Waxwork (1988)

A wax museum owner uses his horror exhibits to unleash evil on the world.

Director:

Anthony Hickox

Writer:

Anthony Hickox

Stars:

Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Jennifer Bassey

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zach Galligan	...	Mark
Jennifer Bassey	...	Mrs. Loftmore
Joe Baker	...	Jenkins
Deborah Foreman	...	Sarah
Michelle Johnson	...	China
David Warner	...	Waxwork Man
Eric Brown	...	James
Clare Carey	...	Gemma
Buckley Norris	...	Lecturer
Dana Ashbrook	...	Tony
Micah Grant	...	Johnathan
Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros	...	Hans (as Mihaly 'Michu' Mesza)
Jack David Walker	...	Junior (as Jack David Warner)
John Rhys-Davies	...	Werewolf
Nelson Welch	...	Elderly Man

Storyline

A waxwork museum comes to town, and a mysterious man invites some teens to come to a special showing at midnight. Once inside, while viewing different exhibits, the scenes come alive and the viewer is sucked into the story being portrayed.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to the phantom of the opera | creepy waxworks | marquis de sade | reference to marquis de sade | reference to the marquis de sade | 

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Taglines:

you can step inside the hall of horrors - but dare you pay the price?

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA West Germany UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 June 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Passagem

Filming Locations:

Higgins-Verbeck-Hirsch Mansion - 637 South Lucerne Boulevard, Windsor Square, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$808,114

Company Credits

Production Co:

Palla, Vestron Pictures, HB Filmrullen

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 97 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the shooting script, Johnathan (Micah Grant) is staring at an exhibit of Jason Vorhees from the Friday the 13th and Jason film franchises. When Johnathan tells Lincoln about it looked like the same Jason mask from the movies, Mr. Lincoln asks Johnathan: "They made a movie about the Jason killings?" In the film, there is no Jason Vorhees display (due to legal copywrite issues) and Johnathan instead stares at an exhibit of the Phantom of the Opera.

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Goofs

Most "waxworks" move or blink their eyes.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mrs. Loftmore: Darling.
Mark Loftmore: Hmm?
Mrs. Loftmore: I hear you were having drinks with the butler the other night. Now, you know that sort of thing leads to anarchy.

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Crazy Credits

Dedicated to Hammer, Argento, Romero, Dante, Landis, Spielberg, Wells, Carpenter, Mom and Dad, and many more ...

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Alternate Versions

Available in both R and unrated versions.

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Connections

References Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

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Soundtracks

It's My Party
Written by Wally Gold (uncredited), John Gluck (uncredited), Herbert Weiner (as Herb Weiner) (uncredited) and Seymour Gottlieb (uncredited)
Performed by Lesley Gore
Courtesy of PolyGram Special Projects a division of PolyGram Records, Inc

User Reviews

Acting and writing almost kill this one

This is about an eerie waxwork museum run by a strange man (played by David Warner--so you KNOW he's VERY strange :)). Mark (Zach Galligan), his girlfriend China (Michelle Johnson) and best friends Tony (Dana Ashbrook) and Sarah (Deborah Foreman) go check it out. Tony is drawn into a waxwork and gets killed by the wolf man; China gets drawn into another and is killed by Dracula. Mark and Sarah don't see it happen but realize something is going on. They go to the police for help but the police officer is ALSO pulled into a waxwork and killed by a mummy. Then Sarah gets pulled in to face the Marquis de Sade and Mark is pulled in to face the living dead...

As you can tell this is a VERY strange movie. It's well-directed, beautifully atmospheric with some gorgeous sets and a wonderful music score. There's also a neat, truly scary black & white sequence. And there's TONS of blood and gore. But I didn't really like it. The script is silly (especially in the explanation of what's going on); this is actually a horror comedy--but the comedy is painfully unfunny and the horror too explicit to laugh at; the acting is TERRIBLE (Galligan is the worst offender) and they cast Miles O'Keeffe as Dracula!!!! Even worse his voice is dubbed--and looks it. Basically the violence, gore, special effects, score and settings are great--everything else blows. It's really too bad--this film does have potential but it doesn't have the talent to carry it out.

I saw two versions of this--the R rated and the unrated. The R rated is bloody but the unrated is just unbelievable. There's a LOT more blood and violence (especially in the Dracula sequence). There is a sequence where blood is literally covering the walls! If you really want to see this the unrated is the one to see.