Skip to main content

Waxwork, A Perfect Moment in 80's Horror Cinema

"Waxwork" is simply a beautiful example of the 80's horror/comedy genre; completely charming in it's goofiness yet somehow engaging in its "scare factor."  I fell in love with this movie when I first watched it at around 11 years old or so.

I know. I know. You're rolling your eyes right now because you've probably ignored or forgotten this movie all together but I'm here to shed some light on why you should give it a chance.

Actors we know and love
"Waxwork" is peppered with genre actors whom we have come to adore:

A tolerable story
Riddled with ludicrous moments, the overall story isn't a bad one: in order to bring about chaos, creepy dude "brings to life" historical (we might call them 'fictional') bad guys by "feeding" them souls. To make that work, the movie is set up in pseudo vignettes strung together around a larger story (nothing new in the world of horror.) Each of these mini stories shows one of the monsters claiming a soul. It's implied (although never explicitly stated) that each victim is drawn to a particular creature for some secret reason (hidden within their soul?) 

Very sexy
If you're one of those twisted horror fans caught up in that dark place between horror and erotica, Waxwork actually has something tasty to offer you. Between the Marquis de Sade and Dracula, the ladies who enter the waxwork have some immensely sexy 'monsters' to contend with. The Marquis actually struck me as an interesting choice, not your standard horror villain; and to her credit, Deborah Foreman makes an exceptionally orgasmic victim of his whipping. 

Cheesy but witty dialogue
"I'm having a private showing tonight. At midnight."
"Hmmm. Good time. After dinner but before breakfast."

I also love all of Dana Ashbrook's lines in his Werewolf story. He's this fantastic, stereotypical class-clown who has been drawn into a classic horror tale yet he's strangely believable and weirdly unruffled by the entire situation.

I love the moment when he realizes that he's not in the "real world" anymore and his first question is, "who put the acid in my drink, again?"

Staggeringly self-aware
10 years before Scream wowed audiences with it's post modern, self-referencial, genre-aware story - Waxwork laid the groundwork.

Quality gore 
On this front, the Dracula story is by far my favorite. (Gruesome dinner party followed by vampire slayings in an all-white room. So good.) Followed closely by the Mummy story. (Head crushed underfoot of angry mummy? Yes please.)

Wrap up time?
The 80's were littered with tons of horror flicks in all shapes and sizes, many of which are completely forgettable. 

There are quite a few gems in there though, if you know where to look, and I happily count Waxwork among them.

You can watch the stunningly amazing Waxwork trailer here:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Witch (2015)

You know the drill - there's ALWAYS spoilers. Don't want the movie ruined for you, come back after you've seen it. Also - I'm still without an editor - typos and bad grammar await you! I keep hoping that the cultural obsession with zombies will end; literally every other damn movie that comes 'round seems to feature some sort of shambling, undead being bent on devouring the weak flesh of regular humans. Once upon a time, zombies have have been used as a metaphor for the blind consumerism created by our capitalist society, or the perceived depletion of resources by immigrants, or even the ravages of time and disease on our frail bodies. Now it seems that the deeper social commentary has been lost as audiences mindlessly consume "zombie fiction" in an attempt to keep up with trends. ( How very meta - a film buddy of mine commented on this assessment! ) All of this is just a sideways rant, leading up to my actual point: it seems that zombie may actually...

Mother!

Alright friends and readers–this one is probably doubly filled with typos and grammar errors because I wrote it while angry. Good luck and happy reading. There are unpopular opinions in every realm. As a film student, you can truly strike a nerve when you say things like, "I fucking hate the self-indulgence of independent films and the way people idolize them." Or, you know, "Low lighting and slow pacing does not a good movie make." Or whatever. You can of course, objectively, understand how this happens. When you are creating art–when you are outside the system  so to speak–you are free to explore things (subjects, techniques, etc.) that may need to be addressed and that freedom can become intoxicating and go to one's head. While it may seem only right  or only fair  to respect and accept each creative endeavor that every artist undertakes, it is unreasonable to believe that the world will remain forever patient with the self-obsession artists have. Th...

The Babadook

Spoilers and typos! Enjoy. We often look back nostalgically on childhood, envious of the joy we felt and the boundless imaginations we possessed. How conveniently we forget the other side of that coin: as children, we experience a depth of terror our adult selves continually try to recreate for cathartic entertainment. When we try to bring those childhood fears to life on the screen, we often end up with movies about "things that go bump in the night," which is a somewhat superficial approach. While it does provide an opportunity for a supernatural experience, it ignores the root of our fear: the unknown . As children, we lack life experience. We lack nuance. We lack understanding. Not knowing creates in us fear. Yes, we fear what lurks in the darkness but we also fear the adult world because we do not understand how it works. The Babadook works to exploit both  those fears. The short story: a widowed mother of a young boy experiences a mental breakdown and tries to...