Wax museums were invented for horror movies, right? Like I’ve heard of wax museums in real life, Madame Tussaud wherever that place is, but I feel like I’ve heard about them, and wax figures in general, far more in the context of scary stories than anywhere else in my life. It’s weird, right? That somehow someone could think of cold lifeless figures that look almost exactly like humans and have a tendency to melt and call that scary, but that’s the world we live in. Shameful.
In Waxwork, Zach Galligan stars as Mark Loftmore, a well-to-do college student who just can’t seem to get out of his own way, whether it’s school or women. On a whim, he and a group of friends decide to attend a private showing at a newly-opened waxworks at midnight, as you do. Of course they don’t know the unwritten rule of waxworks, which is is you go to a waxworks you must expect to be tormented by the wax figures within, and possibly turned into a wax figure yourself and become a part of the gallery for the rest of time. Not many folks do really, even though it’s the number 1 cause of wax-related deaths in the United States and Canada, which is a real shame.
How Waxwork decides to do the tormenting is quite novel. Rather than simply being attacked by wax figures, the characters step into the world of the scene the wax figures are in, becoming the victim that the scene depicts. So it’s got a bit of an anthology film thing going with characters being menaced by werewolves and the like, couched within the greater story of Waxwork. It’s a fun idea, calling back to the classic age of monster movies, and the effects team pull it off. Nothing extreme, in terms of effects or gore, but you see a werewolf or a mummy on screen and it looks good.
I’ll go ahead and give it a nod. Fun little horror movie with a touch of adventure, fun concept, David Warner is in it, Dana Ashbrooke from Twin Peaks is in it, it’s cool. Maybe not something you’d want to watch with your parents or your kids, given the BDSM subplot that runs through the thing, but if you’re of legal age then go ahead and watch it.
STATUS: RECOMMENDED
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