House of Wax (2005)

 

 

 The 2000's was a decade drowning in horror remakes, with at least a pair of them or more releasing every year or so. While there were obvious horror gems such as 'High Tension' and 'Martyrs', the mainstream audience was subjected to recycled material and little else. It's no wonder then that 2005's 'House of Wax', which is based on the 1953 Vincent Price film which coincidentally was also a remake, pretty much came and went with little to no fanfare and mostly negative reviews from fans and critics.

So how does it hold up watching it in 2020? Well, it's definitely a product of its time with slick overly stylized look and using whatever WB actors were available at the time hamming it up but I will say that this second time around, I enjoyed myself a lot more. The film really is a remake in name only and has been often seen as more of a remake of 1979's 'Tourist Trap' with many story elements and even some set pieces and kills mimicking it. The one thing this film has over those is some decent gore effects that are pretty graphic and sometimes mean spirited for a studio horror film and of course you have the infamous Paris Hilton kill but it also utilizes some pretty dated CGI at times, mainly the killer's face which is off putting.

But what is here is still impressive, especially considering the film's fiery conclusion was utilizing a real set with very little CG (and unfortunately caused a bad fire on the Warner lot) and it's a great ending overall. I also enjoyed the story and background given to the killer who ironically has more depth and backstory than the teens who are by far the worst aspect. For most of the remakes of the time, the casts were always the weaker aspect and 'House of Wax' is no different. They're all unlikeable, act poorly, and do stupid things even for horror movie standards.

So at the end of the day, should you give the film another chance? I think so. If you are a fan of slasher movies this one has the goods and is one of the better looking horror films of the time. The film's actors can annoy but overall this is a perfectly decent horror remake with good kills and production value.

C+

(Watch House of Wax on Amazon)