Best movie of this year hands down!

Please don't spend money on this.

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

House of Wax (1953) probably wouldn't be as remembered or liked as well if it wasn't for Vincent Price, the man helps to make a good movie a great one, and makes a bad movie watchable, fortunately, this film would have worked just fine without him, he just elevates the film.Vincent Price delivers a great performance, his characters are often tragic figures tormented by their past and looking for revenge. We have seen stories like this before but Vincent just nails these kind of roles, he makes them work every time.I will say that all the other actors were also good, the effects were good, the music was nice, the direction is serviceable, its all around a pretty decent movie. However, I do find the plot to be uninteresting, I guess is just because I have seen this kind of movie before, I liked the original film also and even then it felt somewhat predictable and tiresome.But don't let that discourage you from seeing this film, that's just how I find this kind of stories to be, even when they are as well executed as in this movie. Its well made, influential and entertaining, a classic.

I had a brief 'huh?' moment when that carnival barker (Reggie Rymal) showed up for the opening of the House of Wax Museum. It was only after I read a few of the reviews here that I learned this was originally a 3D film and those paddle ball blasts would have been a real highlight for movie goers of the era. Otherwise the guy's appearance was almost as out of place as that 'Intermission' sequence that might have lasted about ten seconds, requiring one to actually hit the pause button to get a cup of coffee.It's been a while since I've seen Lionel Atwill in the 1933 version of this film, "Mystery of the Wax Museum". Both share a similar story line and choosing the better of the two is probably a matter of personal preference. I like both Atwill and Vincent Price so for me it's a toss up. However Price's first appearance in the picture as the figure in black was almost comical to me, limping along like some deranged Zorro. He even had two accomplices dressed exactly the same way when he stole the body of Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones) from the city morgue.I guess it's no big thing, but if you're paying attention you probably question as I did how the crippled Jarrod wasn't able to stay in character with his disability as time went on. When he made Matthew Burke his first victim and went chasing Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) through the city streets at night he was hobbling along with his deformed foot at an awkward angle, but by the time he's fighting off the cops at the finale, he's running up stairs with the agility of an athlete.The biggest surprise for me in this picture was seeing Charles Bronson show up as Henry Jarrod's (Price) assistant at the wax museum. He was still using his real name Buchinsky at the time but depending on the movie or TV credit, it was spelled differently, making me wonder if that was intended or just a matter of getting his name spelled wrong by film makers. Some of his credits even list him as 'Chas' as his name showed up in the credits for a Roy Rogers TV episode back in the Fifties.Well aside from all that, Vincent Price fans ought to have a pretty good time with this one. This was the film that launched his eventual status as a horror film icon, making me an instant fan as a kid with the likes of "The Fly" and "House on Haunted Hill" in the late Fifties. He had that great voice and terrific presence as an actor, ranking him right up there with the other greats like Karloff and Chaney.

The premise for House of Wax was interesting; if only it wasn't so bloated with visuals thrown in primarily to get in our face since it was released in 3-D. It's awesome that this was one of the earliest movies to be released in 3-D, but it reminded me of what I dislike about 3-D in this day and age.At the core of this film is somewhat of a "mystery," which focuses on the question who is the man with the disfigured face murdering people all over town. Any audience member would think it has to be the wax sculptor who is trapped in a burning museum at the beginning of the film - and they would be right.There's the spoiler in this review, but what I dislike about it is that it is really not much of a spoiler at all. We have a murderer running loose, setting up situations that are later redesigned at a wax museum by the main character who just so happens to return, only injured at the legs as far as we can tell. How many people around have a motivation for these murders? That's right, one.Even worse than this is the idea that visuals including a paddle ball, dancers putting their rears to the camera, and a fist punching above a face at us tries to get us focused on the 3-D, and has little relevance to making a good story. Also, it throws off its fast pace when there is an intermission to his 90 minute film due to the fact it was filmed with 3-D cameras.I don't much like this film, but it somewhat redeems itself for themes such as spectator-ship - the sculptor is obsessed with various women he recreates and marvels at their beauty - along with the motif of art vs reality - a friend of one of the murdered victims swears that the Joan of Arc sculptor must be that victim; it is too similar not to be.

House of Wax is a remake of The Mystery of the Wax Museum. It is directed by Andre de Toth in the 3-D process. Technical gimmicks aside, this production is more reverential to the original source material. For instance, great pains have been taken to explain the main character's background; and though his motivation is not completely spelled out, the relationship he has with the imperiled women is much clearer. Vincent Price seems right at home playing this sort of part. So with such perfect casting (including not only Price but Carolyn Jones) and de Toth's assured direction, this is a decent enough version to watch.