MY CALL: This movie opens and closes clumsily on its ‘not the best’ comedic components. But fret not! For its redeeming creature effects, blood ‘n gore, and engaging story components more than make up for these shortcomings and make this a solid 80s classic. Strongly recommended. MORE MOVIES LIKE Waxwork: Well, Waxwork II (1992) immediately continues the story from the ending scene of part 1. So, if you enjoy this movie, go right on to the sequel. Or for a true anthology film of the time, Tales from the Dark Side: The Movie (1990).
Walking to school together, a pair of college girls notice a building they’ve somehow never noticed before. It’s a wax museum (in the middle of the affluent suburbs), and it’s mysterious steward (David Warner; Necronomicon: Book of the Dead, The Company of Wolves, The Unnamable II, Ice Cream Man) invites the girls to bring a group of six friends for a private viewing at midnight on a school night… sounds legit!
Director and writer Anthony Hickox (Warlock 2, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth) assembles a cast of horror-seasoned actors to play these college students: Mark (Zach Galligan; Warlock 2, Hatchet 3, Gremlins 1-2), Sarah (Deborah Foreman; April Fool’s Day, Destroyer), China (Michelle Johnson; Dr. Giggles, The Jigsaw Murders) and Tony (Dana Ashbrook; Return of the Living Dead II, Girlfriend from Hell, The Willies), among others.
Upon their midnight arrival, their host for the evening is the diminutive and spunky Hans (Mihaly ‘Michu’ Meszaros; Warlock 2), who introduces them to the main hall where the wax exhibits are generally eerie, supernatural and murderous. But mind the velvet ropes. For one who steps across the ropes into the exhibit is transported to another time and dimension, becoming a character in the story of the exhibit. Whatever fate befalls them, becomes the exhibit. The premise is simple, fun, and well-executed.
As our victims step into this or that exhibit, the movie plays out like an anthology film. Each victim gets their own exhibit and their own story, with the wraparound story being the students at the wax museum not inside the exhibits’ alternate dimensions at the moment.
We learn that Hans and the museum steward have a sinister goal in absorbing souls into the wax work exhibits. The exhibits include a werewolf (John Rhys-Davies; The Unnamable 2), Count Dracula (Miles O’Keeffe), zombies, a mummy… oh, and the Marquis de Sade!
As far as effects go, the werewolf looked great! Drooly, slimy, stylish and good animatronics controlling the face and ears made it a satisfying spectacle. That werewolf tears a guy’s head in half like a rotten pumpkin. Other great gory visuals include a man’s leg butchered to the bloody bone, and a great champagne-stabbing gag. The movie is pretty bloody.
I’ll be the first to admit, the first twenty minutes of this movie are filled with clumsy lame comedy, and the twenty-minute finale loaded with clumsy silly action pandemonium. But the hour within, bookended by the weaker opening and closer, is pretty great 80s horror with a satisfying diversity of effects, gore, monster make-up and deaths. Despite some of the comedy landing much weaker than the rest, this movie overall is an 80s delight!