L'Homme au masque de cire

Perhaps I've been lucky. I've only seen this film twice in the past 15 years, but both times were in 3D, the second time last night. The crowd just loved it, with a big round of applause at the end.

The paddle ball scene is a highlight, but the reprise of the paddle ball is even more hilarious. It's completely over the top, and helps to create the carnival atmosphere that makes the film so effective in a large group.

The really dramatic 3D effects in this film are played for laughs, and I think that's one of the keys to its overall success. Director André De Toth treats the gimmick as a gimmick, and doesn't try to get more out of it than that. Hitchcock, in "Dial M For Murder", tried to use the technology for dramatic effect, but that was a complete failure. The gimmick gets in the way of real drama. The attempted murder of Grace Kelly in "Dial M" is more shocking in 2D. In 3D, you're completely jolted out of your involvement in the scene when Grace's grasping hand comes lunging halfway out into the audience at you.

In "House of Wax", the effect found its real home, a melodramatic thriller, played by everyone with tongue firmly in cheek.

De Toth composes his shots really nicely, I think. There's some foregrounding of chandeliers and other props, but never too much. He mostly holds back on the effect until he can make the best use of it -- the paddle ball, the can-can dancer's round bottom, the bust of Charles Bronson at the end. There is one great 3D thrill, the shot where Bronson, playing Vincent Price's evil mute assistant, has to grapple with policeman Frank Lovejoy. Bronson appears to leap out of the audience and onto the screen; it's an unexpected moment, and a real treat.

HOUSE OF WAX established Vincent Price as a horror film icon. He's never hammy here. He's best when describing gruesome details (like torture or murder) with a slight grin, as if he's building to a punchline. Crane Wilbur's screenplay has well researched details (regarding how wax sculpting works, the effects of chemical burns for example) improves on the 1933 original. Here Vincent Price plays Henry Jerrod, a wax sculptor whose first try at a wax museum meets the same infernal end as Atwill's museum in the first film. 12 years later, Jerrod opens a new museum. One of his intern sculptors dates a model, Sue (Phyllis Kirk) who is hounded by a mysterious man with a distorted face. In the original film version, made in 1933, Fay Wray plays a beautiful, but uninteresting damsel in distress. Phyllis Kirk fills Fay Wray's part here, and man, is she even more boring! But don't worry, you have plenty of Vincent to make this DVD worthwhile. It's easy to find in a bit part, young Charles Bronson (billed here as Charles Buchinsky) as one of Jerrod's s interns. HOUSE OF WAX's most famous element is that it was made in 3-D. This new gimmick, meant to lure television viewers back to the box office was novel, but it had it's kinks. (Warner Brothers improved the process a year later with the 3-D release of Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER, and yet another period horror film, PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE.) The most amusing 3-D moment in HOUSE OF WAX has almost nothing to do with the story. A carnival barker, (played with crowd-pleasing energy by Reggie Rymal) constantly whacks a paddle-ball outside the wax museum, while heralding the museum's opening night thrills. He faces the camera (meaning us) and says `You! With the popcorn. Hold still.' and he proceeds to repeatingly whack the ball at the camera. HOUSE OF WAX is a lot of fun, and was a big hit at the time. The DVD does not come with a 3-D Process, but it does come with coverage of HOUSE OF WAX's Hollywood Premier. It's attended by Bela Lugosi and friend, Jack Warner, and Ronald Reagan (See, even Presidents watch horror movies!)

The House of Wax is a true horror classic! I saw it for the first time in 1953 at a local theatre in 3-D.

I have seen it many times since on video. It never ceases to entertain.

While watching it today I noticed something for the very first time: a most interesting anachronism.

This film takes place in old New York circa 1900. Every indoor scene has a gaslight in it, and the fire department responds with a horse-drawn wagon. Well, in one of the early scenes in the film Prof. Jarrod(Vincent Price)is conducting a prospective investor, Sidney Wallace(Paul Cavanagh), on a tour of his wax museum. There are gas lights everywhere. They arrive at an exhibit and Prof. Jarrod flips a wall switch, and presto the exhibit is illuminated in light. Somebody goofed!

If you've never seen The House of Wax, watch it. You'll love it.

One more interesting note. Dabbs Greer who plays Sergeant Jim Shane in this film also plays old Paul Edgecomb in the 1999 thriller The Green Mile.

I saw the remake recently of House of Wax and mainly that was because I just wanted to see Paris Hilton die once and for all! I was a satisfied customer, but the movie actually turned out to be pretty good, so I was very curious to see the original, especially since I love Vincent Price. Who wouldn't love him? He's the king of B-Horror Movies. He has brought us House of Wax, the original haunting tale of an artist who went too far to create his works of art.

Henry Jarrod is an artist who has devoted his life to his wax museum, but when his partner is upset with the investment and wishing it had better success, he offers to burn the place down and split the insurance money with Henry. But Henry refuses, his partner goes through with it by burning the place down and knocking Henry unconscious and leaving him for dead. But a little while later, his partner convinces the insurance company that Henry is dead and collects the insurance money, but things start to happen like the partner dies but it looks like suicide and Cathy's, our leading lady, best friend is murdered by a horribly disfigured man and her best friend's body disappears only to happen to look like a figure of Henry's new exhibit.

House of Wax maybe be tame by today's standards, but just think of the time, no one ever thought in a million years of something this horrific. A sick artist taking our corpses or killing us just because we would inspire him, it's a scary thought. Vincent Price added so much horror and beauty to this picture that will never be forgotten once you have seen it.

8/10

For me, House of Wax is a very good movie, but I am not sure if it is Price's best horror film. I did prefer the Corman-Price-Poe collaborations Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher and especially The Masque of the Red Death. The story occasionally loses bite and Phyllis Kirk is a rather bland female lead(though in all fairness her character is as well). Conversely, the Gothic sets look gorgeous and add a real sensual beauty to a lot of scenes. The photography is just as lavish. On the subject of visuals, I had the pleasure of watching House of Wax in 3D, I am not a fan of 3D and find it distracts from the film and doesn't focus on the story enough. In the case of House of Wax however, not only does the 3D look good, but it enhances the scares without making them gimmicky. Igor appearing to have leapt out of the audience was a standout. House of Wax is fine in 2D, but even better in 3D in my view, and I thought I'd never say that. The music is haunting and robust, the writing is sharp and the story is suspenseful and mostly exciting. There are some very effective scenes, such as the sight of the figure in the cloak, Jarrod chasing Sue down the alleyways(pure suspense and horror), the murders especially that of Jarrod's partner, the heart-breaking scene where Jarrod tries in vain to save his wax works and Sue strapped nude on the table in the climax. The wax works are very creepy as well. The pace is brisk and the direction handles the atmosphere very well. The performances are very good on the whole, Carolyn Jones went on to do better things but is interesting to see. Frank Lovejoy is great at just playing it straight, Reggie Rymal provides another of the 3D's finest moments with the paddle-ball and Charles Bronson is wonderfully creepy even without uttering a word. Best of all is Vincent Price in his first array into horror and for me still one of his best roles, his make-up is exceptional and he is very malevolent and sympathetic, a type of role that always saw him at his best. Looking at him also, you'd never guess that it was his first horror role, he looks as though he'd done it for years beforehand. In conclusion, a very good film and a great 3D experience. 8/10 Bethany Cox