Waxwork (1988)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Anthony Hickox

Writer:

Anthony Hickox (writer)

Release Date:

17 June 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

Stop On By And Give Afterlife A Try.

Plot:

A wax museum owner uses his horror exhibits to unleash evil on the world.

Plot Keywords:

Wax Museum | Evil | Possession | Rich | Brought Back To Life

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Zach Galligan	...	Mark
Jennifer Bassey	...	Mrs. Loftmore
Joe Baker	...	Jenkins
Deborah Foreman	...	Sarah
Michelle Johnson	...	China
David Warner	...	Waxwork Man
Eric Brown	...	James
Clare Carey	...	Gemma
Buckley Norris	...	Lecturer
Dana Ashbrook	...	Tony
Micah Grant	...	Johnathan
Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros	...	Hans (as Mihaly 'Michu' Mesza)
Jack David Walker	...	Junior (as Jack David Warner)
John Rhys-Davies	...	Werewolf
Nelson Welch	...	Elderly Man

Also Known As:

Reise zurück in der Zeit (West Germany)

Runtime:

95 min | 97 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA | West Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Italy:VM14 | Australia:M | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 (cut)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Vestron Pictures

Trivia:

In the original shooting script, the caged "cobra-man" circus freak was supposed to be a were-beast and the Man in the Iron Mask was supposed to be one of the exhibits.

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the beginning of the movie, James and Gemma chicken out of attending the Waxwork tour with their friends and are not mentioned to the staff inside. However, near the end of the film, the butler Junior calls James and tells him to arrive at the Waxwork with Gemma at midnight to meet their friends Mark and Sarah.

Quotes:

Mark Loftmore: [reading the first bit of the essay he had his maid write for him on 'Dictators'] 'The Trouble with Dictators'. I think dictators are the bad people. They have the shouting voices, and the small moustaches.
[sighs]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lobster Man from Mars (1989)

Soundtrack:

It's My Party

Silly, but not a total waste of time

If you can get through the first half hour of this film, which features bad dialogue and stiff performances, you may just enjoy it.

A small group of spoiled teens (and one nice girl) go into a mysterious wax museum after hours and each succumb to a different, and dangerous, display. John Rhys Davies (long before his now famous "Gimli the Dwarf" days) is here as a tortured, dramatic werewolf. Miles O'Keefe (whom hardcore MST3K fans will have no trouble recognizing) is a hair product dependent Count Dracula, who seduces the rich-bitch of the group into a nasty, bloody, gross-out dinner party. The Nice Girl (Deborah Foreman) is drawn into the S&M world of The Marquis De Sade (as played by the too seldom seen J. Kenneth Campbell) and it is up to the rich boy turned nice guy to save her before she is whipped to death. Once all of the displays are filled, the characters within are unleashed, and it becomes a war within the wax museum as the remaining heroes must now battle the wax monsters and their transformed friends.

All in all, this plays more like a comedy than a horror film, but the violence, when it appears, is so over-the-top that splatter fans won't be too disappointed.

Followed by a pretty good sequel filled with numerous references to classic horror. Worth checking out at least once.