Recent Reviews
DVD Review: House of Wax
By Dave Dreher
Nov 8, 2005, 23:18

I have to admit, I actually like the DVD.  I went into viewing it with dis-interest and a bit of disdain.  Didn’t really have much interest in the film and ended up being hooked.  A nice change of pace.  Sure, it’s corny and very predictable in parts but it is also well made and a ton of fun. 

The film opens with the typical “kids on the road who have car problems and require help” storyline.  This group of young adults are on their way to a football game when one of their vehicles breaks down.  A couple of the characters stay behind with the car while the others head on to catch the game.  Catching a ride with the town road kill cleaner two of our young heroes head into a nearby town to get a fan belt.  Sensing that perhaps riding with someone who scraps dead things off the road for a living might not have been such a good choice they ditch the wack job and head into the town on foot. 

The town looks nice enough once they get there and they wander up and down the quaint little main street in search of the gas station.  They find it but no one is there.  The town appears to be deserted and this is where the story starts to get a little strange.  I don’t want to give away too much of the plot as that would most definitely ruin the fun of the film but needless to say, the film is a bit strained at times.  Some of the dialogue is laughable and well quite simply, stupid. 

When the film is good though, it is very good.  I particularly enjoyed Paris Hilton’s characters death scene.  Graphic and hilarious.  It is worth the price of admission just to watch her take that pole.  Pun intended…

One of the things that when it was first revealed I thought was dumb as hell was the fact that the House of Wax was just that, a House of Wax.  What I mean is that the house was actually built out of wax.  One of the characters scratches the outside of the house early in the film and exclaims that the house is made of wax and I thought “you have got to be fu#@king kidding me”.  But you know what, it works! 

The ending of the film, where the House of Wax is melting like a mofo is cool as hell.  In the special features they reveal that what was being used as wax was actually peanut butter, I find that cool as hell.  I liked the climatic scenes.  Ooey, gooey fun….

So, all in all I have to say, I enjoyed and recommend this film.  Don’t sit down to watch it expecting anything new or exciting. We do get to see a little bit of Paris Hilton doing a striptease and think of her what you will, she does have a body on her and it is fun to watch her flaunt it.

I had a lot of fun with the special features on this disc.  They are well put together and meld well with the feature presentation.  All in all a nice package.  Warner Brothers has done well.

As The Caretaker is fond of telling me, “at least it is an R rated horror film.”  I have to agree with him, given the choice of watching an R rated House of Wax or a PG 13 rated horror wanna be, I’ll take House of Wax.

Did I talk it up enough to make you want to see it?  How about owning a copy?  Those wonderful folks over at Warner Brothers have sent along 2 copies of the DVD to giveaway to you loyal readers.  If you want one take a few moments and send along your name and mailing address to us here at HOH and we will collect up all the folks interested and pick 2 winners.  No trivia contest or anything this time, just send in your name and mailing to us here and we’ll let you know if you win.

House of Wax is available at your local retailer or rental place right now.