Der Bucklige vom Horror-Kabinett

The basic premise is not far removed from the many remakes of the classic "Mystery of the Wax Museum"...there are some gruesome murders at a famous house of wax featuring the likenesses of such infamous characters as Jack The Ripper, Lizzie Borden, Bluebeard the Pirate, Marie Antoinette, and Ivan the Terrible. Who's responsible? Who's next? Who's real? Who's wax?

With a distinguished cast of great actors from Hollywood's Golden Years, this would be a great find for real movie buffs who don't mind a good scare. One scene standing out in particular is one where a woman of ill-repute is stalked by Jack the Ripper. I last saw it 20 years ago, and still get the chills.

Terror in the Wax museum tells the story of a museum curator who is murdered and the mystery surrounding it. Did the Jack the Ripper exhibit come to life and kill or is someone with something to gain to blame?

This quirky little murder mystery is more that than a horror, relatively well made as a whole and comes with competent cast and a passable story.

The trouble is by about the half way mark my interest waned, the story had veered off and the grip the film had over me loosened.

This isn't bad but it comes off more like a Hammer Horror than perhaps intended and the mystery and "Whodunit" simply wasn't very engaging.

Nice ideas, poor execution.

The Good:

Decent enough premise

The Bad:

Trails off

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

It doesn't take much for a woman to faint

This is one of those cheapo horror flicks that were churned out in the 60s/70s, using lots of people who'd been big stars in the 30s and 40s, and not really giving them that much to do. Elsa Lanchester comes off best in this one, as her value didn't diminish much over the years (and she never looked any different!). Not that scary, apart from one or two disturbing bits, the plot is wafer thin and one of those that when you get to the end you keep thinking 'but ...'. And poor Shani Wallis and that dreadful song! But, overall, it is fun and has that weird curiosity value of 'where have I seen him/her before'? for those of us who watch old black and white stuff on a regular basis. Worth tracking down but could have been much, much better.

A mystery slasher is stalking a famous wax museum. Who is the culprit? Who will survive the terror? This is a pleasant and painless way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon, but don't expect too much. Be warned, it is very hard to find on video.

I'm happy to see that some in Hollywood are going an extra mile to recognize the great work and talent of our great horror film actors like Lugosi, Karloff, Price and the Chaneys.

But I'm disappointed to see that John Carradine hasn't received his share of credit yet. Carradine had this great aura about him of the man teetering on the precipt between sanity and madness in many of his parts. And no one who ever saw him in even the B films such as "Unearthly" or "Red Zone Cuba" can ever say that he wasn't by far the best performer in the picture or say that he ever gave less than his best efforts.