Waxwork 2: Lost In Time
Sometimes, if an actor is REALLY lucky, he can have his name permanently associated with a classic movie franchise and thus ensure that he will forever be attached to a true piece of movie history. Of course, if you are even more lucky, you might just be able to say that you were a major component of TWO actual franchises in all of their glory and definitely guarantee that not only will you be remembered, but you are sure to be recognized on the street wherever you go. One such actor is Zach Galligan, first and foremost known as the bumbling yet well meaning Billy Peltzer in the two Gremlins films, someone who in both films is directly responsible for unleashing the Gremlins but whom still manages to assume the role of hero in order to save the day from the hideous creatures. The second franchise that Galligan is very well known for (aside from having done very little else of note in his career) is none other than The Waxwork Franchise (like Gremlins another two film series) where he took on the role of Mark Loftmore, spoiled rich son of an affluent family who along with his college buddies in the first film, stumbled upon a mysterious waxworks owned and operated by the nefarious David Warner only to learn that Warner was enacting a master plan to use his wax figures to unleash unspeakable evil upon the world which would surely bring about the end of the world, a plan that was foiled not only by Galligan but also by various other friends led by Patrick Macnee, resulting in a massive battle scene which led to an enormous fire where pretty much everybody died except for Galligan and his virginal girlfriend played by Deborah Foreman. The film itself was a fun pastiche of homages to various horror movie classics, portrayed as being âtime portalsâ in Warnerâs Waxworks where various characters would get sucked in and have to figure out a way to survive and escape (usually failing in that department). The film was a modest success on both pay cable and home video, stylish in its own right while still working its various spoofs / tributes into a coherent, workable storyline. When the time came to make a direct sequel in 1992, Galligan (obviously) eagerly signed on along with original writer / director Anthony Hickox, but a big problem loomed on the horizon as Foreman had been involved for several years in a relationship with Hickox that had ended very messily mere months before this sequel was greenlit. With Foreman not being involved now being a no brainer, a hasty recasting was made in the form of international supermodel Monika Schnarre about whom Galligan himself admitted was the complete opposite of Foreman, an experienced and competent actress who had starred in a long string of B movie classics in the 1980s. Her replacement on the other hand, proves early on here that she canât really act, but Hickox reportedly wound up editing around her worst moments while Galligan and the all star cast (mostly cameos) would attempt to carry her in the acting scenes even as this stands as being one of the best examples of why recasting for a sequel is never a good idea. Moments after the massive fire at the end of the first movie, Schnarreâs Sarah comes home to her drunken (yet benign) stepdad (George Buck Flower recording yet another drunken character acting role for the books) only for the stepdad to suddenly be brutally murdered by the severed hand that was seen escaping the fire at the end of Part 1. Schnarre destroys the hand but now has a bigger problem as nobody but Galligan believes her story and she finds herself charged with the stepdadâs murder. Desperate, she and Galligan venture to the now dead Macneeâs estate where suddenly a movie projector comes to life with Macnee himself on it talking to Galligan as if theyâre having a real conversation with the point being that Macnee has a hidden vault with various evil artifacts from all of Macneeâs âadventures in the supernaturalâ which includes Jasonâs hockey mask, a room key from The Bates Hotel and various crypts and coffins plus a special compass / pocket watch with the ability to open up even more time portals. Galligan and Schnarre figure what the hell since if they can find evidence that can prove their story then they can clear her name and so off they go, entering various scenarios usually in the form of an already established character there whose identity they take on (much like Quantum Leap) and the madness begins right there as the duo find themselves in spoof / homages of Frankenstein, The Haunting, and Alien / Aliens with the latter (featuring Schnarre badly trying to take on the Sigourney Weaver role) being just so blatant to the point of being a literal ripoff that itâs almost a surprise that Sigourney, Ridley Scott, James Cameron and H.R. Giger didnât ALL sue for copyright infringement damages. Whatâs missing during all of these lengthy segments is a centralized villain (as Warner was in the original) and instead we get treated to assorted cameos from the likes of Martin Kemp as Baron Von Frankenstein, Bruce Campbell, Mirina Sirtis, Sophie Ward, David Carradine and Juliet Mills none of which are too shabby but itâs also easy to overlook the fact that Part 1 had one of the coolest lineups of cult actors ever in its own right. But here, the film doesnât introduce or even mention its âleadâ villain until well over halfway through its running time, that villain being Scarabis (Alexander Godunov, the enigmatic ballet dancer turned legendary Die Hard henchman whose film acting work was frustratingly scarce before dying in 1995) in what not only seems to be part of an Edgar Allen Poe homage but whose segment seems to take up almost the entire second half of the film, grinding everything to a dead halt so that the central conflict can be resolved (not that the other segments werenât pretty long themselves which was a change from Part 1 where the segments and overall pacing was pretty damn brisk). Meanwhile, Galligan is visited by Macnee (reincarnated as a raven) who tells him the REAL truth, that he and Schnarre are NOT traveling through time at all but rather from one alternate dimension to another as active participants in God and The Devilâs âpersonal Nintendo gameâ with the idea being that the more that the âgoodâ side comes out on top, the better protected the REAL world (ours) is from falling completely into darkness and decay (apparently through osmosis). Meanwhile, Godunovâs Scarabis, a practitioner of The Black Arts with a insatiable lust for his sister (whose role here is filled by Schnarre of course) is plotting to usurp the throne of âKing Arthurâ (John Ireland) by offering said sisterâs hand to him in marriage and then using black magic to assume The Kingâs form and thus become the new King by proxy. Assisted by an over the top Michael Des Barres as his transvestite sidekick (nearly stealing the movie in the process) and thwarted not only by Galligan but also the Kingâs very own Captain Of The Guard (Hickox himself taking on a decidedly more heroic tone in his acting quite unlike his sinister English Prince in Part 1), Godunov tries hard to take over the movie completely in the second half but canât quite seem to do it although competing with Des Barresâ effeminate henchman George kind of turns everything into a bit of a blur especially with the final battle that sees the prissy Des Barres battle it out with our heroine while Galligan and Godunov engage in an epic swordfight that sees the time stopwatch go into overdrive as they wind up battling across several different timescapes (and we get one more surprise cameo in the process). It would seem that the reason why Galligan is considered so appropriate to be one of Godâs âTime Warriorsâ is because whenever he âleapsâ into another character in an alternate world, he immediately retains full control of all of his mental faculties and who he really is while Schnarre in comparison usually falls completely into being her character and needs Galligan there to snap her back to being herself. But structurally, the film is a mess with no real direction (except for the quest to prove that a severed hand come to life can really exist) and becomes entirely dependent on the entertainment level of the various cameos (of which Campbell comes to mind as having done pretty well here) and serves as merely being a slapdash followup to the original which was audacious with its various homages while still managing enough originality to be one of the most entertaining horror films of the 80sâŚ
5/10