Le masque de cire

That old chestnut, the creepy wax museum, is the setting for this preposterous Gothic movie written by two of Italian horror's most renowned directors, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, and helmed by talented FX make-up man Sergio Stivaletti.

A remake (of sorts) of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum, in which a disfigured lunatic populates his museum with the wax-coated corpses of his victims, Stivaletti's debut as director is atmospheric, gory, looks great (proving that he has been paying attention whilst providing the splatter for others), and features a couple of very hot actresses who are happy to flip out their breasts; however, the acting is poor and the story nonsensical, and, ultimately, the film fails to impress as much as it might have, given the pedigree of its creators.

Stivaletti does manage to conjure up a few memorable scenes (including a creepy attack on a sleeping girl, and a brutal and bloody murder sequence which sees a hand being snapped off, a throat cut and a heart being torn out), but for every good moment, there is an equally bad one. The film ends in a particularly dreadful manner, with one character becoming a seemingly indestructible Terminator-style monster, and the wax museum being burnt to the ground by some really cheap looking CGI.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Sergio Stivaletti's wax mask is a hard movie to review because it has so many good things about it and so many BAD things also. The good things are...The movie is very visual which is cool, the make-up effects are awesome along with the computer effects, and it has some cool production design(especially the room where people are turned into wax creations). Now whats bad is...Most of the acting is bad especially the main female and good guy characters, the end turns into a weird terminatoresque finale, and some characters are not explained well (what happened to the bald guy with the scar) and the last minute/minute and a half is one of the worst endings i've ever seen.....what can i say i like this movie and yet i dislike it too.....still though it could have been better. But view it for the special effects(makeup and cg) and production design.

You can't help but go into Wax Mask with a little trepidation. First time director, written by an aged Luci Fulci and Dario Argento (who also produced), both of whom have had a less than impressive careers as of late. That said, Wax Mask is not a disappointment. It isn't a great film, but an entertaining one.

The plot is liberally adapted from the classic Gaston Leroux story, also used for classic horror film House of Wax. A young girl sees her father killed by a metal handed maniac. Flash to 12? years later, she begins to work at a local wax museum that specializes in recreations of murders. We actually dont see much of the museum, just a few sculptures down one heavily draped hallway. A metal handed figure begins to go around town injecting and abducting prostitutes and children. All the while, the wax museum keeps a steady supply of figures that appear really lifelike. You know the story. A newspaper reporter begins to investigate the disappearances and takes a shine to the girl. Everything begins to point to the wax museum and its curator/mad inventor and his goons. The finale is ridiculous, but short enough to not ruin the film with its awkward turn.

Stivaletti handles the film pretty evenly. You can tell he learned a lot about atmosphere in his years working for Argento, Bava, and Soavi, but Stivaletti doesn't showcase any revelatory talent, just competent skill. Italian horror films are always style first, general substance in the plot or performances is always secondary to the mood and movement. The film is paced well, and doesn't pretend that we all won't know who the killer is, after all this is well tread territory. The setting (early 1900's) and score are a welcome change, since Italian horror usually stays in modern times. Stivalletti makes use of heavy colours, POV, flashbacks, CGI, as well as old horror imagery like the gothic buildings, and a mad doctor laboratory with bubbling serums in tubes, and electrified levers. The lead actress is beautiful, sultry, wide eyed, and willing to take her top off. The hunky reporter is very lame and unappealing. He attempts to be suave, but he is just a dork. Miscasting him as the hero is the films real lowpoint. The curator is good, he doesn't overplay his part, not a drooling maniac, just threatening enough.

Italian horror fans should find it a satisfactory film, nothing to astound you, but not overly disappointing, either. Other horror fans may be wary, but it does have a genuinely nice blend of old and new schools of horror. As far as Italian horror goes (where one must often not expect much in the acting and plotting department) it gets a B-. As far as standard horror it gets a C.

I rarely ever see this film mentioned anywhere and I think it's a darn shame. Sure, it isn't that original or ground braking since the plot is more or less similar to ‘House of Wax' `starring Vincent Price, but the whole fable is transferred to a wonderful gothic setting which fits the story real well. A terrific portrayal of Paris at the beginning of the 20th century is what makes this movie so compelling and beautiful. The basic plot is based on a fable by Gaston `Phantom of the Opera' Leroux but – and more importantly - the screenplay is a combining of the immense horror powers of both Dario Argento AND Lucio Fulci… For those who know their way around the Italian horror industry, I don't have to confirm that this guarantees a true shock-fest! The blending of these two wicked masterminds results in both breath-taking suspense and violent, gory massacres. The film is a non-stop series of terrifying and nightmarish events but these happenings are constantly being mixed with gruesome, detailed make-up art and visual effects. The absolute highlight of this is the slow motion transformation of an innocent girl into a wax statue…Horrifying, tense and brutal all in one. The name of director Sergio Stivaletti might not ring a bell, but that doesn't mean he's a first-timer in the field. He made his name as special effects and make-up guru and he repeatedly worked with Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava and several other Italian horror-meisters. `Maschera di Cera' is his debut (and so far the only effort) as a director. Unfortunately, the high quality level of this film can't be kept up till the end, the grand Terminatoresque finale is abysmal and almost destroys the tense atmosphere that was build during the entire movie. Also, the dubbing is God-awful… At some times, you'd really beg for the characters to shut up and replace the lines with a little more of the magnificent Gothic music that is used. You have got to love the music in this film! Last but not least, The Wax Mask introduces a couple of ravishing female beauties. Romina Mandella and especially Valery Valmond both are stunning goddesses. This last one seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth after shooting this film…I'm considering emigrating towards Italy to go search for her.

PS: Maschera di Cera was released shortly after Fulci sadly passed away. Therefore this film opens with the words `Dedicated to Lucio Fulci', which I think is brilliant. Honor this man, he was a genius

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.