Horror

Crime

House of Wax

Warner Bros. Pictures

United States of America

English

Vincent Price

Frank Lovejoy

Phyllis Kirk

Carolyn Jones

Paul Picerni

Roy Roberts

Angela Clarke

Paul Cavanagh

Dabbs Greer

Charles Bronson

Reggie Rymal

Oliver Blake

Larri Thomas

Joanne Brown

Steve Carruthers

Leo Curley

Dan Dowling

Frank Ferguson

Stuart Hall

Mary Lou Holloway

Jack Kenney

Mike Lally

Lyle Latell

Richard Lightner

Philo McCullough

Jack Mower

Eddie Parks

Waclaw Rekwart

Grandon Rhodes

Riza Royce

Sammy Shack

Norman Stevans

Philip Tonge

Merry Townsend

Sid Troy

Ruth Warren

Ruth Whitney

Shirley Whitney

Jack Wise

Jack Woody

Charles Hibbs

Trude Wyler

Nedrick Young

André de Toth

Charles S. Belden

Crane Wilbur

Charles Lang

James McMahon

Maurice De Packh

Joe Dreier

Red Turner

Robert Burks

James Kitchen

Donald P. Desmond

Jack Woods

Janet Wilson

Jean-Pierre Steimer

Charles Horvath

Paul Stader

Julian Gunzburg

Kathryn Stuberg

Lothrop B. Worth

Fritz Ford

Milton Gunzburg

Stanley Fleischer

Howard Shoup

Bryan Foy

Rudi Fehr

Lyle B. Reifsnider

David Buttolph

Bert Glennon

Gordon Bau

J. Peverell Marley

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

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House of Wax

Cast & Crew

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Cast

Vincent Price

Frank Lovejoy

Phyllis Kirk

Carolyn Jones

Paul Picerni

Roy Roberts

Angela Clarke

Paul Cavanagh

Dabbs Greer

Charles Bronson

Box office

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