MY CALL: This sequel is much less horror and more of an anthology-esque mix of Sci-Fi, fantasy and horror with moderate to hokey doses of comedy and loads of great effects. It’s silly and light, but still a bloody movie that’s a lot of fun while continuing to embrace its predecessor’s 80s-ness in the best ways. MORE MOVIES LIKE Waxwork II: Well obviously you should have already seen the first Waxwork (1988) movie, and perhaps even The Wax Mask (1997).
Director and writer Anthony Hickox (Waxwork, Warlock 2, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth) picks up this sequel by extending the very scene which ended Waxwork (1988)—including some footage of the wacky violent finale. As the museum burns down, an animated severed hand scrambles across the lawn, following Mark (Zach Galligan; Waxwork, Warlock 2, Hatchet 3, Gremlins 1-2) and Sarah (Monika Schnarre; Warlock 2) home for some bloody Evil Dead 2-inspired evil crawling hand shenanigans.
Fearfully anticipating that the evil of the waxwork would not be vanquished (before the finale events of part 1), Sir Wilfred (Patrick Macnee; The Howling, Transformations) leaves Mark videotaped advice from the grave. Now having inherited Wilfred’s collection of supernatural antiquities, Mark selects a time-traveling amulet in his quest to find proof of the evils of the waxwork.
Many of the wax exhibits hinted in part 1 went unexplored. This sequel time portals us to Victor Frankenstein (Martin Kemp; Embrace of the Vampire) and his monster, alien lifeforms in the parasitic theme of Aliens (1986), and King Arthur to name a few. I must say, the Lampooned Alien-themed segment was an absolute delight with Sarah assuming the obviously hoked-up Ellen Ripley role. The big-headed rubber monster suit is awesome, some iconic scenes and deaths were homaged, and the larval tentacle monster attack scene was outstandingly slimy and gross. There are also distinct homages to Dawn of the Dead (1978), Nosferatu (1922, 1979) and many more, as this sequel clearly tasked itself with having an even more wild finale than part 1.
Unlike part 1, there are no wax exhibits of murderers and monsters to haplessly “enter”. But Mark’s amulet opens portals to times and places (that may have never existed in our dimension at all). But just like part 1, these separate portaled-in vignettes give the movie an anthology-ish feel as our time travelers assume pre-existing roles in these fantastic alternate dimensional spaces.
Among his time traveling adventures, Mark meets his supernatural investigator father (Bruce Campbell; Escape from LA, Moontrap, Black Friday, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2), a woman turns into a werepanther of sorts (you read that correctly) and later splatters a victim’s head, we catch a glimpse of Drew Barrymore (Scream, Cat’s Eye) as a vampire victim, and the same finale big bad evil guy (Alexander Godunov) as Die Hard (1988)!
The blood, gore and effects honor the promises of part 1 with eye-popping, brain launching, neck-stretching, head-smooshing, space helmet-imploding, squirmy alien-regurgitating, and other bloody antics. And all is done in the same humorous-to-hokey fashion as part 1.
Overall, this sequel is much less horror and more a mix of Sci-Fi, fantasy and horror with moderate to hokey doses of comedy. This is a fun, light, but still bloody movie that’s a lot of fun and continues to embrace all that was good from 80s horror.
