2005 House of Wax

• Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
• Written by Charles Belden, Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes
• Stars Michael Murray, Paris Hilton, Elisha Cuthbert
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 53 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezUtqfB24Cg

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

It’s a remake in name only, of the 1953 original. That said though, this had a good script, actors that knew what to do with it, good direction, and excellent special effects. Plus top notch death scenes. It’s a good one to go into blind if you can. We thought it was very entertaining.

Spoilery Synopsis

It’s 1974, and we watch as someone fills a mask mold with melted wax as their child calmly eats cereal. The other child comes in, and he’s an out-of-control monster who has to be tied and duct-taped to the high chair. That kid ain’t normal. Credits roll. 

In the present day, Carly and Paige talk about starting their internships after their trip, as Wade shows up. Blake finds a shortcut on the GPS for their planned road trip. Nick and Dalton are also going, but no one really wants them to. 

Halfway through the shortcut, there’s a detour, and they all decide to pull over for a nap. Nick is just out of jail, and he blames Carly and Wade for ratting him out. Nick and Carly are twins, and they clearly don’t like each other much. The wind kicks up, and there’s a terrible stench coming from the woods. 

A truck stops nearby, just sitting there with the headlights on high shining at them. Nick throws a bottle at it, smashing one of the headlights. The truck backs up and drives away. After the group goes to sleep, Carly hears someone skulking around outside in the darkness. 

In the morning, they all pack up, but Dalton seems to have lost his camera. When they look to see where that smell is coming from, they find a huge pit full of dead animals and at least one person. The group watches as a roadkill collector dumps carcasses from his truck. The hand in the pile is just part of a mannequin. 

Also, Wade’s car has been sabotaged. Wade and Carly go with the roadkill guy to the gas station for a replacement belt to fix Wade’s car. The driver is creepy, has a big knife, and the window won’t open. It’s tense, but he turns out to be okay. The road’s washed out, so they walk the rest of the way to town. 

Blake, Paige, Dalton, and Nick get stuck in traffic in the big city; they’re gonna miss the big game, so they turn around and head to where Carly is. 

Wade and Carly make it into the little town of Ambrose, but there’s no one on the streets. No one at all. They go into the church, and there’s a funeral in progress. They run into Bo, who runs the gas station. The funeral’s gonna be going on for a while, so they decide to visit the big house of wax they walked past earlier. 

Wade notices that “The House of Wax” is literally covered in wax on the outside. It’s closed, but they go inside anyway. The floor and walls are made of wax, as well as almost everything else. The place is dusty and old, but it’s got lots of cool things to see. Carly gets skeeved out, and they go back to the gas station. Carly tells Wade about her being the good twin while Nick was the “vile one.” 

Bo returns and invites them to his house to pick up the fan belt. Bo talks about Trudy, who used to be the main artist there. Vincent was Trudy’s son. Dr. Sinclair was Trudy’s husband, a doctor who did bad things. She went crazy, Sinclair killed himself, and their two sons went to foster homes. 

Wade soon comes to the conclusion that Bo is one of Trudy’s sons, just before the power goes out and someone attacks him. Bo chases Carly around outside, and she runs back toward town. In the center of town, all the lights come on and there are city noises, but nothing at all is moving. 

Vincent drags Wade into his workroom and starts cleaning him up and sewing the hole shut, and waxing all his hair off. Wade is put into a “wax shower” that coats him completely. 

Carly runs back to the church and sees that all the parishioners are wax figures, the priest included. It’s Trudy Sinclair’s funeral, and it appears to have been going on for a long time. Bo comes in to talk to his Momma and looks around for Carly, and soon catches her. He straps her to a chair and superglues her mouth shut. 

Nick and Dalton arrive in town. Carly yells after getting her lips apart, and Nick comes downstairs and releases her; he knows about Bo now. Dalton goes to the wax museum and finds the very immobilized, yet still alive, Wade. There’s not much skin left under the wax. Vincent shows up and chases Dalton toward the basement workroom before beheading him. 

Carly and Nick go to the only house in town that shows any sign of life, but that’s just an animatronic wax figure. 

Meanwhile, Paige and Blake have sex in their tent out in the woods. Blake stops to check his phone messages and hears bad news from Carly. Vincent shows up and kills Blake, but Paige runs and hides, but not long enough, so he gets her as well. 

Nick and Carly run to the movie theater, which is showing “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.” Inside, they turn the tables and finally kill Bo.  Wade and Dalton had the car keys, so the pair decide they have to go back inside the house of wax to find them. 

Carly finds a news clipping talking about how Bo and Vincent were Siamese Twins joined at the head. Dr. Sinclair separated them. Vincent only had a half face. And Bo was the violent one. We cut to Bo, not as dead as he appeared. Outside, Vincent drives up with Blake and Paige’s bodies in the back of the truck. 

Bo and Vincent talk – well, Bo talks – and they’re clearly in on the plot together. 

Nick finds Dalton in the wax machine and pulls his reconnected head off by accident. Vincent shows up, and the three fight as the wax-cooking fire flares up. The fire gets out of control, and since the whole building is made of wax, it starts melting. Carly beats Bo to death with a baseball bat for real this time, and Vincent starts to chase them, but the whole place is falling down around them. After a battle, Vincent is killed too. 

Bo and Vincent fall through the floor into the burning basement, and Nick and Carly have to claw their way through the walls as the whole place oozes down around them. 

In the morning, the police arrive, and there are wax-covered bodies all over town, so no one doubts the story. The sheriff explains that the town has been deserted for ten years, and most people forgot the place even existed. 

We hear over the sheriff’s radio that the Sinclairs didn’t have two sons, they had three. On the way out of town, Carly notices the weird roadkill guy waving to them on the way out. 

Brian’s Commentary

“Town of Wax” would be more accurate. This is almost nothing like the original from 1953. 

The melting building was really well done, but where would anyone have gotten that much wax? The acting was fine, the characters were distinctive, and it didn’t get boring. The whole idea is a little hard to believe, but overall, it was a fun movie

Kevin’s Commentary

I really enjoyed this one, it was actually the third time I’ve seen it. Even knowing the twists, it’s a fun movie. The whole package – script, cast, effects, direction, all work for me.