SCREEN

HOUSE OF WAX

Benjamin Spacek













HOUSE OF WAX (R)

(1.5 stars)


Stars:Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt


Director: Juame Serra


Details: Opens Friday



A group of college students on a road trip to a football game decide to camp out in the woods overnight, subsequently becoming stranded in a rural town where the resident wax sculptor goes to great lengths to create realism in his work.


This is actually the third time this story has been told; the 1953 Vincent Price vehicle was itself a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum. As the original title suggests, this was previously more of a suspense tale than a gore-fest, but first-time director Juame Serra turns it into a routine slasher film.


The best part about this version is the concept of the tiny town that time forgot, with a movie theatre perpetually running Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? The idea of the stunted society has been used to great effect before in movies like Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but Serra merely cannibalizes those classics without really understanding what made them work. Worst of all are the insipid protagonists, who should've realized that something was terribly wrong the moment they passed the gas station selling regular unleaded for $1.19 a gallon.

  • Get More Stories from Thu, May 5, 2005
Top of Story