More often than not, it\u2019s done with an eye on the bottom line. Sometimes, however, it allows for the best of both worlds \u2013 a name on the poster that sparks a bit of recognition, a production on the screen that takes the nucleus of an old idea and transforms it into something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fans of B-grade horror got a front-row seat to such a phenomenon in the early 2000s. In 2001, the late make-up effects artist Stan Winston joined forces with HBO and Cinemax to create \u2018Creature Features\u2019, five made-for-cable \u2018tributes\u2019 to monster movies produced by American International Pictures in the 1950s \u2013 while these new pictures would share the titles of AIP programmers like How To Make a Monster<\/em> and The Day the World Ended<\/em>, they\u2019d bear almost no resemblance to the originals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results were, shall we say, mixed: She Creature<\/em>, starring Carla Gugino and Rufus Sewell, is moody, sexy and gory fun, but Larry Clark\u2019s Teenage Caveman<\/em> is\u2026well, let\u2019s just say it\u2019s the Kids<\/em> and Ken Park<\/em> filmmaker letting his freak flag fly in ways that felt gross even in the more permissive years of the early 21st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A slightly more upmarket version of this IP mining was taking place in the HQ of the newly established Dark Castle Entertainment, assembled in 1998 by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis and Gilbert Adler, who\u2019d worked together throughout the \u201890s on the Tales From the Crypt<\/em> TV series. In tribute to one of Zemeckis\u2019 heroes, B-movie impresario William Castle, the trio had the idea to revamp Castle\u2019s kitschy body of work with modern special effects, a splash more gore and a knowing wink to the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, only two of Castle\u2019s productions \u2013 House on Haunted Hill<\/em> and 13 Ghosts<\/em> \u2013 were reimagined before Dark Castle embarked on a proto-Blumhouse strategy of turning out relatively low-budget fare across a variety of crowd-pleasing genres \u2013 horror, of course, with the likes of Ghost Ship<\/em>, Gothika<\/em> and The Reaping<\/em> but also crime (Guy Ritchie\u2019s Rocknrolla<\/em>), mystery (the Kate Beckinsale thriller Whiteout<\/em>) and action (2010\u2019s The Losers<\/em>, a far superior men-on-a-mission romp to the same year\u2019s Expendables<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given its familiar title, one may be forgiven for believing Dark Castle\u2019s 2005 release House of Wax<\/em>, written by twin brothers Chad and Carey Hayes and directed by Spanish-born filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra in his feature debut, was another return to the Castle well. The OG House<\/em>, however, had no Castle involvement \u2013 it\u2019s a Warner Bros title from 1953, starring genre legend Vincent Price as a demented, disfigured sculptor staging exhibitions of his murder victims coated in wax, itself a remake of the studio\u2019s 1933 release Mystery of the Wax Museum<\/em>, directed by the great Michael Curtiz of Casablanca<\/em> and The Adventures of Robin Hood<\/em> fame. (And here you were, thinking do-overs were a new thing!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201905 House of Wax<\/em> forgoes fusty old museums in favor of an isolated backwoods town, which may distinguish it from its \u201953 antecedent but instead aligns it with the early-2000s like of Jeepers Creepers<\/em>, Wrong Turn<\/em> and the Platinum Dunes take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em>, defined by a witty Redditor as \u201ctank-top classics of the 2000s\u201d. Indeed, it\u2019s not so much the original House of Wax<\/em> the remake resembles as the 1979 drive-in mainstay Tourist Trap<\/em>, what with its blank-faced but eerily lifelike statues (mannequins in Trap<\/em>, wax figures in House<\/em>), off-the-beaten-track location, victim list of hot young things and a pair homicidal siblings (\u2026or maybe not?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But while we\u2019re talking distinguishing features, what separates the \u201905 House of Wax<\/em> from Tourist Trap<\/em>, which has a nifty horror-movie title and some eye-catching key art going for it and not much else, is someone behind the camera who really knows what they\u2019re doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the last couple of decades, Collet-Serra has become one of the more reliable makers of mainstream genre entertainment (Orphan<\/em>, The Shallows<\/em> and four Liam Neeson bangers: Unknown<\/em>, Non-Stop<\/em>, Run All Night<\/em>, and The Commuter<\/em>) displaying great aptitude for setting of mood, pacing of story, and staging of action, all of which results in entertainment that is wholly engaging for the duration and genuinely satisfying at the conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (OK, there was a glitch moment where Collet-Serra was roped into traffic-cop duties for the Dwayne Johnson Industrial Complex, with Jungle Cruise<\/em> and Black Adam <\/em>two of the worst movies either man has their names attached to, but JCS appears to have course-corrected with the Netflix hit Carry-On<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n His chops were evident from the get-go, as House of Wax<\/em> shows Collet-Serra\u2019s facility with, and willingness to, putting the screws to his characters \u2013 and the audience. This isn\u2019t always in terms of gruesomeness, even though his ventures into horror demonstrate he\u2019s certainly not afraid to get bloody, but more in terms of unease and discomfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the situation becomes more sinister and the stakes heighten for House of Wax<\/em>\u2019s young protagonists\u2014six friends en route to a college football game unlucky enough to cross paths with a psycho who has an appreciation for bloody murder and wax sculpture\u2014there\u2019s no dead air between the setpiece scenes of stalking and slashing. The movie slowly, carefully ratchets up the tension. But House of Wax<\/em> wasn\u2019t sold on the prowess of its then-unknown director \u2013 it had its recognizable title, its promise of homicidal carnage and, most importantly, a cast of the finest young It Girls and Boys 2005 had to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elisha Cuthbert, hot off 24<\/em> and the teen comedy The Girl Next Door<\/em>! Not one but two of Rory Gilmore\u2019s love interests in Jared Padalecki and Chad Michael Murray! (Respectively, they played Cuthbert\u2019s straight-arrow boyfriend and wayward brother, although many viewers have noted the two should have traded roles, given that Cuthbert\u2019s chemistry with Murray gives the movie a weirdly kinky vibe.) Jon Abrahams from Meet the Parents<\/em> and Scary Movie<\/em>! And Robert Ri\u2019chard from\u2026some Nickelodeon show called Cousin Skeeter<\/em>? (It ran four seasons, so I guess someone<\/em> was watching.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re all fine, and in some cases better than fine (Murray actually plays a short-fused prick pretty well). And they\u2019re given a worthy predator in Brian Van Holt, who does the Lonesome Rhodes trick of using folksy charm to disguise something way darker and nastier \u2013 he\u2019s very good indeed, and he strikes me as having had one of those Rick Dalton careers where he could easily have been, say, Josh Holloway had the cards fallen his way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And then there\u2019s Paris. Paris Hilton, the very first actor cast in the movie. The superstar socialite was far from a screen novice when she landed the role of Paige (a role for which the ever-reliable IMDb says Oscar winners Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly were sought \u2013 take that with a grain of salt), having briefly appeared on the big screen in Wonderland<\/em>, The Cat in the Hat<\/em> and Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!<\/em>, but this would be more than a cameo or bit part, or even \u2018being herself\u2019 on the reality-TV series The Simple Life<\/em>. And while Hilton doesn\u2019t disgrace herself or diminish the film, her real contribution would be in the promotional side. Because House of Wax<\/em> surmised that its audience was not there to see Paris act, it was there to see Paris die. So signs saying exactly that were placed in the window of chic West Hollywood boutique Kitson, and the limited-edition run of T-shirts emblazoned with the words \u2018See Paris Die\u2019 sold like hotcakes. What would today be regarded as kinda misogynistic and tasteless was, in 2005, just savvy marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s before we even look at the possible stylistic similarities between Hilton\u2019s death scene, part of which is filmed by the killer on an old-school camcorder, and a certain sex tape leaked a year or two earlier. Let me tell you, in terms of sensitivity, we were off the rails at the turn of the century.Is it possible, however, that a willingness to roughly shove good taste to the side in favour of an attention-grabbing moment that would have the crowd cowering in fear, groaning in sympathy or chuckling sadistically is part of House of Wax<\/em>\u2019s enduring appeal? After all, it captures a particular moment in time \u2013 a quintessential 2005 state of mind, in this case \u2013 and does so with a timeless kind of huckster showmanship\u2026almost like a well-made wax statue, one might say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “House of Wax” is available for digital rental or purchase<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/house3-1024x576.jpg\")
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