Warner Bros. Pictures
Not part of a collection.
House of Wax
You've never been scared until you've been scared in 3-D.
A sculptor opens a wax museum to showcase the likenesses of famous historical figures, but quickly runs into trouble when his business partner demands the exhibits become more extreme in order to increase profits.
- Original title
- House of Wax
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $1,000,000
- Revenue
- $23,750,319
John Chard
Jul 18, 2019 · via TMDB
In any format it's a genre highlight. Henry Jarrod is a very talented sculptor of wax figures for a museum. But as the museum starts to flounder, Jarrod's partner, Matthew Burke, insists on taking a new direction, a row ensues and Jarrod is knocked unconscious. Burke seizes the opportunity to torch the museum and get the insurance money, with Jarrod still in the premises. Thought long since dead, Jarrod resurfaces, apparently wheel chair bound and with horribly burned hands. Opening up a new museum, his new figures (made by his protégé under his instruction) look ever more lifelike than before, could he be responsible for some despicable crimes in the area? This marvellous film is a remake of the 1933 chiller, The Mystery Of The Wax Museum, directed by Michael Curtiz. Here this film is taken on by Andre de Toth, originally filmed in 3-D with the then bonus addition of Warner Phonic Sound, it's a picture that thankfully holds up real well even in its basic flat format. The reason it does hold up well is because director de Toth didn't get carried away with the gimmick, it's used sparingly so the narrative never gets lost amongst any trickery, and thus House Of Wax's excellently creepy story comes to the fore. Having the ever supreme Vincent Price as your leading man (Jarrod) will always help your horror genre picture, and here he two folds the performance brilliantly. At first his Jarrod is charming and carrying a grace about his dedication to his craft, but then, devilment takes control as Price pumps creepy ardour into Jarrod's fractured mind. Quite a turn from Price who most definitely suffered for his art during the shoot, forced to do his own stunts (the 3D process needs more than one camera), he was involved in an accident that set him on fire and almost saw him crushed!Then there was the long and often painful make up sessions to get the desired effects of a burns victim, layers of rubber strangling his skin to the point of passing out, oh yes Vincent earned his money on this one! We even get one of the earliest credited performances from Charles Bronson (here under his real name of Buchinsky) as Jarrod's assistant Igor, whilst fans of The Addams Family TV series will no doubt enjoy the performance of future Mortica, Carolyn Jones. The film was a big success on its release, and hugely popular with critics, and it's not hard to see why, because today it still stands proud as one of the finest exponents of classic horror, both as a story and as a technical construction. 9/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Vincent Price
Henry Jarrod
Frank Lovejoy
Tom Brennan
Phyllis Kirk
Sue Allen
Carolyn Jones
Cathy Gray
Paul Picerni
Scott Andrews
Roy Roberts
Matthew Burke
Angela Clarke
Mrs. Andrews
Paul Cavanagh
Sidney Wallace
Dabbs Greer
Shane
Charles Bronson
Igor
Oliver Blake
Man Checking His Watch (uncredited)
Larri Thomas
Can-Can Dancer (uncredited)
Steve Carruthers
Museum Patron (uncredited)
Frank Ferguson
Medical Examiner (uncredited)
Jack Kenney
Lodger (uncredited)
Mike Lally
Spectator / Man Entering Music Hall (uncredited)
Lyle Latell
Waiter (uncredited)
Philo McCullough
Spectator / Man Entering Music Hall (uncredited)
Jack Mower
Detective (uncredited)
Eddie Parks
Morgue Attendant (uncredited)
Grandon Rhodes
Surgeon (uncredited)
Riza Royce
Mrs. Flanagan (uncredited)
Philip Tonge
Bruce Allison (uncredited)
Ruth Warren
Scrubwoman (uncredited)
Nedrick Young
Leon Averill (uncredited)
Bert Glennon
Director of Photography
Fritz Ford
Stand In
Charles Horvath
Stunts
André de Toth
Director
Rudi Fehr
Editor
Crane Wilbur
Screenplay
GoodFellas
Psycho
The Departed
The Thing
Dial M for Murder
The Ghost
They See You
Dog Day Afternoon
Carlito's Way
Rosemary's Baby
Nosferatu
Halloween
Evil Dead II
Donnie Brasco
Serpico
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Peeping Tom
The French Connection
American Psycho
Un Chien Andalou
Lord of War
25th Hour
Army of Darkness
Cape Fear
West Side Story
Maria Full of Grace
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Where the Sidewalk Ends
He Ran All the Way
The Fortune Cookie
Believer
The Man with the Golden Arm
House of the Disappeared
The American Friend
Re-Animator
Day of the Dead
State of Grace
Mad Love
Little Shop of Horrors
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
The Mad Magician
Gloria
Kids
Phone Booth
The Man with a Cloak
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Taxi!
Fantomas
The Suspect
The Bone Collector
Klute
Morgue
The Thomas Crown Affair
New Jack City
The Devil's Rejects
The Ring
Fantomas Unleashed
Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard
Zombie Flesh Eaters
Short Eyes
Seven Warriors
The Longest Yard
Goodnight Mommy
Black Phone 2
Marked Woman
The Living Dead
Death Scream
Funny Games
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Analyze This
The Ninth Gate
Clean, Shaven
8MM
Tarantula
The Leopard Man
The Curse of the Werewolf
After Office Hours
The Hills Have Eyes
Gone in Sixty Seconds
Bride of Re-Animator
Shaft
Ripley's Game
The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue
Johnny Handsome
Hannibal Rising
The Racket
Shaitaan
The Alto Knights
Fun with Dick and Jane
Carrie
Vigilante
The Eyes
The Vanishing
You Kill Me
Mill of the Stone Women
Knockaround Guys
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
The Shadow
Shaft
Fighting
Miami Vice
Hunchback of the Morgue
Darling
The First Purge
15 Minutes
The Hitcher
House on the Edge of the Park
The Wolfman
The Big Sleep
Party Monster
Rasputin: The Mad Monk
13 Ghosts
The Vigil
V/H/S/85
Kiss of Death
Slugs
The Wax Mask
Faceless
Manhattan Love Suicides
The Omen
Medusa
The Hills Have Eyes 2
The Initiation of Sarah
Taxi
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Drowning Mona
Cub
A Serbian Film
One Missed Call
Rise: Blood Hunter
Vamps
A Shred Of Mist
Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
The Singing Detective
Pulse
Players
Waxwork II: Lost in Time
The Shadow Within
Stay
Obedece a Talensss
Truth or Dare? - A Critical Madness
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Darker Than Night
Witches' Brew
Julia
The Spirit
The Fog
Jaws 3-D
Beast No More
It's Alive
Gigli
Flexing with Monty
Missile to the Moon
New York Chinatown
Jekyll
Phantom
Tourist Trap
Wes and Kyra
Sunset Boulevard
Apocalypse Retold!
Halloween
Saw
Dressed to Kill
Scream
Haunt
Halloween II
Scream 4
The Poughkeepsie Tapes
The Neon Demon
Possessor
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
American Mary
The Doctor and the Devils
Tourist Trap
Play Dead
The Strangers
Maniac
House of Wax
Crimes of the Future
Happy Birthday to Me
Scream 3
The Strangers: Chapter 2
Saw 3D
Puppetmaster
Nightmare Cinema
The Town that Dreaded Sundown
Dolly
Apr 9, 1953
New York City, New York
Apr 16, 1953
Los Angeles, California
Apr 25, 1953
