Terror in the Wax Museum (1973)

Truly Dreadful Film

The first must-see film of the year.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Terror in the Wax Museum is not a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) nor it's remake House of Wax (1953). I can see this film makes a "nod" towards Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) but the two stories are different from one another.I was 1 year old in 1973 (the year this film came out) but I must have been about 3 or 4 years of age when I first saw Terror in the Wax Museum because I do have memories of this movie way back then - a couple of memories vivid. This is one of the films that scared me when I was a kid... yes this movie was still a new film back then and as a kid it was terrifying! Wax figures "coming to life" (the dream sequences) and mainly Jack the Ripper - Oh yes I was afraid way back then.I finally had a chance to watch this movie again all these years later and I have to say it's not all that scary to me any more but it is a good film surrounding a wax museum! The one idea that is still creepy to me is the idea of someone "hiding behind" (pretending to be) a wax figure to commit murder. Not to mention the true stories behind each wax display. So there is a bit of horror in this film - it's just not the blood and guts type of horror that we see in movies today.I enjoyed the film - I give it 8 stars BUT I have some personal memories from my childhood attached to this film so I have to give it an extra star - an extra star for my childhood memories.9/10

The basic premise is not far removed from the many remakes of the classic "Mystery of the Wax Museum"...there are some gruesome murders at a famous house of wax featuring the likenesses of such infamous characters as Jack The Ripper, Lizzie Borden, Bluebeard the Pirate, Marie Antoinette, and Ivan the Terrible. Who's responsible? Who's next? Who's real? Who's wax?With a distinguished cast of great actors from Hollywood's Golden Years, this would be a great find for real movie buffs who don't mind a good scare. One scene standing out in particular is one where a woman of ill-repute is stalked by Jack the Ripper. I last saw it 20 years ago, and still get the chills.

This is one of those cheapo horror flicks that were churned out in the 60s/70s, using lots of people who'd been big stars in the 30s and 40s, and not really giving them that much to do. Elsa Lanchester comes off best in this one, as her value didn't diminish much over the years (and she never looked any different!). Not that scary, apart from one or two disturbing bits, the plot is wafer thin and one of those that when you get to the end you keep thinking 'but ...'. And poor Shani Wallis and that dreadful song! But, overall, it is fun and has that weird curiosity value of 'where have I seen him/her before'? for those of us who watch old black and white stuff on a regular basis. Worth tracking down but could have been much, much better.

I'm happy to see that some in Hollywood are going an extra mile to recognize the great work and talent of our great horror film actors like Lugosi, Karloff, Price and the Chaneys.But I'm disappointed to see that John Carradine hasn't received his share of credit yet. Carradine had this great aura about him of the man teetering on the precipt between sanity and madness in many of his parts. And no one who ever saw him in even the B films such as "Unearthly" or "Red Zone Cuba" can ever say that he wasn't by far the best performer in the picture or say that he ever gave less than his best efforts.