House of Wax [Blu-ray]

Jaume Collet-Serra

Overview

A bunch of college students are stranded in a small town where suffering for art takes on a whole new meaning in this tale of terror. Carly (Elisha Cuthbert) and her boyfriend, Wade (Jared Padalecki), have hit the road with a handful of their friends to attend a championship college football game; tagging along with them are Carly's bratty friend Paige (Paris Hilton, Carly's trouble-making twin brother Nick (Chad Michael Murray), and Blake (Robert Ri'chard), Paige's latest boy toy. While camping out for the night, the gang makes the mistake of getting on the wrong side of a mysterious local redneck, and the next morning they discover that Wade's car no longer works. As the others continue on to the big game, Carly and Wade make their way into the closest town, Ambrose, and discover it's all but deserted, except for a local tourist attraction, the House of Wax. However, it isn't long before they find out why the wax sculptures at the museum look so freakishly real, and discover a pair of murderous brothers are keen on making them part of the next exhibit. House of Wax is an in-name-only remake of the well-remembered 1953 3-D horror outing starring Vincent Price, which was in turn based on the 1933 picture Mystery of the Wax Museum.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/26/2006
UPC:	0012569828438
Original Release:	2005
Rating:	R
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:53:00
Sales rank:	5,886

Special Features

B-roll and bloopers video cast commentary; From location: Joel Silver reveals 'House of Wax' ; Wax on: the design of House of Wax; The house built on wax: the visual effects of House of Wax; Alternate opening: Jennifer killed ; Gag reel; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Elisha Cuthbert	Carly Jones
Chad Michael Murray	Nick Jones
Brian Van Holt	Bo
Paris Hilton	Paige Edwards
Jared Padalecki	Wade
Jon Abrahams	Dalton Chapman
Robert Ri'chard	Blake
Dragitsa Debert	Trudy Sinclair
Thomas Adamson	Young Bo
Murray Smith	Dr. Sinclair
Sam Harkess	Young Vincent
Damon Herriman	Roadkill Driver
Andy Anderson	Sheriff
Kendal Rae	Sexy Girl
John Ottman	Composer

Technical Credits

Chad Hayes

Charles Belden

Jaume Collet-Serra	Director
Chad Michael Murray	Director
Brian Van Holt	Director
Paris Hilton	Director
Jared Padalecki	Director
Elisha Cuthbert	Director
Susan Downey	Producer
Robert Zemeckis	Producer
Richard Mirisch	Producer
Erik Olsen	Producer
Herbert W. Gains	Executive Producer
Steve Richards	Executive Producer
Chad Hayes	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Charles Belden	Screenwriter
Sean Byrne	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Dark Castle's fifth foray into the horror business brings a healthy dose of inventively cruel killings to the big screen, but not without infuriating and downright belittling its audience thanks to an idiotic ensemble of hot teens that serve as the film's waxy fodder. Funny enough, the worst thing about House of Wax isn't Paris Hilton! As amazing as it might sound, the wealthy Hollywood dish isn't the acting train wreck you'd expect her to be, while her glorious death should definitely please all of the haters out there (thus the promotional shirts with "Watch Paris Die" emblazoned on them). No, the thing that cripples this rehashed remake is the rest of the dummies that litter the plot. There's nothing wrong with flirting with horror clichés, but there's a maddening sense of "What are you thinking?" that plagues almost every main character as soon as they split off from the pack. Now the upside of this is the genuine pleasure you get in seeing all of them die horrible deaths, but there's little excuse for forcing the audience to put up with these horny twits for over half of the movie just to dish out a few bloody payoffs afterward. Being a slasher devote is one thing, but you get the idea that the filmmakers (including producers Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver) are just plain lazy and banking on the late scares to carry the film. That said, there are a few fine aspects to the production; namely the art deco-inspired production design and the downright torturous glee that is delivered in the numerous nasty moments in the picture. Commercial veteran Jaume Collet-Serra makes his big-screen debut here and does a fair job of delivering the scares and popcorn fun, though he's obviously shackled with laborious pacing problems thanks to the subpar script. The scare flick also suffers from an overload of unnecessary musical choices that serve little purpose other than to highlight worthless rap
ock tracks from various Warner Bros. music labels featured on the soundtrack. Despite all of this, House of Wax is still easily the best Dark Castle film to date, and its fiery finale proves to be far more satisfying than the company's previous overblown CG endings (see 2002's Ghost Ship for the sad and horrible proof).