Terror en el museo de cera

Forget the IMDb rating - it should be 7/10. This is a charming little film about wax museum and murders in Victorian England. Is Jack the Ripper behind it all? Eeek! Or is there something supernatural involved - like the living wax figures? Double eek! It's entertaining and clean little flick, with no gore, bad language or other touches of Whitechapel sewers, and a supporting cast is full of seasoned monster movie veterans, including Elsa Lanchester (Bride of Frankenstein herself!), John Carradine (Dracula from Universal classics House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula) and Patric Knowles (the werewolf movie milestone Wolf man).

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.

1973's "Terror in the Wax Museum" was among the handful of horror films made through Bing Crosby Productions, best remembered for "Willard" and "Ben" (the crooner himself having left the fold years earlier), the first of two from the brothers Fenady, producer Andrew and director Georg also responsible for the darkly comic "Arnold." Both features betray their TV background with studio bound exteriors depicting turn of the century London, aided greatly by the casting of screen veterans in major roles, with John Carradine introducing this one as waxworks owner Claude Dupree, entertaining offers to sell out to New York businessman Amos Burns (Broderick Crawford), but remaining loyal to longtime collaborators Harry Flexner (Ray Milland) and disfigured deaf mute Karkov (Steven Marlo). Running the pub next door is building owner Tim Fowley (Louis Hayward), its chanteuse entertainer (Shani Wallis) belting out the same excruciating number night after night. The wax figures on display are some of history's most notorious murderers, including one for the never caught Jack the Ripper, who mysteriously comes to life to snuff out Dupree for his 'betrayal' of inanimate friends. Scotland Yard's perfunctory investigation proves a slow moving slog through intriguing possibilities, such as the real Ripper seeking revenge for his unflattering effigy, and as cast members die off the hidden culprit looks more and more like a sure bet. Carradine and Milland come off best, an improvement on Cameron Mitchell's "Nightmare in Wax" but hardly a patch on Vincent Price's "House of Wax" (lacking the humorous tone of the next Fenady film, "Arnold").

Claude Dupree (John Carradine) has owned and operated the wax museum for years, but is forced to consider selling it due to financial difficulties. When Dupree is found murdered, Inspector Daniels (Maurice Evans) and Sgt. Michael Hawks (Mark Edwards) are on the case.

Enter Dupree's niece, Margaret Collins (Nicole Shelby), who arrives to take possession of the museum as her inheritance. She has with her, the greedy Julia Hawthorne (Elsa Lanchester). Dupree's business associate, Harry Flexner (Ray Milland) is the museum curator. Also, Dupree's hunchback assistant, Karkov (Steven Marlo) stays on, living in the museum cellar.

Margaret isn't in town long before more attacks occur, including the death of a prospective buyer of the museum (Broderick Crawford) by grisly means! Has Jack the Ripper come out of retirement? Or, has his wax likeness come to life? Or, is someone else committing these crimes?

TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM isn't bad, but may put modern viewers to sleep rather quickly. Short on action, and packed with cheeeze-tastic elements, especially the rather silly "nightmare" sequences, it seems much longer than it actually is. More mystery than horror, there's a nice double revelation at the end.

Worth a watch...