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Since I was little I remember always being drawn to the Waxwork VHS cover. All those faces, the tiny butler, the giant UNRATED version sticker. When I finally saw the film, I loved it, but not for the same reason I feel I must write about it today.
The intial love of this film comes from the fact that it has everything that my young mind wanted to see in horror, simple plot, great characters, gore, and a dash of humor. As I watch it now, I still get those pleasures from it, and even more so I appreciate the originality and execution of the film.
To this day, the film makes me laugh. Most notably the scene where Dracula turns into a bat and the man grabs him outta the air proclaiming in a Clint Eastwood tone, "Go ahead, make my day" and then blows the bats head off. Also the scene where Tony is convinced he is hypnotized while in the werewolf waxwork.
As I watched this film for the 100th time yesterday I found myself thinking, why don't they remake this? Then I said, I really hope they don't. The current industry trend of remakes is starting to hit properties that were successful (F13) as well as those that weren't (The Fog). Everything is fair game, and I really hope they don't get to Waxwork.
It is so rare in the horror genre that a film can still maintain the same appeal it had when it was released as it does now. That is not to say Halloween still isn't scary, but Waxwork is still funny, still entertaining, and still has a fantastic story driven by great characters and fun dialogue. It isn't a horror/comedy in likes of "shaun of the dead", but more like "evil dead 2". Where the humor is intetnional, but not in a way that distracts from the genre of the film.
The second film is as good, but will never be better. The humor is a little more layered on than the first, but it still maintains lots of gore and entertainment. Although it does dwell in fantasy territory, it doesn't stray too far away from the first one in that respect. It even builds upon the mythos of the world created by Anthony Hickox, and not in a bad or "stretching it" kind of way.
I felt I had to share these thoughts with the board, not because I don't think anyone has seen it, but because its a film that if it's been a while since you last saw it, you should try and watch it soon. Disagree with me, thats fine, all the better to generate conversation. Point being that Waxwork is proof for all the money hungry studios, that if you put some money into an original idea, you may not have to ever remake that film.
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love it!.
Originally Posted by steelba
