The producers of “House of Wax” may be regretting their decision to cast ubiquitous debutante Paris Hilton in her first acting role. (All right, “legitimate” acting role.) Everybody on the planet is sick of this dear girl, and her presence can only serve as a distraction.
But you’ll take all the distractions you can get while watching “House of Wax,” a horror movie that bears little relation to its cinematic forbears.
The usual batch of empty-headed teenagers are road-tripping in the middle of nowhere when they stumble across (in order): a giant roadkill pit, a too-friendly redneck with a fondness for knives, a town that appears to be utterly abandoned and a wax museum.
| The horror: Loose remake of a Vincent Price semi-classic; this one has the usual bunch of dumb teenagers (Elisha Cuthbert and Paris Hilton among them) stranded in a small town with a wax museum. Slightly better than the ongoing run of horror-movie remakes.
Rated: R rating is for violence, language. |
I would’ve turned back at the roadkill pit. And by the way, the house of wax is literally a house of wax. The walls, the floorboards, everything including the staring mannequins is made out of wax. (The structural deficiencies of this design become apparent late in the film.)
Ms. Hilton plays a supporting role and is slightly more credible than when she appears on talk shows as herself. The real leading role is played by Elisha Cuthbert, from the TV show “24,” who is at odds with her twin brother (the improbably named Chad Michael Murray), a ne’er-do-well.
The movie is directed by a music video veteran, Jaume Collet-Serra, who usually goes by one name, but like many one-named video directors has expanded his credit in films. He achieves a few passable moves – the small town looks appropriately weird, for instance, and the movie is notable for not killing off a single teenager (or anybody else) until nearly an hour into the picture.
The story revolves around twins, which is always good horror fodder. The characters are ciphers, and they do stupid things. This tends to undercut anything positive in the movie.
“House of Wax” earlier had life as a memorable 1953 film with Vincent Price, shot in 3-D. And that movie was a remake of “Mystery of the Wax Museum,” a crackling thriller-comedy from 1933. Both had madmen who encased human models in their wax creations (a similar wacko in this movie is named Vincent, which I suppose qualifies as an homage).
Hey, it’s better than “The Amityville Horror.” And it does have some wish-fulfillment involving Paris Hilton. I won’t give it away, but the audience cheered.
Elisha Cuthbert stars in “House of Wax.”
“Twin Sisters” H
Standard: Twin girls are separated in youth – one to live in Germany, one in Holland – and come of age as the Nazi nightmare arrives. A nominee for best foreign language film, this one doesn’t rise above the level of a TV movie. (In Dutch and German, with English subtitles.)
Rated: R rating is for nudity, subject matter.
Now showing: Harvard Exit.
“House of Wax” H
The horror: Loose remake of a Vincent Price semi-classic; this one has the usual bunch of dumb teenagers (Elisha Cuthbert and Paris Hilton among them) stranded in a small town with a wax museum. Slightly better than the ongoing run of horror-movie remakes.
Rated: R rating is for violence, language.
Now showing: Alderwood, Galaxy, Marysville, Mountlake, Stanwood, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place, Woodinville, Blue Fox Drive-In, Cascade.
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