Product Details

• Actors: Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones, Paul Picerni
• Directors: André De Toth
• Writers: Charles Belden, Crane Wilbur
• Producers: Bryan Foy, Joe Dreier
• Format: Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: July 28, 1998
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0790736055
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,050 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

House of Wax brought Vincent Price into the horror genre, where he fit as snugly as a scalpel in a mad scientist's hand. A remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum, this entertaining Gothic shocker casts Price as a sculptor of wax figures; his unwilling victims--er, "models"--lend their bodies to his lifelike depictions of Marie Antoinette and Joan of Arc. The film was one of the top 10 moneymakers of its year, thanks in part to the 3-D gimmick, which explains why so many things are aimed at the camera (why else would the paddleball man be there?). Footnote to history: director Andre De Toth was blind in one eye, and thus could not see in three dimensions. --Robert Horton

Product Description

A classic Vincent Price horror movie!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars movie good, DVD BAD!, February 5, 2004

By 

just some guy (USofA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: House of Wax (DVD)

I saw this movie on Turner Classic Movies, and it was beautiful looking and entertaining and atmospheric and I just LOVE Vincent Price. So to me it seemed a perfect idea to own this DVD. But I should have read more of the professional reviews about how awful the picture quality is. Too many reviewers on Amazon talk about how great the movie is (and it is), but we're supposed to also be reviewing the DVD itself. And I feel I must warn anyone who cares about good quality DVDs to STAY AWAY! This is one of the grainiest, blurriest and worst looking DVDs I've ever seen (not exaggerating). On first impression, even my wife said, "Why is that so grainy looking?" I had to tell her that it was the DVD. She was sure something was wrong with our player or the tv, because DVDs are NOT supposed to look like this. It didn't help that we had both recently seen the movie on TCM, where it was beautiful and crystal clear. So I have to ask: If TCM can show the movie in perfect condition, why can't the DVD do the same?

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, 50s Gothic Horror Flick, October 11, 2004

By 

Westley (Stuck in my head) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: House of Wax [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Horror films in the 1950s were often set in earlier times - including "House of Wax" - a gothic-styled thriller. Vincent Price stars, and this movie was his first of many, many horror films. He's perfect in this role, and it's puzzling why no one had cast him as this type of character before. He plays Prof. Henry Jarrod, a wax figure sculptor who's far too obsessed with his work. He's the head of an unsuccessful wax museum and watches in disgust as other museums make money by showing horror style wax figures, such as mass murderers. When his museum is burned to the ground, he re-emerges and seeks vengeance on persons responsible.

The film received a great deal of buzz as the second 3-D film released by a major studio ("Bwana Devil" was the first); not surprisingly, it was a major hit, becoming the 7th biggest money-maker of 1953. "House of Wax" was actually a remake of a 1933 film, "Mystery of the Wax Museum." In addition, a remake of this film is currently in the works, and should be released in 2005. One of the stars of the upcoming film is Paris Hilton, which should be interesting!

Although I prefer Castle's horror films from this period, Price alone makes this film worthwhile. Carolyn Jones ("Addams Family") is also fun as a kind harlot. Overall, the movie holds up pretty well, mostly because of its creepy tone. I saw the movie in 2-D but still enjoyed it quite a bit.

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of Price's best films, October 8, 2004

By 

Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: House of Wax (DVD)

This movie has wit, excellent pacing and a strong supporting cast (including a blonde Carolyn Jones "Morticia" from the Addams Family) and a small role for Charles Bronson (playing Igor and billed as Charles Buchinsky). Prince gets to be both understated and hammy in the brilliant film, that he is likely best know for.

It catches the atmosphere of the Gaslight period, and is lighting speed, as Price goes from a brilliant artist of life-like wax figures, to a scarred man, nearly killed by his partner wanting the insurance. He is forced to watch his two crowning glories, his Joan of Arc and his Marie Antoinette destroyed in the fire. With scared hands, he is forced to use bodies to fill his new house of wax, while Price also manages to meet out a little revenge to his former partner.

At first bodies are vanishing from the morgue, but when Price sees Jones - the living image of Joan of Arc - and Phyllis Kirk, his Marie Antoinette come to life in his mind - he knows he must possess the bodies of both women to see if greatest works recreated.

Is so spooky, and Kirk ably screams her way from one mishap to the next. Just does not get any better.