Movie Two Hundred Eighteen
A group of college students happen upon a wax museum were the exhibits are more than they seem in Waxwork.
When a waxwork is opened near a small college town, several students decide to visit it one night after being invited by a mysterious old man who quickly disappears. Once inside the waxwork, the students split up and find that if they enter the displays of the waxwork, they become part of the scene being depicted. After fighting dracula and a werewolf, the two teens escape the displays but their two friends go missing and become part of the displays they entered. As the disappearances continue, the town begins to catch on that something strange is happening at the waxwork.
I put on Waxwork one afternoon when I wanted to watch something and turn my brain off. It turns out, Waxwork was pretty good for that as it is a silly horror movie, but the fun comes because it doesn’t take itself seriously. The premise is simple and has just the right amount of cheese to it that makes it fun. It’s not a great movie but it’s a fun one and it actually almost makes a neat precursor to Cabin in the Woods.
All told, the acting is probably what you would expect from a horror movie from the 80s – that is to say it’s terrible. The special effects fare a little better but I think part of the point of the effects was to make it seem stilted like an actual wax museum exhibit, so I’ll give it a pass. Somehow I missed this one when I used to religiously watch horror movies and I’m glad that I was finally able to see it, but I wish I had more film peers to compare it to.
There isn’t much I have to say about Waxwork other than it surprised me. I was expecting a dumb horror movie and Waxwork provided a lot of the fun of a good, dumb horror movie, but in a (mostly) smart way. Fans of the horror genre have likely already seen this one but if you haven’t and want a better than average 80s horror movie, Waxwork is worth your time.
I give it 3 wicked waxwork werewolves out of 5.
Links:
Own It. Love It.
WAXWORK Is A Personal Fave, And I’m Super Pleased To See Someone, Other Than Myself, Giving It Some Sweet-Sweet-Lovin’!!!
It’s One Of Those “Forgotten Classics” Of The Genera.
Awesome Opossum Write-Up, Sir!
Fo SHO!!! 😉
-B.
Glad it’s been getting some love while I’ve been neglecting it all these years!
Oh, Trust Me Dude, I Give It Plenty Of Love!
Well…
…Not Like I Have Sex With It Or Anything…
…But I Totally Let It Know I Love It Like A Friend 😉
hehehe
lol
Good one! Aside from this being a good (well I haven’t seen it in 20 years) flick, back in high school, putting this in on a Friday night when my mom was out of town was always a sure fire way to – um – well – “get closer with the ladies”.
Hahaha nice!
: )
I found it entirely boring. I finished it but I had trouble with it. There were a couple of nice effects but it also felt like an overdone premise (although when it originally came out it probably wasn’t overdone?).
It might have been a bit overdone when it came out, I don’t really know. My biggest complaint was that I thought it felt REALLY long and it’s only like an hour and a half.
YES. It really did feel incredibly long.
Interesting that it wasn’t “too bad after all”. Isn’t this the one with Paris Hilton? I never saw it just because of that!! If it is the one – you’re amazing you didn’t mention her.
I might give it a go…
Same premise, but that one was called House of Wax from mid 2000s. This one was from the 80s
I liked this overall when I reviewed it last year but it did drag a bit in between the wax scenes and the plot was pretty senseless. I may do the sequel soon which I hear is better, but I probably heard wrong.
I really wanna watch this! Is it on Netflix?
Netflix Instant, yup!
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Need to check this one out. It’s in the Instant Que, just haven’t gotten around to it. Good review.
I really dug this back in the ’80’s. I rewatched it about a year ago and still dug it, but not as much. How could you forget to mention that Gimli from Lord of the Rings and Sallah from Indiana Jones was in it? Yes, sir, John Rhys-Davies!!
If you didn’t know, there was a sequel to this that I actually thought was better. It was called Waxwork II: Lost in Time. It was sillier, but damned entertaining.
Confession time: I didn’t feel like looking this one up to see who was in it when I was writing this up haha
If it’s on Netflix Instant I’ll definitely give it a shot!
haha That’s pretty funny. I’ve watched films where I really didn’t want to know who degraded themselves that bad . . .
i make it a point to never go to wax museums because of this movie. Also because they are creepy as hell.
They really, truly are.
people who frequent those places are people that I also avoid. Just throwing that out there for all those commentors who happen to be avid wax museum enthusiasts.
A blast from the past,its funny what scares you as a kid makes you laugh as an adult
Haha indeed!