Elsiha-Cuthbert/dp/B000G7XBZI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1295748104&sr=8-4
