Yet with the face of Marie Antoinette, her time too may be running out. While mystery shrouds the true origin of these wax statues, Sue Allen ( Phyllis Kirk) begins to question her own sanity, haunted by the image of the scarred man and the similarities within the museum.
PHYLLIS KIRK HOUSE OF WAX SERIES
As the building explodes, the gas lights fueling the flames, Jarrod and his museum seem all but lost.įast forwarding, viewers are reintroduced to Burke, now accompanied by his date Cathy ( Carolyn Jones, best known as Morticia Addams in the 1964 TV series The Addams Family), each meeting their untimely deaths at the hands of a grotesquely scarred man, their resemblances eerily residing in the new Wax Museum. Horror hits Jarrod at the thought of losing his precious pieces of art, especially his pièce de résistance Marie Antoinette and he fights off Burke, at first getting the upper hand, but in the end overpowered and left to die in the engulfing flames of destruction and greed. Refusing to wait as new prospects lie on the immediate horizon, Burke proposes he and Jarrod burn the place down to collect the insurance money. While Sidney Wallace ( Paul Cavanagh) seems keen to invest, he can not make any decisions until he returns from his trip to Egypt in three months. Jarrod reassures him he may be able to settle their accounts tonight, as a new hopeful investor is set to come to the museum that very evening.
As Professor Henry Jarrod ( Price) works in his shop, his business partner Matthew Burke ( Roy Roberts) arrives with a fury of ideas on how they can increase the Museum’s revenue – all with the intention of reclaiming his investment for another venture. And the film keeps the promise and delivers. Coupled with opening credits dripping with wax in sharp yellows, oranges, and reds, viewers are made effectively aware they will not have to wait long for the action to begin. House of Wax opens with Buttolph‘s loud and dramatic score filling your ears, tension immediately laid and insinuated. What does not stand the test of time, however, is its perspective of women and the female form, an expected criticism of intelligence and independence coupled with a surprising amount of brutality towards women in the background, a predecessor to the brutality that becomes front and center in the decades to come. I would be lying if I said I was not impressed. Looking at the film now, generations separated from its release, it still holds up, maintaining an impressive tension through Price‘s undeniable performance, David Buttolph‘s dramatic and urgent score, and Gordon Bau‘s impressive makeup success.
PHYLLIS KIRK HOUSE OF WAX SERIAL
Originally released in 1933 as The Mystery of the Wax Museum, fronted by Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray (and following a decade of films released in the 1920s that dealt with disfigurement), 1953 would see André De Toth and Vincent Price resurrecting the tale of the doomed sculpture turned serial killer, his permanent disfigurement leading him to pursue other means of achieving his art.
While my current experience with the film would undeniably be different from those who witnessed its induction in cinemas – its Technicolor and 3-D filming heightening the horror of the time – House of Wax is a film in horror history that, while experiencing varying success with each of its three inductions, can not be overlooked. While there is an unrelenting supply of films that Price had fronted, it was House of Wax that called for my attention, vying for rebirth and recognition 68 years after its release. Join us as we dive deep into the heart of horror, but warning, there will be spoilers.įor January’s second pick of the month, I felt a driving desire to satisfy a long overdue watch, one whose leading star has been synonymous with horror for over 60 years – the indomitable Vincent Price. And occasionally looking at those that could have pushed the envelope further. Twice a month, I will be tackling all things horror, each month bringing two films back into the spotlight to terrify and frighten once more. Welcome back to the newest, and at times goriest, column here at Film Inquiry – Horrific Inquiry.
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