La máscara de cera

The Wax Mask marks the coming together of two of the huge heavyweights of the Italian horror industry - Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci! The two great directors worked on the script together, and the movie is helmed by a man that has worked on the special effects in a number of Argento's movies: Sergio Stivaletti. That's three experienced men in the world of horror on the team, and with that in mind; The Wax Mask is a huge disappointment. Although there are certainly lots of good elements about this film, there's also lots of bad, and the latter drags the film down. The acting is terrible, worse than any performance in an Argento or Fulci film (and come on, that's saying something) and the dubbing is even worse than that (again, that's saying something). The script is another bad element of the film, which is ironic when you consider the talent involved in writing it. There are many moments in the movie you really do wish that the characters would shut up and spare you the horrors of listening to what they're going to say next. Quite a few moments like that, in fact.

That being said, there is certainly much to like about this movie. The atmosphere is the first point of interest, as it is decidedly macabre and fascinating. The wax museum at the centre of the tale makes for a great location for a horror movie. There's a very understated malevolence about statues in the human image, and this film makes best use of that fact. Adding to the atmosphere is the superb musical score, which is haunting in the extreme. The film also features the talents of the very beautiful Valery Valmond, and the even more so Romina Mondello! Neither of them impresses with their acting, but they make for very nice eye candy! The film develops itself very intriguingly throughout, and this is kept up right up until the finish, when it crumbles into pieces by way of a very corny finale. The ending begs a million questions and as the plot wasn't exactly watertight throughout, this is definitely not good. Still, fans of Italian horror (like me) will enjoy themselves despite the flaws; and on the whole I recommend this movie to fans of this type of film.

Paris December 31, 1900: a grisly mass murder. And then in Rome, 12 years later... a young man accepts a dare to stay overnight in a spooky wax museum. Something not quite right is going on there, but this man's stay is only the beginning.

Written by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, two masters who were more known to be at odds than to collaborate. Director of photography, special effects and directing all by Sergio Stivaletti. Dedicated to Lucio Fulci, the Italian horror master.

The film opens with a spectacular moving camera shot, and blood-spattered bodies strewn about. This sets quite a tone, and it's any wonder this film is not better known. Followed by a shot of black-gloved hands, a staple of Argento's work.

The men's hairstyles seem to be quite odd... what I will call the Italian mullet. One of these mullet men named Alex (Umberto Balli) looks like the cross between Bill Maher and Julian Sands. The woman who plays Sonia Lafont (Romina Mondello), though, is not only stylish, but incredibly beautiful in an exotic but innocent way. And somehow they got away with showing a preteen girl topless, which may be okay in Italy, but seems strange not being cut out when dubbed for American audiences.

Obviously, some of the ground here has been covered in other wax museum films -- notably "House of Wax" with Vincent Price, where they seem to have got much inspiration. But there are new surprises, and an excess of gore -- including a robotic hand that rips a heart straight from a chest! Add in some"Crawlspace"-esquire voyeurism, and voila! The film seems to drag on a bit longer than necessary, which is more a pacing issue than anything (it runs a modest 91 minutes). That aside, it is a good addition to the modern Italian horror film, with Sergio Stivaletti proving himself a capable director. I almost want to say on the level of Michele Soavi, but that would be going too far.

If you ever wondered what House of Wax would look like reimagined as an Italian giallo, you're in luck, because The Wax Mask is exactly that. Sure, there are a few liberties taken here and there, but it's still eerily similar.

A young woman sees her family murdered and, years later, she begins working for a wax museum where there's a set piece that looks an uncanny amount like the crime scene from her childhood. She begins to piece together that the wax exhibits are more than simple sculptures and might have real people underneath them.

As in most Italian films, the dialogue doesn't always translate well to English and there are some sacrifices of logic for cool set pieces, but it's typically an enjoyable ride.

Director Sergio Stivaletti gets to have a great time with The Wax Mask. This film has some great camera work and a few great set pieces. It's never quite to the level of Argento, Bava, or Fulci, but it's far from workmanlike. The gore effects are strong and nasty, but the film does seem to go on and on at times and could benefit from a few minutes being shaved off.

If you are familiar with italian horror, you get exactly what you expect here. Adequate to terrible performances, atrocious dubbing, gaudy visuals at the expens of characters you actually care about and imaginatively staged murders. However, this film was better than i expected, since director Stivaletti is primarily a make-up man and tried his hand at directing here for the first time. The (I suspect limited) budget is used well with varied locales for the different scenes, nice art-direction and costumes and crisp camerawork. Pace is well maintained throughout the movie which distracts you from some of the less obvious plot-holes. The waxmaster himself does quite a good actingjob, not hamming it up. As for "the good guys", the leading lady is adequate but at bit dull. Our supposed "hero" is however damagingly miscast and comes over as a complete bore. As is usually the case with italian horror, the visuals are at the fore here with rich colours (which of course includes crimsonred blood), lovingly filmed and accompanied by a good and appropriately romantic score. The finale, as a few others have stated, is quite bad but fun in a way with some terminatoresque touches that are unexpected, to say the least. And the murders, surprisingly few, are competently put together with a sufficient amount of gore to satisfy fans. Overall, entertaining and good fun, if you dont expect "Citizen Cane".

THE WAX MASK starts out promising enough with a group of police officers inspecting a grisly double murder on the eve of New Year's, but quickly spirals downward into your typical slasher film by the grand finale. Although the film is full of incredible sights and above-average special effects, the characters aren't quite structured enough to hold one's interest for more than a half hour. It is also the first 30 minutes of the movie that hold the best scares as a smartass brothel patron finds himself locked inside the wax museum on a dark and stormy night. Director Sergio Stivaletti took certain liberties with Gaston Leroux' original tale, but the outcome is somewhat refreshing. The mixture of both classic prosthetic make-up and computer generated effects is blended together seamlessly and leaves the audience with a new understanding of the classic tale "Terror in the Wax Museum." So aside from its faults, THE WAX MASK is a fun, spooky jaunt from those mad minds in Italy. If ever stuck inside on a dark and stormy night, this one may be right up your alley.