I saw the remake version starring Elisha Cuthbert and Paris Hilton before this original version, I was certainly keen to see how it would compare (from what I remember of the other), and being a fan of the leading actor. Basically Professor Henry Jarrod (Vincent Price) a an artist devoted to creating lifelike wax figure sculptures of historical figures in famous scenes, including John Wilkes Booth assassinating Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc burning at the stake, and his most beloved Marie Antoinette. Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts), his business partner, suggests a waxwork chamber of horrors should be created to draw in more visitors and get a return on his investment, but Jarrod refuses, so Burke goes mad and sets the place on fire, this would mean he could collect the insurance, all the beautiful works are destroyed and Jarrod is trapped inside when it explodes. Eighteen years later Jarrod unexpectedly reappears, opening a new waxworks exhibit, the House of Wax, where with the help of his deaf and mute assistant Igor (Charles Buchinsky, better known as Charles Bronson) he has recreated most of his former figures, but he has concentrated much more on macabre. The museum includes the popular "Chamber of Horrors", which displays many notable crimes of history, including more recent ones, such as the death of his former business partner Burke, who was found hanged, this was done by a hideous cloaked and facially disfigured killer. Burke's fiancée Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones) is also murdered, and when her friend Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) visits the House of Wax she is intrigued by how realistic all the figures look, but also some of their faces may seem familiar, including Joan of Arc who looks exactly like Cathy, the Professor says he just borrowed her likeness from the newspaper report photograph, and he is yet to find the face of his beloved Marie Antoinette. Jarrod finds Sue Allen beautiful with the perfect face for Marie Antoinette, he asks her if she could pose, she agrees, but later wandering further into the museum she discovers the horrifying truth, all the waxworks are real bodies coated in wax, and Jarrod is the disfigured murderer who suffered severe burns those many months ago, but in the end he is defeated falling into the vat of scolding wax. Also starring Frank Lovejoy as Lt. Tom Brennan, Paul Picerni as Scott Andrews, Angela Clarke as Mrs. Andrews, Paul Cavanagh as Sidney Wallace and Dabbs Greer as Sgt. Jim Shane. Price is great being charming, but of course he is even better being secretly evil and looking hideous under the dark get-up, and then little known Bronson is creepy as the silent servant, it is an engaging scary story about revenge and madness, the Gothic feel is great, and without the gimmick used you can recognise things popping out at the you for the 3D version (which made a lot of money at the time), a fantastic period horror film. Very good!
Review of House of Wax
