Horror films are like comedies. If you have a comedy, and you laugh a lot, the film works. With a horror film it's the same. If you're scared a lot, then the film worked. House of Wax scared me a lot, so therefore, I must have liked it. Don't get me wrong. This film isn't anything special and by no means is it not without loads of clichés and problems and stupid teenagers. But it is scary, entertaining, gory, and fun.
I barely remember the original Vincent Price film. I think I saw it when I was 5 or 6 years old on TV. This film has a group of teenagers, one of them being Paris Hilton, on their way to a football game and stops at roadside to camp for the night. The next day they realize that their car has been tampered with and naturally they do everything stupid to try and get it fixed including trusting every creep that tries to help them. They separate and end up in a town that looks like something out of a Twilight Zone episode which includes a house made out of wax. There is a legend behind this town that involves some wax sculptress and her freaky twin boys. Are they still lurking around? You just know that all our teens will find out.
House of Wax has a real creepiness to it. The actors, which many of them are from The WB network and the other from Fox, seems to fit right into this genre. I like these kind of films if done well, and this one is done pretty well. I was scared a lot and if I'm watching a horror film, that's OK with me and therefore i'm recommending the movie despite all it's clichés you've probably seen 100 times before. (**1/2)
