Maybe we’re all just clamoring for a more direct comparison because House of Wax (2005) is technically billed as a “remake,” so if it’s not House of Wax (1953), there *has* to be an “origin” elsewhere. Upon careful back-to-back-to-back consideration, I’d state that House of Wax (2005) equally hybridizes House of Wax (1953) and Tourist Trap. The same method of spraying bodies in a wax recipe that adheres to victim flesh is shared by Henry and Bo’s deformed brother Vincent (a direct namesake nod), one in a dungeon laboratory (transforming corpses), the other showcasing the 2000s aesthetic of rusted pipes and grimy deviant hideouts (subjects can stay alive). Collet-Serra rearranges elements like ending his House of Wax with the museum inferno that’s alternatively Professor Henry Jarrod’s (Vincent Price) motivation to become a serial killer. I’ll admit Collet-Serra conceptually favors Tourist Trap the way Carly’s crew stumbles upon the remote attraction, how Bo is the friendly owner with a dark side, the subplot about brothers - although I also believe we’re quick to write off the original’s influence. Wade trespasses into a wax museum while waiting for Bo’s assistance, the first in a series of events that reveal the uncharted town’s deepest secret caked in candle residue.īy watching House of Wax (1953), House of Wax (2005), and Tourist Trap as a triple bill in the same afternoon, I’m on the fence about which bookend shares a stronger tether to the remake. Carly and Wade end up in a small town called Ambrose for replacement parts, but it’s dead silent outside of mechanic garage owner Bo ( Brian Van Holt). The next day, Carly’s boyfriend Wade ( Jared Padalecki) finds his muscle car’s fan belt broken, which puts a halt on further travel. Blake’s ( Robert Ri’chard) GPS navigation leads to a failed shortcut and overnight camping, where a local peeper gets his headlight busted by Nick’s aggression. His House of Wax is pitch black, mucky, and through-and-through an aughts slasher menace.Ĭarly Jones ( Elisha Cuthbert) and brother Nick ( Chad Michael Murray) are two in a crew driving to some high-profile college football game. Collet-Serra isn’t playing into an artist’s obsessive showmanship or fiddling with bright marquee lights. It’s clear that Jaume Collet-Serra adores both House of Wax (1953) and Tourist Trap - maybe the latter a tad more - but it’s hard to gauge his House of Wax as a remake. Hayes make their feature screenplay debut before The Conjuring fame, laying the foundation for a wax museum thriller that becomes the slasher antithesis to Andre DeToth’s mysterious parlor tricks. There’s little connective tissue between 1953’s House of Wax and 2005’s House of Wax outside sculptures and murders. If there’s any justice, Malignant will prove to studios how much horror fans miss the extravagance and full-send attitude of those wrongfully bashed 2000s genre releases like House of Wax. It’s right there alongside House on Haunted Hill (1999) and Thir13en Ghosts (2001) as over-the-top horror with sizable budgets that push all-in on atmosphere, this one through the representation of melty, gooey details that Collet-Serra insisted remain as practical as possible. Audiences snubbed House of Wax at the box office with a $12m premiere, although $70m worldwide sounds better after an additional $42m in VHS/DVD rentals. I digress because we’re here to honor another misunderstood aughts horror standout from Dark Castle Entertainment. By those standards, wouldn’t 1988’s Waxwork be a more fitting remake by association to DeToth’s Old Hollywood creepshow given wax vats and deceased display figures? It’s supposedly based on Andre DeToth‘s 1953 thriller of the same name, itself a remake of 1933’s Mystery of the Wax Museum - but you couldn’t tell based on watches alone.Ĭollet-Serra admits in Fangoria Magazine that his House of Wax is essentially a remake of 1979’s Tourist Trap by “everything but name” - studio heads chose to capitalize on “House of Wax” nostalgia - abandoning Vincent Price’s betrayed sculptor and Grand Guignol theatrics. Jaume Collet-Serra‘s 2005 House of Wax remake is a mashup of influences and intentions.
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