REVIEW: House of Wax (1953)

Title: House of Wax
Release Year: 1953
Genre: Horror
Cast: Vincent Price
Plot: A psychopathic sculptor - who is a little too attached to his wax figures - seeks revenge, after his investor burns their museum to collect the insurance money.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ＿ ＿ 

Review: Three years ago, after I had posted about my least favourite classic genres, Rasha and I decided to try watching classic horrors, because it was at the top of our lists, even though we hadn't watched any at the time hehe.
We thought, in order to get the real feel of horror, we should watch them on Halloween, and it turned out to be the perfect setting for it. Then we decided to pick films starring our favourite actors first. We started with Vincent Price, naturally, and House of Wax was first one his list.

This was my first ever classic horror film, so I didn't know what to expect. At first I was scared but half way through, realised that it was much less horrifying than I had anticipated. It was very predictable too. Still it felt like the horror film classic television series would've talked about, so it was kind of fun to watch. Plus I really liked that I wasn't terrified because usually I don't like to watch things that play with my mind hehe.

The film was an adaptation of Mystery of the Wax Museum, 1933, which I have yet to watch. I can imagine it being freaky though, because horror films in the 1930s were chilling, while 1950s horror were a bit more animated.

The filming took only around a month and was released two months later. The first time I read that, I was in shock but then noticed that most classic films took that short amount of time to create. The special thing about this film though was that it was the first American coloured one in 3D. 

Price said that he often went to the cinema inconspicuously to watch the film. He remained undetected by his fans until one day he decided to reveal himself, so he sat behind two teenagers and after a scary scene, he said to them, "Did you like it?" and they "went right into orbit" as he put it. Hahaha that must've been horrifying to hear the same scary voice behind you. I sure wish I'd been one of those teenagers though.

The Story:
Henry Jarrod and Matthew Burke owned a wax museum in New York. After a disagreement about the sculptures, Burke decides to burn down the museum, while Jarrod is still working, and collect the insurance money. Remarkably though, Jarrod comes out alive.

After years passed, Jarrod opens another museum with a collection of sculptures more lifelike than the ones he had done in the past. But there is a gruesome secret behind that. Dun Dun DUN!

The Characters:
Price played Henry Jarrod, the promising sculptor who turned mad. As usual, he was as creepy as possible. While Price's acting was always over-dramatic, it was perfect for horror.
Actually, this was Price's very first horror film and it's success, garnered much demand for him to play other prominent villainous roles. It relaunched his career and through it he became a high-profile Hollywood star. 

At the beginning of the film, Price was terrifying, especially the way he limped while he ran in the streets. It really creeped me out. Just imagine such a thing chasing you hehe
Of course that didn't last long because the heroine ruined the rest of the scene.

Phyllis Kirk played the heroine. She couldn't act to save her life, or anyone's for that matter. She didn't seem horrified when the creep was chasing her, especially when she removed her shoes in the sidewalk and listened for his footsteps.

Kirk said she was practically forced to play the role because of her contract, otherwise she wouldn't have accepted. I understand why she wouldn't want to, because horror wasn't a glamorous genre, but it's not like she could've succeeded with her acting abilities anyway.
I didn't expect a high-profiled actress to be the lead, but at least someone who could act scared, if only for the important scenes. She was a huge disappointment and rather ruined the film for me.

Carolyn Jones played the missing friend. I was so happy to see her because well she's Morticia Addams after all. She was great and I wished she was the lead instead of Kirk.

The other characters were good. Actually I don't remember because it was a long time ago and I watched it at a time when I wasn't into horror, so I tried to forget hehehe I was so obstinate. 

In the original film made in 1933, the sculptor's assistant was a drug addict, but in this version, they made him into an alcoholic instead, because it was forbidden to mention drug addiction in the 1950s. 
When I first watched the film, on the scene after the sculptor's assistant was caught, I didn't understand why he was being so extreme for an alcoholic. I mean the police just caught him and he wasn't imprisoned for days or anything, yet he acted like a heroin addict. I've never met an alcoholic who couldn't handle a few hours without alcohol, but now I understand why he was made to act that way. Well not entirely because they still could've gone about it differently.
This silliness reminds me of Port of New York, 1949, when they held some man - with extremely long nails - and took hours questioning him, then he almost died being he was thirsty hahahha they weren't in the desert for goodness sakes! But that's Hollywood logic for you hehehe


The Ending:
The detectives making jokes and quickly "solving" the crime, then at the very end, sitting in the office and making more jokes while the victim thanked them, really gave out a detective TV series feel hehe. If there was such a series in the 1950s, I would enjoy watching it, but for a film, not so much.
I think so many good horror films were ruined because of these silly endings.

Favourite Scenes:

The chase was the best scene in my opinion but the scene when the villian's face shattered like glass, reigned supreme because it was absolutely ridiculous hahahaha

The Reception:
The film was one of the biggest hits of 1953 yet recieved very negative reviews. Most of the critics agreed that it looked outdated despite it being in 3D because of the melodramatic style. Infact, they thought, the 3D part did not add any significance to the story.
Of course this was mostly due to the director, for he was blind in one eye, making it impossible for him to view the 3D form.

Price said that even though the director was very talented, he was obviously the wrong choice for this film. Personally, for someone who had only watched it in 2D, I can say the direction was good, but I can see why it got such a negative response. It was a stupid move by Warner Brothers.

You can watch the premiere below: (strangley the stars of the film aren't in the video)

There are many questions that still linger on after watching this film, one of which was why at the very end, the professor walked straight? Actually why did he limp while he was chasing the girl, unless he didn't want to catch her...

Maybe he did it to remind us that we're watching a horror film hahaha

P.S A few days ago I watched a film called A Bucket of Blood, 1959, and found that there were a few similarities to this one. I think I'll discuss it another time though.