Waxwork (1988 film)
| Waxwork | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster |
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| Directed by | Anthony Hickox |
| Produced by | Staffan Ahrenberg |
| Written by | Anthony Hickox |
| Starring | Zach Galligan Deborah Foreman Michelle Johnson David Warner Dana Ashbrook Miles O'Keeffe Patrick Macnee John Rhys-Davies |
| Music by | Roger Bellon |
| Cinematography | Gerry Lively |
| Editing by | Christopher Cibelli |
| Distributed by | Vestron Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 17, 1988 |
| Running time | 95 min. (R-rated) 100 min. (unrated) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.5 million |
| Box office | $808,114 |
Waxwork is a 1988 horror comedy film starring Zach Galligan and Deborah Foreman.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In a small suburban town, a group of college students visit a mysterious wax museum, where they encounter several morbid displays, all of which contain stock characters from the horror genre. Two of the students enter two separate waxwork displays, one depicting a forest scene and the other a Gothic castle, and are destroyed by a werewolf and Count Dracula respectively. Two of the other students, Mark and Sarah, leave the waxwork unscathed, but are chagrined by the disappearance of their friends. The disappearances continue, and extend to an investigating police detective, who is trapped and destroyed in an exhibit of The Mummy.
Mark takes Sarah to the attic of his house, where he shows her an old newspaper detailing the murder of his grandfather (which was seen in the prologue); the only suspect was David Lincoln, his chief assistant, whose photograph closely resembles the waxwork owner. The two then consult the wheelchair-bound Sir Wilfred, a friend of Mark's grandfather, who explains how he and Mark's grandfather collected trinkets from "eighteen of the most evil people who ever lived" and that Lincoln stole the artifacts; Lincoln, having sold his soul to the devil, wants to bring their previous owners to life by creating some wax effigies and feeding them the souls of victims, a concept taken from voodoo. Providing all eighteen with a victim would bring about the "voodoo end of the world, when the dead shall rise, and consume all things".
On the advice of Sir Wilfred, Mark and Sarah enter the waxwork at night and douse the museum with gasoline. However, Sarah is lured into the display of the Marquis de Sade, and Mark is pushed into a zombie display by the waxwork's two butlers. Mark is approached by a horde of zombies, but finds that if he does not believe in the monsters, then they do not exist and cannot harm him. Mark finds his way out of the display and into the Marquis de Sade exhibit, where he rescues Sarah, while the Marquis vows revenge.
Despite Mark and Sarah's attempts to escape, the displays are completed and the evil entities begin to reanimate. Suddenly, Sir Wilfred and a huge group of armed men arrive and in the ensuing battle, several waxworks and slayers die, including Lincoln's butlers and Mark and Sarah's former friends, now evil. Mark duels with the Marquis de Sade, who is finally killed by an axe, wielded by Sarah.
The reunited couple is confronted by Lincoln, who dies in a vat of boiling wax. Sir Wilfred is killed by a werewolf as Sarah and Mark manage to escape the burning waxwork with their lives and begin to walk home, not noticing that the hand from the Zombie display is scuttling away from the rubble.
[edit] Production
The Eighteen most evil beings used in the film are; the Marquis de Sade, the werewolf, Count Dracula and his son and brides, the Phantom of the Opera, The Mummy, Romero-style Zombies, Frankenstein's monster, Jack the Ripper, the Invisible Man, a voodoo priest, a witch, a snakeman, pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a mutant baby, an axe murderer, a multi-eyed alien, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.[1]
[edit] Cast
- Zach Galligan as Mark Loftmore
- Deborah Foreman as Sarah Brightman
- Michelle Johnson as China Webster
- Dana Ashbrook as Tony
- Micah Grant as Jonathan
- Eric Brown as James
- Clare Carey as Gemma
- David Warner as David Lincoln
- Patrick Macnee as Sir Wilfred
- Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros as Hans
- Jack David Walker (as Jack David Warner) as Junior
- Charles McCaughan as Inspector Roberts
- J. Kenneth Campbell as Marquis de Sade
- Miles O'Keeffe as Count Dracula
- John Rhys-Davies as Werewolf
- Jennifer Bassey as Mrs Loftmore
- Joe Baker as Jenkins
- Buckley Norris as Lecturer
- Tom McGreevey (as Tom MacGreevey) as Charles
Several crew members appear in small roles:
- Anthony Hickox, director, as English prince
- James Hickox, assistant editor, as werewolf hunter's assistant
- Gerry Lively, director of photography, as Sir Wilfred's butler
[edit] Release
Often cited as the first self referential horror well before Scream and such, the film was given a limited release in the United States by Vestron Pictures in June 1988. It grossed $808,114 at the box office.[2] It was released by Vestron Video the same year on VHS in both R-rated and Unrated editions and went on to sell over 150,000 units (an estimated gross of $20 million). The film's budget was $1.5 million.
The film was released on DVD in 2003 by Lionsgate as a double feature with the sequel Waxwork II: Lost in Time.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ The Essential Monster Movie Guide: A Century of Creatures in Film by Stephen Jones and Forrest J. Ackerman.
- ^ "Waxwork". boxofficemojo.com. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=waxwork.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
- ^ "Waxwork / Waxwork II: Lost In Time (Double Feature)". image-entertainment.com. http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=542405. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
[edit] External links
- Waxwork at the Internet Movie Database
- Waxwork at Rotten Tomatoes
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