Not exactly an Academy Award winner here, but this film is just fun. Director Anthony Hickox set out to make a fun horror spoof and he succeeds very well at it. Zach Gallagan once again stars as the almost nerdy unlikely hero. The film pays homage, firmly tongue in cheek, to the classic horror movies of long ago, and David Warner shines as the demented owner/creator of this wax palace of horrors.

Yes the plot is predictable, but who cares? This is a film meant to be fun and it is fun. Patrick MacNee is delightful as always. Johyn Rhys-Davies is sort of wasted in the small role they give him, but is good as ever. Dana Ashbrook could have used a little more screen time but he is at his smart-ass best in this film. All in all just a fun evening. Anyone looking for something more needs to see the original "House of Wax(1953)" with Vincent Price.

A nice throwback to the classic horrors of the '30s and '40s, this has just about every monster in it that you can think of : Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera, the Werewolf, the Invisible Man, a pod person, zombies from a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD-esque film, every bad creature you can think of from the '30s through till the '60s. Unfortunately, with all these monsters, there is little space for plot, and despite a few clever plot devices, the actual story has to be the weakest thing in this film.

That, and the decision to have the cast populated by bland American teenagers, well apart from Zach Galligan that is. Yes, we get another gang of bimbos and hunks who get murdered one by one without even realising what's going on. Only the two leads are any good, the rest of the cast fade quicker than a painting left in the bright sunshine. Galligan plays a surprisingly unlikeable creep who turns out to be a hero, while Foreman herself gets seduced by the dark side, even indulging in an unhealthy whipping session with the Marquis de Sade.

Still, to make up for these shortcomings, WAXWORK gives us an exploitation cast to die for. First up is David Warner, cast in the suspicious role of the waxwork hotel proprietor. Warner is pretty low key throughout the film, until the ending where he gets his own head torn off. Many other cult actors appear in bit parts, from John Rhys Davies as a werewolf to Patrick Macnee, crippled in a wheelchair and yet still a purveyor of good. The other fun actors include Miles O'Keefe as a blond, long-haired Dracula.

Aside from the many knowing references which horror fans will delight in, there are a number of horror sequences which play like mini films. These are well-paced and feature some quite graphic violence and gore; surprising that it wasn't banned really. One teenager gets attacked and bitten by a werewolf, a girl gets seduced by Dracula (and finds her boyfriend chained up in the bathroom, with rats devouring his bloody leg),a detective is attacked by an unstoppable mummy (which even gets a spear shoved through it, like in Hammer's THE MUMMY),plus some masochistic moments in the Marquis de Sade episode. Okay, so the plot is pretty weak and just strings these sequences together, and the ending, which involves a huge brawl in the museum's main hall, is pretty uninspired, but you just can't help but enjoy the bloody fun and get into the spirit of the thing. A sequel, LOST IN TIME, followed.

While walking to the high-school, the teenagers Sarah (Deborah Foreman) and China (Michelle Johnson) are invited by the owner of a wax museum, David Lincoln (David Warner),to a private exhibition at midnight and he tells that they may invite four other friends to come with them. China invites her former boyfriend, the wealth Mark (Zach Galligan),their friend Tony (Dana Ashbrook) and two other schoolmates to come to the museum, but the two last ones give-up.

Mark, China, Sarah and Tony are welcome by a dwarf and they separate in the room during the tour. Soon Tony crosses the security rope of the display and he finds in a cabin trapped with a werewolf. China also crosses the security rope of another display and she finds in a castle with several vampires. Tony and China are killed and become part of the exhibition. Mark and Sarah leave the museum and soon they find that their friends are going missing. Mark goes to the police but Inspector Roberts (Charles McCaughan) does not believe in his words. Mark and Sarah find in the attic of his mansion an old newspaper and they learn a dark secret about David Lincoln. They visit Sir Wilfred (Patrick Macnee),who is a friend of Mark's family, and they learn that David is near to unleash evil on Earth.

"Waxwork" is a funny and gore movie with an absurd story, silly dialogs, but also a cult movie. The Waxwork Museum mysteriously appears in town and soon teenagers, the police inspector and several people disappear in the wax museum, but nobody in the town seems to care. The 80's is a fertile period of horror movies and "Waxwork" is among my favorites. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Passagem" ("The Passage")

Note: On 16 February 2021, I saw this film again.