Title: House of Wax
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer: Charles Belden, Chad Hayes, Carey Hayes
Release Date: May 6, 2005
Cast: Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Jared Padalecki, Paris Hilton(!)
House of Wax Cliff’s Notes
While en route to the football game of the year, a group of moderately annoying college kids- and Paris Hilton – break down near a weird town featuring a wax museum as it’s only attraction. Luckily for us, there’s a wax-mask-wearing psycho who’s there to help. And by help, I mean permanently add those teens to the museum!
Lecture
Oh look, another horror remake. Yay. With Collet-Serra’s The Shallows currently in theaters, I thought it would be worthwhile to tackle his first flick. The result? Eh, mixed. House of Wax suffers from a lot of the struggles the early 2000’s remakes couldn’t overcome. With the exception of the leads, the characters are shallow and oh-so expendable. The plot is, especially at the beginning, paint by numbers, without any major surprises for the first half of the flick. Likewise, the film never moves in a new direction. It’s been there, done that in terms of this dead teenager movie.
So, what lifts it out of the muck? First and foremost, Cuthbert, Murray, and Van Holt give solid, fun shows, which allows the later parts of the movie to hit harder as a result. The flick also embraces a few nice symbolic touches that, while not always effective, add to the movie.
Combine that with one hell of a finale set piece that really takes its location to a new level and you’ve got a better-than-it-should-have-been kind of flick. Also – SPOILER – Paris Hilton dies. That is, on it’s own, a little cathartic.
Acting
The college kids are mostly forgettable. Of the bunch, Padalecki is probably the standout. Alas, the roles aren’t helping so everyone comes off as a little vague. Cuthbert and Murray do well with their good twin / bad twin routine and Van Holt has enough charm to give his role a little needed menace. Hilton plays a vain, shallow party girl who gets scared and dies. I can’t say it’s acting, but it works alright for what it is.
Directing
Collet-Serra stages his kills with gusto and manages a few tense sequences. Alas, the build up is lackluster and most of the events are handled with zero intelligence. Once the characters start to dwindle, things begin to improve, but it’s too little too late. Lastly, while I dug some of the visual metaphor, they often go too far and it feels like Mr. Director is banging us over the head with them.
Script
The characterizations – using that term lightly- and plot are fill in the blank level of iffy in the house of wax. The only interesting section of the plot is the investigating of the town, which isn’t fully explored and feels half-hearted. The rest is genre standard.
Effects
When it gets messy, the film does aok. There is enough gore to get you through the day, though I’d imagine your levels will be a little low in the morning. The visual effects don’t really show up until the final reel, but they do well enough. I really dug the melting wax looks, so that adds something to the flick.
Highlights
The final set piece is all kinds of fun and, frankly, belongs in a better movie. Also, they kill Paris Hilton. Catharsis achieved.
Lowlights
That does mean that Paris Hilton is in this movie and has lines. This could have been avoided, but no: It’s cash in time.
Final Thoughts
House of Wax does almost nothing to step above the mass of horror remakes out there. What little there is generally falls flat. Still, if you’re desperate to watch teens die, or really have a hard on for wax, I guess this will do.