HOUSE OF WAX (2005)

Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton, Jared Padelecki, Jon Abrahams, Robert Ri'chard. Directed by Jaume-Collet-Serra. Horror. Synopsis: Six friends on a road trip to see a football game camp out one night in a deserted woods area where they encounter an unknown, threatening person, and our later led to the forgotten , small town of Ambrose, LA, where many of the residents seem very subdued and they are soon in the sights of maniacal killers.

Saw this on DVD recently without even realizing that was a remake of a classic 1953 film starring Vincent Price. Basically it looked interesting and I'm a sucker for almost all things horror, so I decided to give it a shot.

I'm glad I did.

Now, House of Wax is not anywhere near a great film, in my opinion, but it is a good one, provided you can suspend your disbelief just a little more than usual to enjoy a horror film. The basic premise is six college kids who get sidetracked on a trip to a football game (I know, I know, the young group of friends who get sidetracked/lost/abducted angle is way overused...but, look at it from the movie maker's point of view:its worked before and, if it ain't broke, don't fix it)  They decide, for reasons that you will have to further suspend your disbelief for, to camp overnight in a lonely wooded area before getting up and hoofing it the rest of the way to Baton Rouge for the game.

The night goes pretty much as you might expect from young kids, a little bit of drinking, some horseplay, some making out. The first strange thing is the presence of an unknown pickup truck driver who mysteriously pulls his truck up near our heroes and shines his high beam lights on them without saying or doing anything else. Rude. And a bad omen, for all fans of horror far but not, of course, for our stars. The most pugnacious of the group, Nick (Chad Michael Murray) shows his displeasure by hurling a beer bottle and knocking out one of the truck's headlights. For those of you who have not seen the movie, remember this point, its kind of key as the story goes on.

The kids awaken to find that one of their cars, mysteriously, has had its fan belt broken. The owner of the car, Wade (Jared Padelecki) insists that his friends go on to see the big game, and bring him a new fan belt on the way back. He's not leaving his car!

Fortunately, a wonderfully crude character enters the story (Damon Merriman) who tells the kids of a small town just up the road and, hey, he'd be happy to give Wade a ride. Of course, Wade foolishly accepts and he and his girlfriend (Elisha Cuthbert) accompany the crude stranger to the strange town of Ambrose, which no one seems to have heard of and, for some reason, does not appear on a the map (or the GPS)

Now, this is the time where I have to say that, all tongue in cheek criticism of Hollywood's penchant for stretching reality to set up a plot in horror films aside, House of Wax  actually does a very good job of giving more depth to its characters than most. We all know the formula for most horror films: group of young, nubile kids, at least one more guy than girl, nerdy guy gets killed first, strong cocky guy gets killed in the most hideous way, hottie/slutty girl gets killed after/during shower/nude scene, compassionate guy (who is usually the smart girl's boyfriend) gets killed last, smart girl thwarts the monster/maniac and emerges as the lone survivor. 

Wax doesn't completely deviate from the formula, but without spoiling it, there is enough difference from the tried and true that we can actually not necessarily predict the order and way our heroes meet their demise, plus there is actually more than one survivor. More importantly, the director took pains to make sure you knew, and hopefully empathized, with the characters before some of them started getting waxed. (No pun intended...well, maybe a little) We know that Chad Murray's character and Elisha Cuthbert's character are brother and sister, actually twins (a point of foreshadowing in the story) and that Chad is a little peeved at sis because he feels she is responsible for his latest arrest, and he's not too particular about her current boyfriend. In fact, neither his parents or sis would bail him out this time, that honor fell to his buddy Dalton (Jon Abrahams, funny as always but noticeably heavier than we've seen him in Boiler Room and Meet the Parents ), who just so happens to be along for the trip, too.

Now, I've probably set the record for talking about this film and not mentioning you-know-who. Listen, I'm don't have anything against Paris Hilton, she's a nice looking young lady.  I'm just not sure what all the fuss is about. Anyway, she is also one of the gang, along with her boyfriend, Blake (Robert Ri'chard) who is the fun loving, hip-hop listening rich kid of the group. Oh, and Paris is afraid to tell him that she might, just might, be pregnant.

See? I told you that there was some depth here. Anyway, when two of our heroes get to the small town ( Ambrose ), they encounter the only one in the town, Bo (Brian Van Holt), who seems, well, animated. From there, the real horror story begins as our two heroes, as well as their friends who decide to give up on the big game, turn back and meet  the evil head on.

The story is well told, even though the first few minutes drag on a little (except for the opening sequence, which is a flashback to 1974, and we see a mother and father who have two sons...one good, one not so good. Its shot so as to not see any other actors from the shoulders up. Very effective and, yes, they tie it together later)

The actors are good overall, even Hilton, who along with Abahams and Ri'chard, don't really have a whole bunch to do. Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, and Holt (Basic) carry the film, however, as they should, since they have 80% of the action in the whole film. I think Cuthbert is the standout, as you empathize with her and can appreciate that she catches on to the town's dirty little secret before anyone else does. Murray will have all the guys-o.k., I'm stereotyping- in the audience saying things like "Hell, yeah, that's just what I would do!" , even when it doesn't necessarily seem like the smart thing. Holt is deliciously evil, psychopathic, but in an understated way. You have got to love the matter of fact demeanor as he severs the tip of one of the star's fingers.

Fans of gore will get enough of it here, as there are several gruesome deaths and, of the only one of our stars who is not killed onscreen, we get to see the horrible, waxy aftermath. For resasons that say more about our celebrity worshipping culture than anything, Paris Hilton is probably the best known-if least talented-member of the cast and, as I said before, she does well in her limited role. The writer and director knew they were not casting Naomi Watts here. Fans will be pleased and Paris haters will probably enjoy her gruesome death onscreen. (Now, that is not a spoiler, you know how these movies work and there is no way you thought that Paris would be the surviving smart girl)

The videography is good and they did well with the whole town of wax thing, although that wasn't the big draw for me. It was the characters, they actually made me care enough to root for, or against them, and when that happens, I'm entertained.