The Age of Commercialism

Best movie ever!

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Blistering performances.

A nice throwback to the classic horrors of the '30s and '40s, this has just about every monster in it that you can think of : Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera, the Werewolf, the Invisible Man, a pod person, zombies from a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD-esque film, every bad creature you can think of from the '30s through till the '60s. Unfortunately, with all these monsters, there is little space for plot, and despite a few clever plot devices, the actual story has to be the weakest thing in this film.That, and the decision to have the cast populated by bland American teenagers, well apart from Zach Galligan that is. Yes, we get another gang of bimbos and hunks who get murdered one by one without even realising what's going on. Only the two leads are any good, the rest of the cast fade quicker than a painting left in the bright sunshine. Galligan plays a surprisingly unlikeable creep who turns out to be a hero, while Foreman herself gets seduced by the dark side, even indulging in an unhealthy whipping session with the Marquis de Sade.Still, to make up for these shortcomings, WAXWORK gives us an exploitation cast to die for. First up is David Warner, cast in the suspicious role of the waxwork hotel proprietor. Warner is pretty low key throughout the film, until the ending where he gets his own head torn off. Many other cult actors appear in bit parts, from John Rhys Davies as a werewolf to Patrick Macnee, crippled in a wheelchair and yet still a purveyor of good. The other fun actors include Miles O'Keefe as a blond, long-haired Dracula.Aside from the many knowing references which horror fans will delight in, there are a number of horror sequences which play like mini films. These are well-paced and feature some quite graphic violence and gore; surprising that it wasn't banned really. One teenager gets attacked and bitten by a werewolf, a girl gets seduced by Dracula (and finds her boyfriend chained up in the bathroom, with rats devouring his bloody leg), a detective is attacked by an unstoppable mummy (which even gets a spear shoved through it, like in Hammer's THE MUMMY), plus some masochistic moments in the Marquis de Sade episode. Okay, so the plot is pretty weak and just strings these sequences together, and the ending, which involves a huge brawl in the museum's main hall, is pretty uninspired, but you just can't help but enjoy the bloody fun and get into the spirit of the thing. A sequel, LOST IN TIME, followed.

"Waxwork" focuses on a small college town where a mysterious waxwork museum has seemingly appeared out of nowhere in a suburban neighborhood. After a group of rowdy college kids visit one evening, several go missing while perusing the exhibits, which consist of various historical horror figures. It then becomes the prerogative of the remaining friends to find out what's hiding behind (or within) the bizarre waxwork scenes.The late 1980s was a precarious time for horror; after the boom of slasher films that dominated the first three quarters of the decade started to wane, the genre saw a bit of an identity crisis, and attempted to incorporate self-reflexive comedy, a move which would culminate with "Scream"— but in the meanwhile, the late eighties gave us gruesome yet humorous films like "Cheerleader Camp" and "Night of the Demons.""Waxwork" is one of the more creature-oriented offerings of the late eighties, falling in line more with something like "Night of the Demons," though not exclusively. What is so ingenious about the film is that its setting within the wax museum allows for episodic vignettes that reference various cultural figures associated with horror, from werewolves to the Marquis de Sade. While there is an inherent danger in stretching oneself too thinly in this format, "Waxwork" maintains a balance by anchoring itself in the overarching narrative. The audience is allowed access to the inventive sequences as the characters enter the sinister dimensions of the wax exhibits, but never (unlike some of the unfortunates on screen) become trapped within them.The performances are overall par for the course in terms of eighties horror—that is to say not stellar—but there are respectable performances from genre favorites Zach Galligan ("Gremlins"), Deborah Foreman ("April Fool's Day"), and Dana Ashbrook ("Twin Peaks"). British character actor David Warner also gives an effective performance as the unforthcoming owner of the museum. The conclusion to the film is explosive, brainless fun, with various figures quite literally coming out of the woodwork (or should I say, "waxwork") to play. Some of the special effects are still moderately impressive and at times effectively gratuitous. Overall, "Waxwork" is an above-average late-eighties horror romp that truly runs the gamut. The film is a fantastic Halloween movie and, like "Night of the Demons," is the perfect kind of film for showing at a party or something. It's well-paced, entertaining, and just plain fun in spite of the fact that it's completely outlandish. After all, how many horror flicks are there that include Dracula, alien pods, mummies, and the Marquis de Sade among their villains? That's right, just this one. 8/10.

Directed and written by Anthony Hickox, the movie has everything that a horror movie fan might love. Often cited as the first self-referential horror movie. Its showcase in a waxwork museum own by a mysterious, Mr. Lincoln (David Warner) and his midget & lurch like minions. These aren't your typical Vincent Price's 1953's House of Wax figures exhibit though, each one depicts a different story of death and murder by evil creatures. Nearly all the classic monsters are in this movie, ranging from the werewolf (John Rhys-Davies), Count Dracula (Miles O'Keeffe) to etc. stock characters. Some of them worth mentioning are: Frankenstein's monster, the mummy, Phantom of the Opera, and zombies. There are some homage to other movies characters in the film such as the pod from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the killer plant from The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) & the demon baby from It's Alive (1974). They even added the villainous real life historic figure Marquis de Sade (J. Kenneth Campbell) to the mixed. Warner & Campbell give the best performances from all the villains. It's too bad, the actors acting like solid wax models couldn't act still, as they were blinking, and slightly moving. They are not supposed to look alive, until the victim looking at the exhibit, overstep the borders of the exhibit. If they do, they're transform into the world of the display. If you die in their world, you die in real life. The movie is full of the 1980's horror clichés cheese archetypes, as a group of most unlikeable spoil rich university yippee students enter the evil museum. I found Mark Loftmore (Zack Galligan) as a great lead, but he was such a jerk. Mark's need for caffeine is introduced early in the first film, then it's promptly dropped and never goes anywhere. Plus, how on earth is he getting his facts about killings, before there isn't any clues of the crimes? It's like his character just jump over the script. The way, Zack acts is so wooded. Then there is Sarah Brightman (Deborah Foreman), the 'good' virgin girl who all for sadomasochism pain humiliation. It's really bugs me that she is a stupid damsel in distress type of a character, who not only doesn't want to rescue, but beg the bad guy to continue to torture her because she got an orgasm. She is like the wet dream of wife beaters everywhere. No strong feminism here. Even China Webster (Michelle Johnson) the archetype whore character, who seems like she is against vampires at first, gives up and surrendering herself to Dracula. Why, because women will fall in love with dangerous abusing men as long as they are handsome! What crap message is that!? The acting from these two are mediocre, at best. The only good thing about them are both women are just beautiful. Tony (Dana Ashbrook) come off a drug- addict idiot who you knew, is going to get killed off, first. So, no surprised there. Since Writer/director Anthony Hickox wrote the screenplay in only 3 days, the plot doesn't make much sense. The movie tries to explain more, through wheel chair bound Uncle, Sir Wilfred (Patrick Macnee), a former hunter of the supernatural, but it just set up more questions than answers. Then there is the bit about the wax sculptures being from the most evil men from the past, and they need victims to come back alive. Excuse me, this doesn't make any sense. Nearly none of those horror characters were alive, besides Jack the Ripper & Marquis de Sade. Somehow, I think the movie was trying to put Adolf Hitler in the film; seeing how much they mention fascism in the film. The movie made no more mention about Mark's attic and the glowing book of the Marquis de Sade in a trunk. What was that about? The ending is kinda weird, as the most evil creatures that ever live is against a group of old people getting their butt kick. I thought these were the most evil creatures that ever live? Also, what are the victim now bad guys? I can understand those who turn into monsters, but I can't see the old hunter teaming up with the werewolf that he just try to kill earlier in the film. This film is OK with its combination of horror and comedy. The movie has this weird hate/love relationship with smoking cigarettes that you will probably catch on. There is a Phantom of the Opera joke, that was supposed to be meant for Jason Vorhees from the Friday the 13th films about people making movies about anything these days, but they (the producers) couldn't get the rights for the character. The dialogue is full of cheesy one liners. You will get over the top gorn, spraying blood, mutilated flesh, and people getting rip apart. In some versions, the film was cut by the MPAA due to gore in the vampire sequence. It's badly edited, so just find the original copy. The set designs are really good & well captured. I love the black & white look of the zombie sequence. Amazingly accurate & professional looking, considering the films low budget. The score by Roger Bellon changes depending on which monster or era were in & is done in the classical scores of the famous Universal horror movie scores of the 30's/40's. The music choices are pretty hip. Look out for other horror movies references like the missing posters that looks like the posters from 1987's Lost Boys or the painting from 1989's Lobster Man from Mars. There is a sequel, 1992's Waxwork II: Lost in Time worth checking out, but it's not as good as this movie. Still, despite its flaws, Waxwork is a wonderful horror film that scares as much as it entertains. Waxworks is a film made with heart & it shows. It's a horror film for horror fans, by horror fans.

Wealthy slacker college student Mark, his new girlfriend Sarah, and their friends are invited to a special showing at a mysterious wax museum which displays 18 of the most evil men of all time. After his ex-girlfriend and another friend disappear, Mark becomes suspicious. What he doesn't know is that they have been made a part of the exhibit, by first living out the scene and then being murdered in it......Back in the day, this was one of those bizarre horror movies that you caught on TV and never saw again.There were very few scenes I remember, but I remember I loved the film and it's sequel. Finally getting a chance to see it again, the rose tinted specs did not help the fact that's found this a little too average.The references to 'something wicked this way comes' are rife throughout, and all I see in Galligan is Billy Peltzer acting the pathetic fool.It's a very bizarre movie, with great make up and cheap sets, but it redeems itself come the finale with its bonkers fight between old men and titular characters.After seeing this finale again, I really wonder how original Joss Whedon is, because it's so much like 'Cabin in the Woods'.All in all, it's average stuff with a couple of good scenes, but nothing special.