Terror in the Wax Museum

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

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...

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.

Terror in the Wax Museum is more murder mystery than it is a horror film. With plenty of suspects and one red herring at the very end, the movie keeps you guessing whodunit throughout. It's not horribly scary, therefore it's the mystery aspect that will keep you watching.

There are definitely some silly moments, such as a couple of dream sequences and wax figures (played by actors) that are accidentally caught on-screen moving and breathing. However, don't let that distract you from the solid work from the cast, especially Ray Milland. The story itself has its moments of suspense, with a few chilling scenes. Overall, however, don't go into this film thinking it will scare you very much.

Recommended for lovers of good old-fashioned whodunits.