User reviews

Terror in the Wax museum tells the story of a museum curator who is murdered and the mystery surrounding it. Did the Jack the Ripper exhibit come to life and kill or is someone with something to gain to blame?

This quirky little murder mystery is more that than a horror, relatively well made as a whole and comes with competent cast and a passable story.

The trouble is by about the half way mark my interest waned, the story had veered off and the grip the film had over me loosened.

This isn't bad but it comes off more like a Hammer Horror than perhaps intended and the mystery and "Whodunit" simply wasn't very engaging.

Nice ideas, poor execution.

The Good:

Decent enough premise

The Bad:

Trails off

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

It doesn't take much for a woman to faint

The basic premise is not far removed from the many remakes of the classic "Mystery of the Wax Museum"...there are some gruesome murders at a famous house of wax featuring the likenesses of such infamous characters as Jack The Ripper, Lizzie Borden, Bluebeard the Pirate, Marie Antoinette, and Ivan the Terrible. Who's responsible? Who's next? Who's real? Who's wax?

With a distinguished cast of great actors from Hollywood's Golden Years, this would be a great find for real movie buffs who don't mind a good scare. One scene standing out in particular is one where a woman of ill-repute is stalked by Jack the Ripper. I last saw it 20 years ago, and still get the chills.

A mystery slasher is stalking a famous wax museum. Who is the culprit? Who will survive the terror? This is a pleasant and painless way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon, but don't expect too much. Be warned, it is very hard to find on video.

John Carradine doesn't last long as Claude Dupree, owner of "Dupree's Wax Museum" in turn-of-the century London, who wears coke-bottle glasses and coaches deformed hunchback half-wit Karkov in the art of wax dummy production. Carradine plots to sell his business to Amos Burns (Broderick Crawford), dreams his creations come to life and kill him, wakes up (love that cap!) and one dressed like Jack the Ripper stabs him. His niece Meg (Nicole Shelby) and her bitchy guardian Julia (Elsa Lanchester) show up to reopen the business and everyone fights about who actually owns the place. After a few more murders, police think the killer is angry museum curator Harry Flexner (Ray Milland), but there are many others after the inheritance.

This Bing Crosby production has poor period detail, is cheap and very restrained (no gore, nudity, bad language), plus there are several unsuccessful attempts to copy Corman-esque nightmare sequences, but the lovable cast of veteran horror stars (also including Maurice Evans from ROSEMARY'S BABY and Patric Knowles from THE WOLF MAN) helps a little.

My favorite moment is when John Carradine snarls, "You know I always insist on perfection!" (Check out his resume!)

Score: 4 out of 10.

Forget the IMDb rating - it should be 7/10. This is a charming little film about wax museum and murders in Victorian England. Is Jack the Ripper behind it all? Eeek! Or is there something supernatural involved - like the living wax figures? Double eek! It's entertaining and clean little flick, with no gore, bad language or other touches of Whitechapel sewers, and a supporting cast is full of seasoned monster movie veterans, including Elsa Lanchester (Bride of Frankenstein herself!), John Carradine (Dracula from Universal classics House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula) and Patric Knowles (the werewolf movie milestone Wolf man).

1973's "Terror in the Wax Museum" was among the handful of horror films made through Bing Crosby Productions, best remembered for "Willard" and "Ben" (the crooner himself having left the fold years earlier), the first of two from the brothers Fenady, producer Andrew and director Georg also responsible for the darkly comic "Arnold." Both features betray their TV background with studio bound exteriors depicting turn of the century London, aided greatly by the casting of screen veterans in major roles, with John Carradine introducing this one as waxworks owner Claude Dupree, entertaining offers to sell out to New York businessman Amos Burns (Broderick Crawford), but remaining loyal to longtime collaborators Harry Flexner (Ray Milland) and disfigured deaf mute Karkov (Steven Marlo). Running the pub next door is building owner Tim Fowley (Louis Hayward), its chanteuse entertainer (Shani Wallis) belting out the same excruciating number night after night. The wax figures on display are some of history's most notorious murderers, including one for the never caught Jack the Ripper, who mysteriously comes to life to snuff out Dupree for his 'betrayal' of inanimate friends. Scotland Yard's perfunctory investigation proves a slow moving slog through intriguing possibilities, such as the real Ripper seeking revenge for his unflattering effigy, and as cast members die off the hidden culprit looks more and more like a sure bet. Carradine and Milland come off best, an improvement on Cameron Mitchell's "Nightmare in Wax" but hardly a patch on Vincent Price's "House of Wax" (lacking the humorous tone of the next Fenady film, "Arnold").

This is a pretty entertaining little thriller, with nice, atmospheric sets, a reasonably clever story and a certain dry, morbid wit. Honestly, there are flicks much worse than this one that have been labeled "classics", solely because they had Vincent Price or Christopher Lee in their casts. If you can find it, check it out. (**1/2)

No song is heard throughout the film.

Terror in the Wax Museum is not a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) nor it's remake House of Wax (1953). I can see this film makes a "nod" towards Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) but the two stories are different from one another.

I was 1 year old in 1973 (the year this film came out) but I must have been about 3 or 4 years of age when I first saw Terror in the Wax Museum because I do have memories of this movie way back then - a couple of memories vivid. This is one of the films that scared me when I was a kid... yes this movie was still a new film back then and as a kid it was terrifying! Wax figures "coming to life" (the dream sequences) and mainly Jack the Ripper - Oh yes I was afraid way back then.

I finally had a chance to watch this movie again all these years later and I have to say it's not all that scary to me any more but it is a good film surrounding a wax museum! The one idea that is still creepy to me is the idea of someone "hiding behind" (pretending to be) a wax figure to commit murder. Not to mention the true stories behind each wax display. So there is a bit of horror in this film - it's just not the blood and guts type of horror that we see in movies today.

I enjoyed the film - I give it 8 stars BUT I have some personal memories from my childhood attached to this film so I have to give it an extra star - an extra star for my childhood memories.

9/10

As an old movie buff, I recommend this film because of its interesting cast. Imagine....old stars like Ray Milland, Elsa Lanchester, John Carradine, Broderick Crawford AND Louis Hayward all in the same movie! As for the story, it's decent and despite the title, it is NOT a remake of "Mystery of the Wax Museum" or it's remake "House of Wax"....though there are a few similarities.

The film begins with a crude businessman (Broderick Crawford) negotiating to buy Dupree's wax museum. However tempting the offer is, Dupree (John Carradine) isn't going to sell. Shortly after, Dupree is murdered! Soon, his only living relative arrives to claim the place--though one of Dupree's long-time employees (Ray Milland) insists that he has an interest in the place. This, of course, is a red herring...and when more murders occur you wonder if perhaps this disgruntled employee is the man behind it. Who is the killer and why would they kill again and again?

This is a nice little time passer. My only complaint was Lanchester's character. She was so rude and disagreeable you wonder why the character wasn't softened a bit to make her more realistic. There also were a few minor problems here and there...such as the cliched lady fainting near the end and the long exposition to explain everything at the end. So, it's not perfect.....but it is perfectly enjoyable.

Caught this awful movie on TV the other night, and could see how bad it was going to be in the first 5 minutes, but because of the cast list, I just had to watch it. I cannot yet believe that a couple of Oscar winners could sink to this level, no matter how badly they needed the money. Ray Milland (must have felt he was in a DT scene from his great "Lost Weekend") and Broderick Crawford, probably glad he was done in half-way through, hit rock bottom. Some well-known supporting players of yesteryear were also there like Louis Hayward, Elsa Lanchester (looking even worse than she did in "Bride of Frankenstein") and Patric Knowles (who must have wished he was back in Sherwood with Errol Flynn). Oh, the story was terrible , but no worse than the acting, except for the wax figures who showed more animation than the stars. This was a real doozie - so bad it was watchable!

Claude Dupree (John Carradine) has owned and operated the wax museum for years, but is forced to consider selling it due to financial difficulties. When Dupree is found murdered, Inspector Daniels (Maurice Evans) and Sgt. Michael Hawks (Mark Edwards) are on the case.

Enter Dupree's niece, Margaret Collins (Nicole Shelby), who arrives to take possession of the museum as her inheritance. She has with her, the greedy Julia Hawthorne (Elsa Lanchester). Dupree's business associate, Harry Flexner (Ray Milland) is the museum curator. Also, Dupree's hunchback assistant, Karkov (Steven Marlo) stays on, living in the museum cellar.

Margaret isn't in town long before more attacks occur, including the death of a prospective buyer of the museum (Broderick Crawford) by grisly means! Has Jack the Ripper come out of retirement? Or, has his wax likeness come to life? Or, is someone else committing these crimes?

TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM isn't bad, but may put modern viewers to sleep rather quickly. Short on action, and packed with cheeeze-tastic elements, especially the rather silly "nightmare" sequences, it seems much longer than it actually is. More mystery than horror, there's a nice double revelation at the end.

Worth a watch...

The owner of a wax museum featuring effigies of famous murderers dies, leaving his estate unsettled, and a group of potential beneficiaries assemble: The deceased's business partner (Oscar-winning Horror mainstay Ray Milland), the heir apparent (Nicole Shelby) and her chaperone (Elsa "Bride of Frankenstein" Lanchester} and a NY carnival promoter and would-be purchaser of the museum (Broderick Crawford). All this during a London-wide scare that, after 15 years, Jack the Ripper has returned, and, coincidentally, strange things start occurring around the museum's Ripper wax figure. A series of events follows, both fortunate and not, culminating in the revelation of the culprit who ends up the one it had to be all along. I particularly enjoyed Miss Lanchester's single-mindedly mercenary attitude that, despite all the murder and mayhem, the show at the museum must go on and admissions sold.and as musuem co-owner, Mr Milland's fervor for continuing he and his partner's work gives the appearance of being a prime suspect. Shani Wallis is obliged to reprise her role of Nancy in "Oliver!", or a reasonable facsimile thereof, which really slows the action down. Otherwise, standard.

I guess that, for me, "Terror in the Wax Museum" is a guilty pleasure in the purest definition of the term. The ratings are abysmal, the reviews are terrible and from every possible objective viewpoint it's undeniably a weak and incompetent film, but still I LOVE IT! Can't help myself; this is simply the type of cheesy trash that turned me into a horror fanatic in the first place! It's typically and low-budget early 70s stuff, complete with a cast full of stars on their return, a poorly recreated Victorian setting and an absurdly grotesque plot! Claude Dupree runs a wax museum in the center of London around the turn of the 20th century. It's not a boring one like Madame Tussaud's, mind you, but a wax museum that only exhibits notorious monsters and madmen, like Lizzie Borden, Bluebeard and - of course - local legend Jack the Ripper. Although Dupree is proud of his life's work and addicted to his wax creations, he seriously considers selling the museum following a generous offer from a wealthy American. When Dupree is found stabbed to death with the Ripper's knife, Scotland Yard has several suspects to keep an eye on, like Dupree's surly associate, the greedy governess of his cute niece or the impatient American buyer. And then there's also Karkov, of course, Dupree's hideously deformed deaf-mute assistant who lives in museum's basement and who would be send to an institution in case of a sale. While the young Scotland Yard inspector investigates the case (and particularly Dupree's cute niece), the museum is making its biggest profits ever and the killer plots to strike again. "Terror in the Wax Museum" is genuine shlock, with images of giant tubs of bubbling wax, freaks grabbing ladies' feet from within the cellar hideout and lewd prostitutes losing their heads at the guillotine! Sue me, but I find this a lot more amusing than 90% of other so-called superior and pretentious horror movies. Evidently, I can't defend the film too fanatically, neither. Just to illustrate, similarly themed films like "House of Wax" (1953) and "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933) are several decades older but look less dated, more professional and better scripted. The cast is stupendous, at least if you're into old B-horror. John Carradine stars as the curator, Ray Milland is the exaggeratedly suspicious associate and Elsa Lancaster (the "Bride of Frankenstein" herself) appears as the utterly insupportable governess. In the same year, director Georg Fenady also made "Arnold", which is an equally enjoyable and unjustly overlooked horror comedy.

Finally, I really liked how the script fooled around with the Jack the Ripper connection. The events supposedly take place 10 years after The Ripper committed his last murder and, as everyone knows, the case remained unsolved. Although the nature of these crimes clearly aren't his style, the script still cleverly hints that The Ripper is a possible suspect.

BCP made some awful movies. This is one of them.

A bunch of well-regarded, elderly actors (Oscar winners and nominees among them) trudge through this cheap-looking, unatmospheric wax museum non-mystery that you could show a 5-year-old and he'd look at you like, "Where's Friday the 13th?"

The story is negligible, the performers look exhausted, and it feels twice as long as it is. Most of the fun is trying to find the tags on the thrift-shop costumes everyone's wearing over their girdles.

This is not "so bad it's good." It's just bad. The ultimate folding-the-laundry movie on a Saturday afternoon, with a glass of wine.

You can put it on for the kiddies. It should be rated G.

Terror in the Wax Museum is more murder mystery than it is a horror film. With plenty of suspects and one red herring at the very end, the movie keeps you guessing whodunit throughout. It's not horribly scary, therefore it's the mystery aspect that will keep you watching.

There are definitely some silly moments, such as a couple of dream sequences and wax figures (played by actors) that are accidentally caught on-screen moving and breathing. However, don't let that distract you from the solid work from the cast, especially Ray Milland. The story itself has its moments of suspense, with a few chilling scenes. Overall, however, don't go into this film thinking it will scare you very much.

Recommended for lovers of good old-fashioned whodunits.

This was a great old movie, with a stellar cast of veteran horror actors. The pace is nice, the story holds together, and it was all done without CGI, gratuitous violence, or sex and nudity for the sake of it. I missed this film when it first aired when I was a kid, and enjoyed the chance to watch it now. If you like old house mysteries, this is an excellent example of the genre, and great for when you just want to relax with a good old movie.

It's hard to believe that this film came out the same year as The Exorcist and just one year before The Texas Chain Saw Massacre -- cutting edge horrors that went all out to shock their audiences: Terror in the Wax Museum is strangely old-fashioned and unlikely to have viewers fainting from terror, it's well worn plot and well-established cast (Ray Milland, Elsa lanchester, John Carradine, Broderick Crawford) making the film feel like something from a decade or two earlier.

However, that's not to say I didn't have a good time with the film: I have a soft spot for wax museum movies, and this one is all too aware that it's treading very familiar ground, director Georg Fenady and his players clearly having fun exploiting every possible trope of the genre. There's the old museum owner who dies leaving a fortune hidden somewhere in the building; a greedy old aunt and her innocent ward; a streetwalker with a heart of gold; a killer posing as Jack the Ripper; and a disfigured hunchback who lives in the basement: how can that not be entertaining? The scares are tepid, sure, but this is the perfect comfort movie for fans of old school horror.

Terror in the Wax Museum (1973)

** (out of 4)

Set in a wax museum in London, several murders are starting to pile up and everything points back to the museum. Is is a deranged killer, the new owners or are the wax figures coming to life and killing? Here's another remake/rip-off of Mystery of the Wax Museum, which is pretty flat from start to finish but the veteran horror cast makes it worth watching. Ray Milland, John Carradine, Elsa Lanchester and Patrick Knowles star. I think the director should have pumped a little more energy into the film. There are a few laughs from the wax figures, which at times you can see moving.

There are very few works with so many Americans in front of and behind the camera that still manage to feel so quintessentially British.

As horror literature/cinema enthusiasts, we must acknowledge that there's an "English Horror" reality that's as undeniable as the reality of "English Humour".

While Italians, Germans, French, and even Spanish-speaking countries have added wonderful colours to the world of horror, we must give credit to Americans and the British, and even consider the British in a separate category altogether.

"Terror in the Wax Museum" is a must-see for fans of the 70s B-Movies trend and the legendary names in its cast. It's also a great stop for those who want to experience the atmosphere of 20th-century London.