After discovering just bad Lucio Fulci's health was, Dario Argento decided to help him find a new project in the hopes that directing would lift his spirits and his well-being. Sadly, pre-production and Argento's work on The Stendahl Syndrome went on a few months too long and Fulci died before production could begin.

The two directors rarely got along and disagreed throughout pre-production. Ironically, Fulci wanted a classical horror movie while Argento wanted to increase the gore. Go figure.

Argento turned the project over to special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, who created the effects for Demons, Hands of Steel, Opera, The Church, Cemetery Man and many more Italian horror films. He adjusted the script to increase the special effects. It brought a tear to my eye to see the dedication to Fulci before the film began.

We open in Paris in 1900, as a moving camera gives way to black-gloved hands, revealing a couple who has been murdered by a masked killer with metal claws.

Fast-forward to 1912. There's a new wax museum in Rome and much like House of Wax, it's known for having lifelike murder scenes. Meanwhile, the daughter of the couple we saw murdered in the opening, Sonia Lafont, is now a costume designer who wants to work for the museum's owner and main artist, Boris Volkoff. Yet all is not as it seems. As people disappear and others die inside the museum, new figures begin to appear in its exhibits.

What makes this movie isn't the story or the acting, but the gorgeous production design and strange combination of Victorian machinery with Terminator-like machines. Sure, some of the animation and fire effects look rough today, but the creature and gore effects are incredibly strong even twenty-plus years after its release.

If you know anything about Italian horror of the past few decades, then surely the names associated with this film will have some meaning to you. Written in big letters on the front of the VHS box is "Dario Argento presents...", and surely Argento's name means at least there is some attempted style and class injected into this film. Secondly, the director is none other than Sergio Stivaletti, the man responsible for the many gory FX of films like DEMONS, here making the transition from SFX man (although he did do the SFX in this film too - multi-talented, you see) to director. He does a good job, keeping the right mix of all the correct ingredients (somehow the analogy of a director strikes me as somebody stirring a stew and trying to get even qualities of the correct ingredients). Finally, partially responsible for the screenplay is Lucio Fulci, to whom this film is dedicated, as it was the last film he worked on before his death. His ghostly presence is noticeable in the gory proceedings and it's great to have him on board.

While the film is essentially a remake of MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (itself already remade in 1953 as HOUSE OF WAX),don't let that put you off. It almost rivals those two classics, becoming something of a classic in its own right. There are plenty of reasons for genre fans to enjoy watching, and even the dubbing is hardly noticeable these days. The acting is of a high calibre, from Mondello who adds depth to her role of the female lead, becoming more than just a pretty, screaming face. The perpetrator of the gruesome crimes is played by a memorably stony faced actor too, on the outside dignity and aloofness, on the inside a raving maniac. Especially sinister are the man's two servants, both twisted and perverted characters, one of whom ties a victim down, cuts her arms and lets pigs feed on her blood. He also indulges in some kinky games with a local prostitute. The only bland actor is the heroic male lead, but then again they usually are and there's no point breaking tradition.

The plot has enough new twists and turns in the tale to keep fans of the original wax films interested. There is a healthy dose of Gothic atmosphere, and sumptuous costumes and sets, which really help to make the period believable. There is also a high level of gore and nudity (plenty of the latter) for exploitation fans to enjoy, the bloodiest moments being where a man has his hand ripped off, his throat slashed and his heart torn out...and these are just in the opening moments! Some clever CGI work is used effectively, while the SFX crew really did themselves proud with the gruesome make-ups. There's even a TERMINATOR-inspired monster on the rampage at the end of the film, except this is more chilling as it's made of bone instead of metal - yes, a living skeleton! THE WAX MASK is everything you could hope for a modern horror film and shows that if the effort is made, you can still make good, atmospheric period pieces like this.

Paris December 31, 1900: a grisly mass murder. And then in Rome, 12 years later... a young man accepts a dare to stay overnight in a spooky wax museum. Something not quite right is going on there, but this man's stay is only the beginning.

Written by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, two masters who were more known to be at odds than to collaborate. Director of photography, special effects and directing all by Sergio Stivaletti. Dedicated to Lucio Fulci, the Italian horror master.

The film opens with a spectacular moving camera shot, and blood-spattered bodies strewn about. This sets quite a tone, and it's any wonder this film is not better known. Followed by a shot of black-gloved hands, a staple of Argento's work.

The men's hairstyles seem to be quite odd... what I will call the Italian mullet. One of these mullet men named Alex (Umberto Balli) looks like the cross between Bill Maher and Julian Sands. The woman who plays Sonia Lafont (Romina Mondello),though, is not only stylish, but incredibly beautiful in an exotic but innocent way. And somehow they got away with showing a preteen girl topless, which may be okay in Italy, but seems strange not being cut out when dubbed for American audiences.

Obviously, some of the ground here has been covered in other wax museum films -- notably "House of Wax" with Vincent Price, where they seem to have got much inspiration. But there are new surprises, and an excess of gore -- including a robotic hand that rips a heart straight from a chest! Add in some"Crawlspace"-esquire voyeurism, and voila! The film seems to drag on a bit longer than necessary, which is more a pacing issue than anything (it runs a modest 91 minutes). That aside, it is a good addition to the modern Italian horror film, with Sergio Stivaletti proving himself a capable director. I almost want to say on the level of Michele Soavi, but that would be going too far.