By Melissa Antoinette Garza
THE WAX MASK (1997) opens in France with Sonia, a young girl who witnesses her parents murdered by an unseen assailant sporting a mask.
Twelve years later, a sexy gent named Luca (Daniel Auber) gets hot and heavy in a brothel (RAWR RAWR) with a vampy gorgeous blonde Fem Goddess. After their romp, he goes downstairs and is challenged by another suitor to spend the night at a newly opened wax museum. If he succeeds he’ll win some green. The dude agrees, but ends up dead.
Sonia (Romina Mondello) arrives in Rome all grown up and applies to work at the Wax Museum. Boris (Robert Hossein) hires her, but she immediately begins to get freaked out. She feels as though the exhibits touch her.
Adding to the creepy atmosphere is the assistant Alex (Umberto Balli). He’s an odd dude but he’s also a bit reminiscent of Riff Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show so Imma like that strange bird. He has a diva attitude which I love. He gets jealous of Sonia and basically tells her to know her role and that he’s the only assistant of Boris. He also likes getting spanked and whipped by the chicks at the brothel, so score there too! RAWR RAWR weirdo guy, imma like you!
Boris is a kinky fucker too. He watches while his assistant gets worked over by the prostitute. Boris is a voyeur, and I respect that. You know he’s fucking those mannequins. Imma like his style!
Sexy Sonia turns to journalist Andrea (Riccardo Serventi Longhi) for help and he’s all too willing to mack on her. He’s an attentive lover with some hawt moves and he’s not bad on the eyes at all. Sonia herself is a true hottie so I get why the dudes are calling. Even Boris is handing jewelry over to the dame. She’s got it going on. Of course, I’d rather see her ride Alex, but I have problems. I’ve never hidden that from any of you, cats.
Meanwhile, the masked killer is having a field day and not just going after adults. He even kills a kid who is just chilling and eating cotton candy. If there was a murderer going after peeps eating cotton candy, Imma goner for sure. I love that stuff. When I go to an amusement park, I’m not leaving without it – and none of those weird flavors either – Cherry baby, all the fucking way. What can I say? Cherry’s got the way to groove me.
Soon the murderer goes after the prostitutes, too. That’s where I draw the line. You leave the ladies of the night alone! They work hard enough and don’t need to be hacked up by some psycho.
I wanted to be a madam when I was a kid. I even had my Hawaiian Barbie run a very successful Barbie Brothel so I have some experience in the field, and as such was very very disappointed in the killer!
Meanwhile, Sonia is horrified when she sees one of Boris’s exhibits is a recreation of her parents’ murder. The truth behind her folk’s murder is soon known and the assailant is shown in a fabulous reveal that Italian horror always does so well. It is over-the-top insane and has multiple layers. I love it.
Originally, THE WAX MASK was supposed to be a remake of HOUSE OF WAX (1953). Sergio Stivaletti came aboard to direct after Lucio Fulci’s unfortunate demise. Stivaletti considerably modified the script and put much emphasis on the gore and special effects, but the heart of the plot is still very much intact and the murder sequences are expertly done. The effects used are amazing and was well worth the focus Stivaletti placed upon them.
THE WAX MASK is a far superior reboot of THE HOUSE OF WAX than the atrocity that was the 2005 American version. Fucking Paris Hilton? I’m still not over that train-wreck. Can we just all make a pact that we won’t do anything to make Vincent Price roll in his grave? Please! He’s given the horror community so much, can we just preserve his iconic performances. I don’t want to see a remake of THE ABOMINABLE DR PHIBES (1971) starring Jake Fucking Paul, or some heads are gonna roll.
As for the THE WAX MASK, it’s fan-fucking-tastic. I love it. It’s entertaining, surprising, gory and it has some sexy motherfucking scenes that we don’t see in horror anymore. They were weaved in flawlessly and the actors have great chemistry together.
The plot wasn’t a new one, but it was done remarkably well. The atmosphere was tense, the executions were brutal and wild, the acting was topnotch and the chosen artistic homages and staples of Italian horror were not only present but done in a manner that respects the genre and the horror community. I miss movies like this.
In the end, it’s a beautiful combination of TOURIST TRAP (1979), HOUSE OF WAX (1953) WAXWORK (1988) and a bit of Jack the Ripper lore thrown in for good measure.
Right now this baby is on Shudder so go watch it. If you haven’t used a 7 day free pass, Amazon has one going on. You got no excuses, horror fans and horror fam. This one is fab.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
