Fuel the Fear

Written By: Gaius Bolling

Release Date: May 5th, 2005

I get a lot of crap for this but I actually liked the 2005 remake of "House of Wax". I know it's some kind of cardinal sin since the original "House of Wax" starring Vincent Price is a bit of a horror classic. There are probably many reasons to hate this film off the bat (it's a remake, it stars young actors from the CW network, and it also stars Paris Hilton). on paper this all sounds bad but for myself I found the perfect reason to enjoy "House of Wax".

"House of Wax" is made as a throwback to slasher films of the 80's. I'm not sure if this is the intention but it's certainly the result. All the ingredients are in place (sexy teens trapped in the middle of nowhere, the responsible female heroine, the overtly sexual blonde best friend, the tough guy, the passive boyfriend, the annoying comic relief and of course the black guy). All of these stereotypes plagued 80's slasher films, particularly the "Friday the 13th" franchise and even though those films are extremely brain dead, they're still incredibly fun to watch. There are too many stereotypes of the genre at play here for the filmmakers to have not known what they were doing and maybe I'm making them smarter than they actually are but "House of Wax" scores points with me for all the 80's nostalgia it represents.

The film borrows its title and general premise (real people forming the foundation for waxwork dummies) from a 1953 Vincent Price movie. Other than those similarities, however, this is a different movie, and should not be considered a remake. The story starts with a familiar device: a group of twentysomething friends are on a trip when they become lost and are forced to camp for the night in a secluded spot. In the group are twins Carly and Nick Jones (Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray); Carly's best friend, Paige (Paris Hilton), and Paige's boyfriend, Blake (Robert Ri'chard); Carly's beau, Wade (Jared Padalecki); and serial killer bait by the name of Dalton (Jon Abrahams). The next day, Carly and Wade stumble upon an old wax museum in a seemingly abandoned town. They meet a "helpful" resident, Bo (Brian Van Holt), whose pleasant demeanor hides a nasty secret. And, as people start dying, the number of exhibits in the wax museum increase.

"House of Wax" could've gone for the typical PG-13 experience since most of the cast is adored by the teen demographic and generic slasher films are an easy sell to teens but there is something that should be said about the films choice to go for the hard R. The film is particularly gruesome once it gets going and doesn't shy away from the gore factor much like the 80's slasher fare that came before it. Slasher films are known for the female in peril chase scenes and there are a few of those here to entertain (the most entertaining one involving Paris Hilton which I'll talk more about later) and the victims are taken out in rather unique ways. A characters lips are nearly ripped off after being glued shut and someone gets their finger clipped off in a rather gruesome fashion. The most effective gore moment has a character trying to free their friend from the wax they have been incased in and by doing so, ends up ripping the person's flesh off. It revels in all of this torture but it does so with a sense of fun.

The cast consist of young 20 somethings who have success in their own right within the teen market. Elisha Cuthbert is the exception since she got her start on "24" but she has mostly followed that up with teen friendly fare. She's actually pretty good here and she manages to make her character stronger than she probably was in the script. Chad Michael Murray plays sullen and anti-social pretty well which is all that is asked of him. My only issue about the sibling pairing of Cuthbert and Murray is that they don't really come off as related. In fact they bicker more like a couple which has made for a lot of jokes and funny moments between my friends and I whenever we watch the film. Perhaps they have a different idea of the brother and sister dynamic.

Jared Padalecki plays the naive boyfriend well but it's funny to see Cuthbert pretty much overpower him in all their scenes together. To say this guy lacks a backbone would be an understatement. Jon Abrahams is stuck with the thankless role of comic relief so you can all probably guess his fate. Then there is Paris Hilton. Her casting caused a lot of scratching heads when this was released but I think her inclusion is absolutely brilliant. First of all the character she's playing, and the persona she gives off in real life, is really the personification of the 80's blonde girl in peril who usually met an ugly demise in slasher films. From the moment she's introduced in the film you're basically waiting for the moment when she'll be killed off and you're just hoping the money shot is well worth the wait. Needless to say, Hilton's final scenes is highly entertaining and when I saw this in the theater the whole crowd erupted with laughter, cheers, and screams. It was the reaction I'm sure the filmmakers were going for so I think putting Paris Hilton in this film was a huge benefit for them.

The film boast pretty strong production values for slasher film. The climax, which results in the "House of Wax" engulfing in flames is a huge technical achievement and it manages to look like very few visual effects were used. The conclusion may be a bit too "big" for this kind of film but there is no denying that it's technically well done.

I come down a bit on cliches used in horror films but "House of Wax" seems to use some of them to its advantage. Some stupidity on the part of the characters is fun - we can smirk at the director's use of familiar clichés which recalls many of the ones we've come greatly associated with from the slasher films of the past. This film may be trash but much like its slasher brethren it's fun trash. Also, as remakes go it manages to be better than most because it doesn't just copy the original shot for shot. It tries to tell its own story and in doing that, it doesn't tarnish the image of the original film. What we have here is a 1980 film wrapped up in a fresh new package and on that level, it works well.

Trivia:

On 26 June 2004, a sound stage being used for the film burned to the ground during a test of special-effects equipment. The fire, started by a candle, destroyed a studio at Warner Bros Movie World on Australia's Gold Coast. One crew member was treated for burns to his arm, but no one else was injured. The smoke reached a nearby highway, which was not shut down.
Before Paris Hilton was cast as Paige Edwards, Jennifer Connelly and Kate Winslet were originally considered for the role. The rest of the cast was built around her.
Throughout the movie, several characters can be heard saying Paris Hilton's (Paige) "That's hot" catch phrase.
The main villain's name is Vincent, a reference to Vincent Price who starred in the original House of Wax (1953).
Although Chad Michael Murray's character and his sister are listed to have the last name "Jones", no actual last name was given for them. Chad, in a radio interview, was shocked to hear his character finally had a last name, and said that it was an ongoing debate on set.
Jared Padalecki is one foot taller than co-star Elisha Cuthbert. To make herself appear taller in scenes where she and Padalecki would be filmed together, Cuthbert taped two-inch blocks of wood to the bottoms of her boots. This was only done during scenes where they would be shot from the knee and up.
While filming the abandoned sugar mill chase, Paris Hilton was embarrassed by her scream, so the first three times she screamed she had the whole cast and crew scream along with her.
In the movie theatre where Carly and Nick are hiding, most of the wax figures were actually extras wearing masks.
Elisha Cuthbert got stuck repeatedly in the melting wax bed while filming the final scenes of the movie. The "wax" was actually peanut butter.
Warner Brothers granted Paris Hilton permission to sell t-shirts that read "On May 6th, Watch Paris Die" in order to promote the film before its release.

The death of Paris Hilton's character was originally longer and featured more gore but it was cut for the theatrical release

In her film debut, Hilton won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress.

Despite what appeared to be a sub par box office performance, House of Wax actually turned quite a profit. Opening in 3,111 theaters, the movie grossed $12 million in its first three days. Though most critics were not impressed, House of Wax earned $68,766,121 worldwide. 46.6% of that total came from domestic receipts. House of Wax also earned $42,000,000 in VHS/DVD rentals

Review: House of Wax (2005)