Amazon.co.uk Review
You know the one about the group of horny kids who get offed one by one? Yeah, so do director Jaume Collet-Serra and his screenwriters, who have updated an old Vincent Price flick and sandwiched it between hearty slices of The Blair Witch Project and various Friday the 13th films. Lots of WB and Fox network hotties--including 24's Elisha Cuthbert, One Tree Hill's Chad Michael Murray, and, well, Paris Hilton--have car trouble and stumble onto a town populated by real killer personalities. The R-rated result is fairly gruesome and, though no one ever quite looks frightened enough, Collet-Serra knows his way around a jolting suspense sequence or two. Cuthbert and an unintentionally funny Murray (striking ludicrous poses as some kind of real toughie) act more like angry ex-lovers than the fraternal twins they're supposed to be; Hilton acts bored while her real-life video scandal is exploited for ironic kicks; and the film heads shamelessly over-the-top with each new twist. As an exercise in bloody mayhem, it has a few novel touches, but you can easily find better scares. --Steve Wiecking, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
House of Wax- Comments.......2008-01-05
Very disappointed with this.
The characters were dull and one-dimensional, the story was plain daft, and violence and gore was used to mask what is a poor film. Totally forgettable.
Alot better than i thought.......2007-09-11
I really didnt know whether to bother with this,but i`m glad i did.
I really enjoyed it,good storyline,Paris Hilton getting the axe!!
Great entertainment,excellent story!!!!
Hilarious.......2007-08-13
If I were you I wold consider renting it (buying it is toodrastic) just for the mere few seconds when the axe makes contact with Paris Hiltons skull.
Cheap film.......2007-08-10
I had recently discovered the first production of this film had been given five stars. However I discovered on here people have given it three stars or less, I have to say I agree with you and would have been better off watching the original.
It's really a typical storyline, there's nothing new in the sense of plot. Just a group of stupid, drugged up American teenagers who all make the same old mistake and camp out in the woods, therefore they are in the killer's trap so they can't have much brain.
The whole wax thing is literally discusting as it was probably intended to be. But it all just seemed ridiculous and downright funny. The acting left a lot to be desired. Especially Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray and our favourite Paris Hilton who obviously doesn't know the first thing about acting. Put that together with the sheer stupidity of the characters and their situations and you find yourself saying that prehaps they all deserved what they got..ha ha...that does sound evil but it's true.
You're better off with the original, more fresher, better acting and less prettier people, less drug taking and less sex.
NOT AS BAD AS I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE.......2007-08-06
Driving to a concert, Carly Jones, (Elisha Cuthbert) her brother Nick, (Chad Michael Murray) and their friends Paige, (Paris Hilton) Wade, (Jared Padalecki) Dalton, (Jon Abrahams) and Blake, (Robert Ri'chard) stop off along the way to a football game. When the car gets broken down and needs repair, several leave to a nearby town for help. They stumble upon a wax museum, but before they acquire the necessary parts for their car, they are attacked by a crazed psycho who begins collecting the bodies of the friends. As more of the group gets picked off, the remaining members discover the terrible secret about the town and struggle to make it out alive.
The Good News: For all the remake fuss, this one wasn't that bad. The most impressive part of this was that the set design was stunning. Everything was said to have been made out of wax, and it actually looks like it. The walls, floors, furniture, and everything else found in the wax museum was made out of wax, which results in one of the most unsettling and unnerving sets ever made. It is played to it's effective best during the opening walk-through, where the unknowing of it makes for some great atmosphere. There are plenty of other creepy moments during this, including the usual mirror gag jump that actually works, but the brilliant design of the museum is the best part. Close to that is the spectacular conclusion, where the final battle between the good and evil forces is played out inside the burning museum. It's a grand piece of spectacle, with the lots of brutal fighting amongst a fire burning the museum down. It's long and accurate in it's depiction of what goes down, making it an action-packed set-piece that ends the film with a big bang. It was also more brutal in dealing with the characters than what was to be expected, as there's a lot more torture in here than what would be expected. The same character is thrown against a wall of tools and gets tied up, their lips glued shut and more, which is just one character. This film treats them brutally, with the kills being just as brutal. There's a tendon slicing with scissors, a brutal decapitation with garden shears that was actually filmed like it was just an impaling before it zooms out to show it's not, and a vicious pole through the head that demands to be repeated, only for features that won't be repeated here. The fact that they also show the construction of the wax sculptures being shown adds to the brutality on display. The chase scenes are nicely handled and actually demonstrate that there was some suspense present in the film. The movie theater chase was the best, utilizing the surrounding area well into the chase and giving some potential for the ruse to work or fail. One of the better sequences in a pretty good film.
The Bad News: As much as there was right about it, there's enough wrong with it. The biggest one is the pacing. It's really off. There didn't need to be almost an hour of exposition before the slashing began. A lot of that could've been easily trimmed and taken out. It really has lots of scenes of just wandering around looking for nothing, and just gets us bored and antsy as to when it's going to get going. Admitted, it does get going and it's great when it does, but the journey to get there is a long one. Also, even though it leads to positive in some great chases, the characters here perform some very monumentally dumb moves that no one should ever do in a horror film. Splitting up, investigating dark areas, going off on tangents when escaping would be better suited and in general really dumb actions are taken, and that can be taken the wrong way. With these two main issues aside, it would still have to contend with a slew of plot holes and other easily spotted mistakes which are quite crucial and won't be given away, so it's not a flawless film but there certainly several things wrong with it.
The Final Verdict: I wasn't expecting to like it as much a as I did, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's problems. Not up to the classic original, but still very worthwhile and a decent update. There's enough good to recommend giving it a shot at the very least.
Amazon.co.uk Review
You know the one about the group of horny kids who get offed one by one? Yeah, so do director Jaume Collet-Serra and his screenwriters, who have updated an old Vincent Price flick and sandwiched it between hearty slices of The Blair Witch Project and various Friday the 13th films. Lots of Warner and Fox network hotties--including 24's Elisha Cuthbert, One Tree Hill's Chad Michael Murray, and, well, Paris Hilton--have car trouble and stumble onto a town populated by real killer personalities. The result is fairly gruesome and, though no one ever quite looks frightened enough, Collet-Serra knows his way around a jolting suspense sequence or two. Cuthbert and an unintentionally funny Murray (striking ludicrous poses as some kind of real toughie) act more like angry ex-lovers than the fraternal twins they're supposed to be; Hilton acts bored while her real-life video scandal is exploited for ironic kicks; and the film heads shamelessly over-the-top with each new twist. As an exercise in bloody mayhem, it has a few novel touches, but don't expect to be too petrified. --Steve Wiecking
UK DVD:
- House On Haunted Hill [2000]
- Jeepers Creepers [2001]
- Jeepers Creepers 2 [2003]
- Land of the Dead (2005)
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein [1994]
- Masters Of Horror - Series 2 Vol 2 [2006]
- Nightbreed [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Pan's Labyrinth [2006]
- Paradise Lost [2007]
- Phantasm Sphere : The Complete Collection
UK DVD List
UK DVD
![House Of Wax [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21ZJ8978XXL.jpg)
All Horror
|
Horror
|
Categories
|
DVD
|
Video
![The Amityville Horror [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000AND8L0.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
The Amityville Horror [2005]
![Boogeyman [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0009KKWGI.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Boogeyman [2005]
The Skeleton Key
![Cry Wolf Uncut [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000CBEX00.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Cry Wolf Uncut [2005]
![Cabin Fever [2003]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00019HOR2.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Cabin Fever [2003]
![House Of Wax [2005]](http://www.bill88.com/buy.gif)
![House of Wax [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/214V54DK6XL.jpg)
![Hatchet [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000WC389G.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![The Dukes of Hazzard [HD DVD] [2005] [US Import]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000E5KJGG.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Resident Evil: Apocalypse [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0767834739.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Four Brothers [Blu-ray] [2005] [US Import]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000I0QLZK.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![House Of Wax [Blu-ray] [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21W54Y6G6RL.jpg)
![The Exorcism Of Emily Rose [Blu-ray] [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000IFS090.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![The Island [Blu-ray] [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000RJEHK8.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Closer [Blu-ray] [2004]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000PI3UYK.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Gothika [Blu-ray] [2003]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000PI3V0I.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Vacancy [Blu-ray] [2007]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000SNUQV2.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![House of Wax [Blu-ray] [2005] [US Import]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21WM61EY9HL.jpg)
![House of Wax [HD DVD] [2005] [US Import]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21AepVN-6EL.jpg)
![House Of Wax [HD DVD] [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/317oxv%2BorSL.jpg)
![Rumour Has It [HD DVD] [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000K0YPMO.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![The Skeleton Key [HD DVD] [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000W668OY.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Superman 2 [HD DVD] [1980]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000KCI8X4.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Doom [HD DVD] [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000J3CSOO.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Space Cowboys [HD DVD] [2000]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000KCI8WK.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Passion's Obsession/The Exotic House of Wax/Veronica 2030/Andromina: The Pleasure Planet [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21YGHC2N0PL.jpg)
![House of Wax [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/213e5IMSPaL.jpg)