Waxwork (1988)

Too much of everything

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"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.

Waxwork is written and directed by Anthony Hickox. It stars Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Johnson, David Warner, Dana Ashbrook, Miles O'Keefe, Patrick Macnee and John Rhys-Davies. Music is by Roger Bellon and cinematography by Gerry Lively.A sort of portmanteau horror film made on a TV standard budget. Plot in simple terms has a bunch of pretty young adults unwisely accept an invite to visit the mysterious new wax museum that has suddenly appeared in town: At midnight! What follows is a number of stories that find members of the group magically transported into the realm of an exhibit, such as werewolf, vampire etc, and end up as part of the exhibit themselves. Can the hero in waiting save the day?It's a fun homage of a movie, playing very much firmly with tongue in cheek. The presence of some horror stalwarts in the cast is reassuring, and the effects work isn't half bad. Some of the acting is poor from the younger cast members, and while it's not hard to forgive a low budgeted movie its failings, it's still annoying that the actors playing the wax models can't keep still, while the set nearly falls down at one point. The photography is also too cloudy at times, Gerry Lively's filters straining for colour ambiance.Still, it's a decent time filler that's made with love by a horror fan for horror fans. 5/10

A group of friends attend a private showing at a new Waxwork museum, but the owner has a sinister plan that involves the wax figures. The museum has displays of the most sinister creatures known to man and once a person steps onto the display, they enter the creature's world. I thoroughly enjoy this movie every time I watch it because it is very creative and set out to do something completely different. The only negative thing I can say is that the effects and editing are fairly poor. However, it doesn't stand out that much or ruin the movie at all. It is full of dark humor and gives nods to great horror movies. Of course, it wouldn't be a campy 80's movie without Gremlins star Zach Galligan and several other memorable actors from the decade showing up. It should also be mentioned that this is Anthony Hickox's first feature-length film, which makes it even more impressive. This is a gem when it comes to campy horror movies and is a definite must-see.

I generally think of Zach Galligan as being fairly indistinguishable from David Naughton - both were personable young American leads who played the main protagonist in the 80s in highly successful horror/comedy movies (Naughton in An American Werewolf In London, Galligan in the more juvenile Gremlins and its sequel - Naughton's character didn't survive long enough for a sequel, of course), and both went from those successes to a gradual spiral into increasingly rubbishy films, mainly low budget horror, until their careers more or less petered out.Waxwork is early in Galligan's spiral. It is not complete rubbish. Even though the story (teens loose in a wax museum where the exhibits come to life and the young friends die one by one in gory fashion) was not exactly original even then, it has moderate production values, some well known names in the cast, committed performances, and is very professionally made.But the spiral continued, and what followed was not as good as Waxwork.