House of Wax (2005)

A group of unwitting teens are stranded near a strange wax museum and soon must fight to survive and keep from becoming the next exhibit.

Director:

Jaume Collet-Serra

Writers:

Charles Belden (story), Chad Hayes (screenplay),

Stars:

Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt

5 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Elisha Cuthbert	...	Carly Jones
Chad Michael Murray	...	Nick Jones
Brian Van Holt	...	Bo / Vincent
Paris Hilton	...	Paige Edwards
Jared Padalecki	...	Wade
Jon Abrahams	...	Dalton Chapman
Robert Ri'chard	...	Blake
Dragicia Debert	...	Trudy Sinclair (as Dragitsa Debert)
Thomas Adamson	...	Young Bo
Murray Smith	...	Dr. Victor Sinclair
Sam Harkess	...	Young Vincent
Damon Herriman	...	Roadkill Driver
Andy Anderson	...	Sheriff

Storyline

Six friends are on their way to a football game. They decide to camp out for the night and continue driving the next day. The next day the friends find that they're having car troubles, so two of the friends accept a stranger's ride into a small town named Ambrose. The main attraction in Ambrose is the House of Wax. Except something is not right in this town, the wax figures are so realistic and the whole town is deserted - except for two murderous twin brothers. The six friends must fight to survive and escape from being the next exhibits in the House of Wax.

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Plot Keywords:

wax | fight | small town | traffic jam | car trouble | 

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Taglines:

Gejagt. Ermordet. Zur Schau gestellt. (Hunted.Murdered.Displayed.)

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence, some sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [au] Warner Bros [fr]

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 May 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wax House, Baby

Filming Locations:

Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$604,170 (Australia) (15 July 2005)

Gross:

$1,293,475 (Australia) (29 July 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Village Roadshow Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While filming the abandoned sugar mill chase, Paris Hilton was embarrassed by her scream, so the first three times she screamed she had the whole cast and crew scream along with her.

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Goofs

When Lester goes around the truck to open the door, Carly and Wade are looking to the left and down, trying to open the seat belt. In the very next shot, they are looking at the door on their right.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Trudy Sinclair: You are being such a good boy. Would you like some more cereal, sweetheart? Here you go.

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Crazy Credits

Random letters in the end credits of the movie begin to melt down from the screen as they appear. Also, some pairs of letters are joined, just like Bo and Vincent when they were born.

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Connections

Referenced in Welshy Reviews: Scream 4: Part 1 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"The Celebrated Chop Waltz"
Written by Arthur De Lulli

User Reviews

Surprisingly violent, and lots of fun.

While HOUSE OF WAX will never be mistaken for Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE or HALLOWEEN, it does try and ultimately succeed in being a worthy addition to quality horror film making. There is enough tension and enough implied gore in here to please the young audience of today and there is also enough explicit gore to please some of the purists of yesterday. Overall, it is quite a well done film that should do okay on DVD.

Six kids on the way to a football game get stranded in a DELIVERANCE like setting and what ensues actually looks like it may have been taken out a discarded Deilverance sequel and the backwoods hicks seem to taunt the group. Eventually the group has to break up and half of them head into the desolate town to get some car parts. The other half of the group stays behind at camp and this sets up the second half of the film.

House of Wax has many strengths. The first is that it is blessed with a very likable cast. Paris Hilton is fine in her role but she is far from the focal point. Chad Michael Murray, Elisabeth Cuthbert and Brian Van Holt are three very charismatic actors and their presence in the film adds some panache, some credibility and some flair. I had never really heard of Chad Michael Murray, only that he was a pin-up type teen heartthrob. But he has a presence to him. He imbues an intangible to him that seems to translate into his performance. He is instantly likable and he possesses a strong character trait. I enjoyed his performance much more than I figured I would and when he was on screen, the film flowed.

The question now becomes, "Is this film a worthy horror film?" And the answer to that is a resounding YES. As I mentioned off the top, it is not in the same class a NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET or LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, or even THE RING, but it is relatively tense, quite graphic and there are some very inventive death scenes. This is not the HOUSE OF WAX that your parents told you about. Vincent Price is nowhere to be seen and when you start seeing fingers being cut off and hot wax covering comatose bodies, you realize this film is a little on the edge.

I'd like to see an uncut director's X rated version. I bet there is one out there somewhere that would be much more violent than this one. Be that as it may, this is a very good entry into the horror genre and it is heads and shoulders above weak films like I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and DARK WATER and a few others. It is definitely worth a look.

8/10