Waxwork
Straight up genre homage films are usually considered to be a risky gamble, going to great lengths to recreate a scene (or scenes) from other, better known movies to weave into the fabric of their own storyline, and if not done just the right way, usually inspiring jeers of derision from its more knowledgeable audience members. One of the exceptions is this extremely impressive low budget horror outing from 1988 written and directed by first timer Anthony Hickox and featuring a fairly amazing cast by B movie standards and some real stylish bits of business. Heading it up is Zach Galligan (still reeling to this day over not becoming an A list star after having had the lead role in 1984âs smash hit Gremlins) as a rich, bored college student whose family life consists of being scolded by his mother for having a drink or two with the servants and hanging out with his other rich, bored college friends while also having relationship problems to boot, literally being forced to sit there and watch as his gorgeous, high maintenance ex girlfriend (Michelle Johnson) continues to carry on with a series of flings and one night stands with people whom he knows while he himself can only hang his head and be depressed about it. Whatâs also interesting is that at the time of the filmâs release, the character of the ex girlfriend (named China) managed to achieve a minor cult following among teenage girls mostly for her stuck up, superficial, pseudo Princess bitch attitude that comes across as what almost makes her the most appealing to watch as even I can recall knowing a girl who self applied to herself the nickname âChinaâ as a form of tribute to this particular character. One day China and the presumptive virgin amongst this circle of friends (80 B movie legend Deborah Foreman) stumble across a wax museum that seems to have sprung up in the middle of nowhere on a quiet suburban street. There they meet the proprietor (all time acting legend David Warner) who invites them to a âprivate showingâ at the stroke of midnight and instructs them to make sure that their party includes no more than six people. The two girls manage to only find two others (one of whom is Galligan) interested enough to go with them to this sort of thing and we are off and running. Now the premise seems to be this: Each waxwork display seems to be a depiction of 18 of the most evil souls to ever live (complete with a decorative item that actually belonged to them in real life) but in actuality they are really time portals that suck their victims in telepathically and then place them in âreal worldâ scenarios where they assume the roles of certain characters (and mentally believe that they really are so that they can play along) before running into the actual evil beings themselves, getting killed, and thus being sacrificed on the idea that when all 18 displays have claimed their respective victims, all these evil souls will come back to life and contaminate, take over, and end the world as we know it, all at the behest of Warner (a Satanist who sold his soul to The Devil and hasnât aged a day in 40 years) who is assisted by one time âWorldâs Smallest Manâ Michu and an enormous giant butler. So with 18 wax displays of various evil characters, that means that we get 5 separate setpieces in the film which mostly benefit from having 3 of them be rather generic, including a werewolf piece where a cameoing John Rhys-Davies tranforms and chows down on the goofball, wisecracking member of the group (Twin Peaks mainstay Dana Ashbrook) who constantly tells himself that itâs all one big joke almost right up to the moment of truth. We also get a mummy style bit which is reserved for a nosy cop (Charles McCaughan) who admits to Warner of having an interest in ancient Egyptian culture before going into the display and getting attacked by a mummy who entombs him alive for his troubles. Thereâs also Galligan getting tossed into a very specific Night Of The Living Dead type cemetary (in black and white no less!) with little to no indication of who itâs true evildoer is, but the most fascinating aspect here is the psychological dynamics of the two main females (Foreman and Johnson) and how they become drawn to their particular displays of choice. Turns out that Johnsonâs China has rejected Galligan (and others) for being more crude than she would have liked (even scoring a strike on Galligan for having once making her buy her own drink) and longs for a more refined, upscale type gentleman, preferably of noble upbringing, and so she gets Count Dracula (Miles OâKeeffe) who sends his hordes of vampire brides after her so that she can fight them off, but canât find the necessary strength to resist the man himself. But the most fascinating (and showstopping) setpiece lies with Foremanâs virgin, going through life not sure what she wants until she lays eyes on the wax figure of The Marquis De Sade as played by stage and movie character actor J. Kenneth Campbell, an older man that can whip her ass (literally) in front of the perverted visiting English Prince (director Hickox in a cameo) and then dominate and destroy her in every way imaginable until Galligan can find a way to rescue her even if she doesnât want to be rescued. To say that Campbell as The Marquis steals the show with his sneering, sadistic wickedness oozing from every pore is nearly an understatement and it is he (with Warner filling the bill wonderfully as the lead villain) who makes in particular the second half of this film so much fun to watch, even as Galligan (who has figured out the secret to avoid being harmed in these displays) draws his ire and has him vow revenge once we get to the big finish. And itâs with that big finish that we come to both the movieâs greatest asset as well as itâs biggest flaw since it features all the wax figures coming to life and preparing to wreak havoc on the world only to be intercepted by a literal army of some Secret Society guardian types led by Warnerâs lifelong enemy played by Patrick Macnee (with the added twist being that much of Warnerâs power was obtained by robbing and murdering Galliganâs grandfather, said to be a âhorror lordâ who had spent his entire life collecting the evil artifacts even as he had considered it to be a harmless hobby and was not himself evil in any way). All hell breaks loose with a battle scene that turns out to be completely insane chaos on what was obviously a confined set with only so much time and money to get it filmed. The good things include The Marquis cornering Galligan to settle their score and the viewer also being allowed to see some of the non featured characters (including The Phantom Of The Opera and Jack The Ripper) in action but it is here that Hickoxâs weaknesses in the editing room come to the fore with too many choppy cuts and several major players going down with barely a whimper (or so it seems) as a result. Itâs certainly spectacular by the low budget standards from which the film sprang, but overall it cheapens the final product. The film still gets plenty of mileage (and stands head and shoulders over its poorly done sequel which also featured Galligan) from healthy doses of humor (80 style) whether it be from a bunch of goofy college kids acting goofy or from having The Marquis going completely over the top in gloating about the âorgasmsâ that heâs giving to Foremanâs virgin with just a crack of his whip. Then thereâs the underrated gore effects on display here which were subject to heavy MPAA cuts in order to obtain an R rating but have since been restored to an unrated version, most notably in the scenes at Draculaâs castle where the F/X guys (and maybe the actors) got maybe a bit too carried away along with various head squashings, crushings, and removals. Everybody on hand seems to be having a blast here (Galligan has often promoted this movie in interviews and continues to do so today) and the unpretentious manner in which the film doesnât pretend to be anything other than what it is and thus is all the more enjoyable for that helps put it near the head of the class for vintage 80s horror and for anyone who enjoys both equal doses of gruesome gore and lighthearted funâŚ
9/10