I guess that, for me, "Terror in the Wax Museum" is a guilty pleasure in the purest definition of the term. The ratings are abysmal, the reviews are terrible and from every possible objective viewpoint it's undeniably a weak and incompetent film, but still I LOVE IT! Can't help myself; this is simply the type of cheesy trash that turned me into a horror fanatic in the first place! It's typically and low-budget early 70s stuff, complete with a cast full of stars on their return, a poorly recreated Victorian setting and an absurdly grotesque plot! Claude Dupree runs a wax museum in the center of London around the turn of the 20th century. It's not a boring one like Madame Tussaud's, mind you, but a wax museum that only exhibits notorious monsters and madmen, like Lizzie Borden, Bluebeard and - of course - local legend Jack the Ripper. Although Dupree is proud of his life's work and addicted to his wax creations, he seriously considers selling the museum following a generous offer from a wealthy American. When Dupree is found stabbed to death with the Ripper's knife, Scotland Yard has several suspects to keep an eye on, like Dupree's surly associate, the greedy governess of his cute niece or the impatient American buyer. And then there's also Karkov, of course, Dupree's hideously deformed deaf-mute assistant who lives in museum's basement and who would be send to an institution in case of a sale. While the young Scotland Yard inspector investigates the case (and particularly Dupree's cute niece), the museum is making its biggest profits ever and the killer plots to strike again. "Terror in the Wax Museum" is genuine shlock, with images of giant tubs of bubbling wax, freaks grabbing ladies' feet from within the cellar hideout and lewd prostitutes losing their heads at the guillotine! Sue me, but I find this a lot more amusing than 90% of other so-called superior and pretentious horror movies. Evidently, I can't defend the film too fanatically, neither. Just to illustrate, similarly themed films like "House of Wax" (1953) and "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933) are several decades older but look less dated, more professional and better scripted. The cast is stupendous, at least if you're into old B-horror. John Carradine stars as the curator, Ray Milland is the exaggeratedly suspicious associate and Elsa Lancaster (the "Bride of Frankenstein" herself) appears as the utterly insupportable governess. In the same year, director Georg Fenady also made "Arnold", which is an equally enjoyable and unjustly overlooked horror comedy.
Finally, I really liked how the script fooled around with the Jack the Ripper connection. The events supposedly take place 10 years after The Ripper committed his last murder and, as everyone knows, the case remained unsolved. Although the nature of these crimes clearly aren't his style, the script still cleverly hints that The Ripper is a possible suspect.
Finally, I really liked how the script fooled around with the Jack the Ripper connection. The events supposedly take place 10 years after The Ripper committed his last murder and, as everyone knows, the case remained unsolved. Although the nature of these crimes clearly aren't his style, the script still cleverly hints that The Ripper is a possible suspect.