Great Film overall

Good movie but grossly overrated

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The Wax Mask (1997) ** (out of 4) A masked maniac breaks into the home of a couple and brutally murders them but their young child survives the whole ordeal. Flash forward many years and this woman is now working at a wax museum when she begins to notice that several recent missing persons appear as "dummies" at the museum.THE WAX MASK comes from producer Dario Argento who had meant for this to be a comeback film for his rival Lucio Fulci. Fulci helped on the story and the screenplay and was set to direct it but he sadly passed away weeks before production. He was replaced by special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti who had worked on films like DEMONS, DEMONS 2, OPERA, THE CHURCH and many others.It's really too bad Fulci passed away because you can't help but wonder what he might have done with the material. As is it, director Stivaletti has created a good looking picture, which is obviously another remake of MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM. Most people know the story from its remake HOUSE OF WAX but either way this here is a more sexual version and of course there's a bit more gore than average.The biggest problem with this movie is that the direction itself is somewhat lifeless as there's really no style to be found and I'd argue that there's no suspense either. The film at least looks good and we are given some pretty Italian ladies showing off their naked bodies, which is always a plus. The special effects are decent for what they are but at the same time you'd expect something a tad bit gorier than what we actually got.I would say that the atmosphere is spot on and you also really do feel as if the setting is authentic. The 1900 Paris is quite believable and I thought the director really captured the look and spirit of the time. Still, in the end, there's not enough going on in the picture to warrant its 98-minute running time.

If you know anything about Italian horror of the past few decades, then surely the names associated with this film will have some meaning to you. Written in big letters on the front of the VHS box is "Dario Argento presents...", and surely Argento's name means at least there is some attempted style and class injected into this film. Secondly, the director is none other than Sergio Stivaletti, the man responsible for the many gory FX of films like DEMONS, here making the transition from SFX man (although he did do the SFX in this film too - multi-talented, you see) to director. He does a good job, keeping the right mix of all the correct ingredients (somehow the analogy of a director strikes me as somebody stirring a stew and trying to get even qualities of the correct ingredients). Finally, partially responsible for the screenplay is Lucio Fulci, to whom this film is dedicated, as it was the last film he worked on before his death. His ghostly presence is noticeable in the gory proceedings and it's great to have him on board.While the film is essentially a remake of MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (itself already remade in 1953 as HOUSE OF WAX), don't let that put you off. It almost rivals those two classics, becoming something of a classic in its own right. There are plenty of reasons for genre fans to enjoy watching, and even the dubbing is hardly noticeable these days. The acting is of a high calibre, from Mondello who adds depth to her role of the female lead, becoming more than just a pretty, screaming face. The perpetrator of the gruesome crimes is played by a memorably stony faced actor too, on the outside dignity and aloofness, on the inside a raving maniac. Especially sinister are the man's two servants, both twisted and perverted characters, one of whom ties a victim down, cuts her arms and lets pigs feed on her blood. He also indulges in some kinky games with a local prostitute. The only bland actor is the heroic male lead, but then again they usually are and there's no point breaking tradition.The plot has enough new twists and turns in the tale to keep fans of the original wax films interested. There is a healthy dose of Gothic atmosphere, and sumptuous costumes and sets, which really help to make the period believable. There is also a high level of gore and nudity (plenty of the latter) for exploitation fans to enjoy, the bloodiest moments being where a man has his hand ripped off, his throat slashed and his heart torn out...and these are just in the opening moments! Some clever CGI work is used effectively, while the SFX crew really did themselves proud with the gruesome make-ups. There's even a TERMINATOR-inspired monster on the rampage at the end of the film, except this is more chilling as it's made of bone instead of metal - yes, a living skeleton! THE WAX MASK is everything you could hope for a modern horror film and shows that if the effort is made, you can still make good, atmospheric period pieces like this.

That old chestnut, the creepy wax museum, is the setting for this preposterous Gothic movie written by two of Italian horror's most renowned directors, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, and helmed by talented FX make-up man Sergio Stivaletti.A remake (of sorts) of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum, in which a disfigured lunatic populates his museum with the wax-coated corpses of his victims, Stivaletti's debut as director is atmospheric, gory, looks great (proving that he has been paying attention whilst providing the splatter for others), and features a couple of very hot actresses who are happy to flip out their breasts; however, the acting is poor and the story nonsensical, and, ultimately, the film fails to impress as much as it might have, given the pedigree of its creators.Stivaletti does manage to conjure up a few memorable scenes (including a creepy attack on a sleeping girl, and a brutal and bloody murder sequence which sees a hand being snapped off, a throat cut and a heart being torn out), but for every good moment, there is an equally bad one. The film ends in a particularly dreadful manner, with one character becoming a seemingly indestructible Terminator-style monster, and the wax museum being burnt to the ground by some really cheap looking CGI.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Well, I am big fan of Argento and Fulci and I admire Stivaletti as FX specialist but this movie has nothing of Argento or Fulci... I must admit that gore effect are pretty remarkable. But, direction is so "hollywoodish" and mainstream (usually works - but not for this type of movie, especially not for Italian horror production) and there is no anything "Italian" in it. Same remark goes to soundtrack. Entire movie looks like low budget hollywood product that are being shoot for video or TV and forgotten after few months. Basically, can't believe that three Italian horror legends worked on this film and there is no anything that characterize them (except Stivaletti's great FX) in this movie.Can't give anything more than 3 ...