A look at 9 classic and curious wax museum horror movies
I remember going to Louis Tussaud’s wax museum in St. Petersburg, Florida when I was five and it was a startling experience. I had been to haunted houses before that had monstrous dummies lunging at you and was suitably freaked out. But seeing these figures, these replicas of living things, standing still and staring, was a different thing entirely. Looking at these echoes of humans, some I recognized, some I didn’t and observing them unnerved me. I mean, who made these things? Were they once real? When we all left, would they come to life? And hey, did I just see Marie Antoinette move?
By the time I got to the Chamber of Horrors, I simply refused to enter. Forget it. I found the entire experience haunting enough and had no desire to see Dracula leering at me.
I thought about that experience as I lay in bed. I wondered why I had such an unsettling response to something that was meant to be marveled at. I guess my reaction wasn’t unique. Later, I became aware of the glut of feature films that exploited this eerie experience, movies that mined the living’s innate mistrust and upset at, if not the dead, then imitations of the dead, dressed up and paraded around in what equated to be a perverse funeral home.
So, with that bit of subjectivity out of the way, I present to you 9 films that exploit our fear and fascination with the wax museum.
Feel free to add your own titles in the comments section below…
Wax Museum Horror
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Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
King Kong's Fay Wray stars in this early two-strip technicolor thriller, the blueprint for every wax museum horror movie to follow. A bit stodgy by today's standards, with a wiseacre reporter subplot that grates, but still an important piece of horror cinema history.
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House of Wax (1953)
The first studio 3D feature film (director Andre de Toth only had one eye and could not even appreciate his own work), House of Wax is also the film that announced Vincent Price's late career role as a horror film star. This is a lush, tense and often scary film that improves on Mystery of the Wax Museum. Early appearances by Charles Bronson (under his real name Charles Buchinsky) and The Addams Family's Carolyn Jones too.
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The Twilight Zone "The New Exhibit" (1963)
Psycho's Martin Balsam stars in the effective episode from TZ's spotty, ill-conceived 4th season (in which the 30 minute format was switched to a flabby 60). Balsam is a wax museum worker who brings his favorite sculptures home , much to his horrified wife's upset. Some terrifying moments in this dark tale of madness and obsession.
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Chamber of Horrors (1966)
Charming flick that was designed as a pilot for a TV series called House of Wax. Of course, the film - which sees Patrick O'Neal as a madman who murders women dogged by a pair of wax museum owners - was too dark for the small screen and was instead released to theaters. Said release goosed the film with a "horror horn" and "fear flasher". With or without those gimmicks, the film is still ample fun.
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Nightmare in Wax (1969)
Deranged horror film stars the great Cameron Mitchell (Blood and Black Lace) as a furious FX man who, after being disfigured at a party, opens up a Hollywood wax museum, tortures young starlets and turns them into wax-coated sculptures. Only PG rated, this flick is plenty lurid and unyieldingly weird. A great double bill with 1965 Bloody Pit of Horror for maximum megalomania.
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Terror in the Wax Museum (1973)
Crazy obscure horror film (never been released on DVD or Blu) with a star-studded cast, eerie locations and some unforgettable moments. It's a joy to see veterans like The Bride of Frankenstein's Elsa Lanchester, Ray Milland, John Carradine et al engage in this London-based mystery, even if the wax figures (played by actors) do tend to move a bit more than they should. Of course, that just adds to the film's eeriness.
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Waxwork (1988)
Director Anthony Hickox (Hellraiser III, Sundown) delivers one of the best latter period '80s VHS faves in this monster-soaked tale. Zach (Gremlins) Galligan stars as one of a group of college kids who get trapped in a inter-dimensional wax museum that pulls them into various classic horror scenarios. Tons of fun. Hickox's dad Douglas directed House of Wax star Vincent Price in 1973's Theater of Blood.
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The Wax Mask (1997)
Stunning Italian Gothic horror film was designed to be directed by the ailing Lucio Fulci and ws instead finished by FX master Sergio Stivaletti. Handsomely mounted, lushly photographed and filled with freakish imagery, this movie was relatively out of step with its time and is in need of a deeper appreciation.
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House of Wax (2005)
Unfairly berated in-name only remake of Andre de Toth's classic is actually a remake of Charles Band's Tourist Trap in disguise. If you can ignore the pithy "dead teenager" set-up (and the useless cameo by socialite Paris Hilton) there are ample chills and weirdness here, especially during the fiery climax, with the titular house literally melting as our heroes try to escape it. Definitely an underrated film.
