The Wax Mask (1997)
"M.D.C. - Maschera di cera" (original title)

Paris, 1900: a couple are horribly murdered by a masked man with a metal claw who rips their hearts out. The sole survivor and witness to the massacre is a young girl. Twelve years later in... See full summary »

Director:

Sergio Stivaletti

Writers:

Dario Argento (story), Lucio Fulci (screenplay),

Stars:

Robert Hossein, Romina Mondello, Riccardo Serventi Longhi

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Hossein	...	Boris Volkoff
Romina Mondello	...	Sonia Lafont
Riccardo Serventi Longhi	...	Andrea Conversi
Gabriella Giorgelli	...	Aunt Francesca
Umberto Balli	...	Alex
Valery Valmond	...	Giorgina
Gianni Franco	...	Inspector Palazzi
Antonello Murru	...	Museum Caretaker
Daniel Auber	...	Luca (as Daniele Auber)
Romano Iannelli	...	Pathologist
Rosa Pianeta	...	Anna's Mother
Sonia Topazio	...	Nurse
Massimo Vanni	...	Victor
Aldo Massasso	...	Inspector Lanvin
Sabrina Pellegrino	...	Elena

Storyline

Paris, 1900: a couple are horribly murdered by a masked man with a metal claw who rips their hearts out. The sole survivor and witness to the massacre is a young girl. Twelve years later in Rome a new wax museum is opened, whose main attractions are lifelike recreations of gruesome murder scenes. A young man bets that he will spend the night in the museum but is found dead the morning after. Soon, people start disappearing from the streets of Rome and the wax museum halls begin filling with new figures...

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Plot Keywords:

wax museum | murder | fire | mask | blood | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

4 April 1997 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Wax Mask

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

ITL 219,896,000 (Italy) (4 April 1997)

Gross:

ITL 579,919,000 (Italy) (18 April 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mediaset, France Film International, Cine 2000

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally intended by Dario Argento as a Comeback for colleague (though not friend) Lucio Fulci. Unfortunately, only a few weeks before filming was about to begin, Fulci died and on short notice, the directing job was handed over to special effects expert Sergio Stivaletti.

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Goofs

At 1:04:12, Volkoff put a pin through the picture of Sonia he just clipped. Seven seconds later, as Alex watch him secretly through the door, he does exactly the same action with the pin.

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Connections

Referenced in Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror (2000)

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Soundtracks

"La donna è mobile"
(uncredited)
from "Rigoletto"
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Music by Giuseppe Verdi

User Reviews

A HARD MOVIE TO REVIEW

Sergio Stivaletti's wax mask is a hard movie to review because it has so many good things about it and so many BAD things also. The good things are...The movie is very visual which is cool, the make-up effects are awesome along with the computer effects, and it has some cool production design(especially the room where people are turned into wax creations). Now whats bad is...Most of the acting is bad especially the main female and good guy characters, the end turns into a weird terminatoresque finale, and some characters are not explained well (what happened to the bald guy with the scar) and the last minute/minute and a half is one of the worst endings i've ever seen.....what can i say i like this movie and yet i dislike it too.....still though it could have been better. But view it for the special effects(makeup and cg) and production design.