The Tourist Trap of Wax

 

Cuthbert realizing what she's up against

 This is totally not a remake of the great Vincent Price vehicle back in 1953. And it indeed, as many others have oft-covered, very much similar to "Tourist Trap" (1979), a great little gem that has thankfully been rediscovered the last twenty years. This little town in the middle of nowhere equipped with wax sculptures of really unfortunate motorists happening upon two twins, both of whom are sadistic, psychotic nutjobs. House of Wax (2005) does have a wax museum but it isn't the typical Madame Tussaud's gallery of horrors or a museum dedicated to celebrities and historical figures.

This film is about people in a town as they once were or modeled after characters of a certain type, molten into wax, now adopting the town thanks to Brian Van Holt (in dual roles, one as a "normal" face twin, the other "hideous" face; both are obviously out to lunch). This is quite clever and ingenious, with movie theaters littered with patrons, ticket booth and stand "employees", an old woman peeking out a window (the window opened by a repeating lever), church "goers" attending a "funeral" (the coffin holding Holts' mother), and stores and such with "workers". This has been cultivated and designed by madmen. But the entire town is constructed by what once was, as if frozen in time. The wax museum itself seemingly occupied by those familiar to the Holt twins. What happens to Jared Padalecki is especially ghastly and horrifying...imagine being strapped in, unable to move due to a paralyzing drug, and covered head to toe in wax, a machine just on full blast leaving not one part untouched. You are moved to the infamous house of wax, left at a piano you strummed the keys of temporarily, and left alive (but barely). Add to that a friend stopping in unaware you are still alive until he sees your eyes move, peeling away wax from your face, revealing the viscera and teeth underneath! Just a tear running down to tell us of your agony. This was when he was still a relative unknown, before "Supernatural" and "Friday the 13th" (2009) helped to solidify his status as a horror genre player. Cuthbert, right in the middle of her very yummy youth, has to outwit and avoid the Holt twins (Holt plays both), with Chad Michael Murray, her twin brother, who was established as a bit dysfunctional with a criminal record, helping her against them. 

A lot was made at the time of Paris Hilton's role and demise. It was considered quite popular. Cheers and adulation as the spike goes through her skull. I didn't consider her a nuisance or attraction to the film. She was all over media at the time, notorious for the sex tape, and appearing in all the magazines and publicity. Her boyfriend of the film, Robert Ri'chard, gets a hunting knife to the neck (later pulled out by "disfigured" Holt). Jon Abrahams is the "third wheel" tagalong who gets the sheers to the neck...disfigured Holt pulls Abrahams legs, dragging the body from his head. A cool effect has Abrahams' head turning over with his eyes blinking! The entire house actually made of wax is quite brilliant, and there is even a knife that comes down wax conjoined twins in a crib that is quite symbolic.

There is a lot of surprising special effects in the film. Great gore for those looking for it. Cuthbert is ideal as your heroine with Murray getting some redemption even when he comes to her aid, the two having to fend off the Holt twins. One scene that is definitely painful has Holt gluing Cuthbert's lips shut, even snapping off the top of a finger when she reaches through a sewer grate hoping Murray sees her. The twist regarding a third brother is par for the course. Cuthbert was very easy to follow for 90 minutes. 3.5/5