Wax Mask is an energetic and full blooded horror romp that doesn't tread much new ground but has a fun time all the same.
Unsurprisingly, this is a retelling of the familiar "House of Wax" story, but with some more modern and ghoulish overtones. Still with a period setting, the creation of the wax statues is rather more hi-tech than in previous versions of the tale, but the outcome is still the same.
It's very well photographed and things move along at a pretty nice speed so it's certainly never boring. There are several graphically gory scenes and they do rival some of the stuff being done by Dario Argento in the late 1980's to early 90s (Argento is involved here too, but not as director). Colours are bright and location settings look great.
Sadly the acting is fairly flat, although the English dub is the main culprit here, with a terrible job done, with vocals that show no sensitivity to any possible subtlety in the original performances. Its so bad it almost renders the whole movie as one giant cartoon. So don't expect to have any emotional attachment to any of the characters, but you can still enjoy the vibrant gore and the outrageous liberties taken with the possibilities of biology and science of the period (you'll know what I mean when you see the ending!). So realism is pretty much out the window, and yet, it's still a great fun movie to watch if you don't try and take it seriously
Unsurprisingly, this is a retelling of the familiar "House of Wax" story, but with some more modern and ghoulish overtones. Still with a period setting, the creation of the wax statues is rather more hi-tech than in previous versions of the tale, but the outcome is still the same.
It's very well photographed and things move along at a pretty nice speed so it's certainly never boring. There are several graphically gory scenes and they do rival some of the stuff being done by Dario Argento in the late 1980's to early 90s (Argento is involved here too, but not as director). Colours are bright and location settings look great.
Sadly the acting is fairly flat, although the English dub is the main culprit here, with a terrible job done, with vocals that show no sensitivity to any possible subtlety in the original performances. Its so bad it almost renders the whole movie as one giant cartoon. So don't expect to have any emotional attachment to any of the characters, but you can still enjoy the vibrant gore and the outrageous liberties taken with the possibilities of biology and science of the period (you'll know what I mean when you see the ending!). So realism is pretty much out the window, and yet, it's still a great fun movie to watch if you don't try and take it seriously