House of Wax (2005)

Knowing my feelings about most remakes, you can probably guess that I have little to say in favour of this remake of the Vincent Price 1953 early 3-D movie, which in fact was a remake of the 1933 "Mystery of the Wax Museum".  I am fond of that original, not because it is particularly brilliant, but because of its early use of two-strip colour and its stars (Fay Wray at her screaming best and spooky Lionel Atwill); however if the truth be told, it is a pretty creaky effort and suffers from that feature of early '30s movies: the fast-talking, smartass gal reporter.  The Price starrer is fun since he is always great value and there's an early Charles Bronson role as his Igor-like assistant.  However, getting back to this new version, it really only shares the earlier title, since the story itself is considerably different and none the worse for it.  The really interesting thing about this version is that the house in question is literally made of wax as are its furnishings and of course all the wax-covered dead people who inhabit it (and the local cinema and the local church).  The leads were Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray playing brother and sister and the only survivors of the six friends who set off together at the start of the film.  I must confess that it was very satisfying to see Paris Hilton being spectacularly murdered (I gather audiences cheered Stateside), but her role was secondary and frankly she was no better or worse than the other actors.  As usual my main complaint is the peculiar notion that horror films are best played in near darkness.  Nonsense!