Wax On Waxworks

I have a very limited budget; actually, to have a budget you have to have money, so I have neither. My movie viewing selection is pretty much limited to what ever is on Netflix Instant, so I can watch all the crap movies I want (which would explain why I watched Timerider: The Adventures of Lyle Swan) but every once in awhile I stumble on some forgotten gem, something that was too weird or wonderful to have lasted for very long in the minds of the general masses.

I present to you two such movies, Waxworks and Waxworks II: Lost In Time.

(It should pretty much go without saying that my review of Waxworks II will essentially spoil the ending to Waxworks. I highly recommend you watch the movies anyway because they are awesome.)

In Waxworks, Mark, Sarah, and their rich, posh, preppy friends get invited to a waxworks museum that has opened up in the middle of the neighborhood, in the middle of the night. The place is run by Mr. Lincoln (played by David Warner, who is the Alan Rickman you get when you can't afford Alan Rickman)and a tiny dwarf (played by the little person who played Alf on "ALF.") Mark and Sarah quickly discover that when you step beyond the velvet rope, the wax scenes become real and you are suddenly mug to mug with a werewolf or Dracula or a zombie.

Mark and Sarah beat it out of there before the monsters get the best of them, but they are followed by the disembodied hand of one of the aforementioned zombies.

And so ends Waxworks.

Waxworks II: Lost In Time picks up from there. Sarah gets followed home by the zombie hand and it beats her father to death with a hammer. Sadly the police, lawyers, and other members of the legal system don't really buy into the whole "wax figures came to life and killed my father" defense. After finding a compass that allows them to travel through time, it is up to Mark and Sarah to track down some evidence that will prove they are telling the truth.

The Waxworks movies are that rare blend of horror and comedy, giggles and guts; it reminded me of the first time I watched Evil Dead 2. Also, how many movies can you think of that have sword fights, zombies, Godzilla, and aliens?

In both movies the various wax scenes and moments in time come off as a little spoofy, but only a little. It is more like the director, Anthony Hickox, wanted to do tiny remakes of various horror and sci-fi movies but just didn't have the budget. They are funny, but kind of loving in a way.

None of the actors in either movie (with the notable exceptions of David Warner, David Carradine, and Bruce Campbell) went on to anything bigger than an episode of "Law and Order" and the director and writer Anthony Hickox's big follow-up was Hellraiser 3. Still, for a brief moment, they gathered to make something kind of hilarious and totally weird.

3.9 Stars