Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: House of Wax (2005) - Appreciation for Collet-Sera's horror debut

2/14/2022

House of Wax (2005) - Appreciation for Collet-Sera's horror debut

♥♥♥

A nubile young female is naked and covered in running wax on this eerie and sexually charged poster for Jaume Collet-Sera's House of Wax

A teenage outing strands in a small, deserted town, which has been made by Siamese twins - in wax ...

House of Wax is written by brothers Chad and Cary W. Hayes (The Conjuring (2013)) and directed by debuting, great Spanish filmmaker Jaume Collet-Sera (Non-Stop (2014)). It is a remake of the 1953 3D hit of the same title, which seems to only maintain one thing from the original: The culminating wax fire!

The story has several narrative holes, SPOILER and the otherwise cool ending, in which the entire house melts, gets a unnecessary third brother twist added to it, an obvious ploy to entice audiences for a possible sequel. But the special effects are cool and gruesome, the town is cool, and House of Wax is a fun film to watch, even if Collet-Sera doesn't manage to impress as a great director yet here.

Related post:

Jaume Collet-Sera: The Shallows (2016) or, Stuck on a Rock

Non-Stop (2014) or, The Text Messaging Terrorist!

Watch short red carpet interviews with the film's young stars at its premiere here

Cost: 40 mil. $

Box office: 70 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2 times its cost)

[House of Wax premiered 26 April (Los Angeles) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from May 2004 - ? in Australia. A massive fire destroyed most or all of the Warner Bros. studio in Queensland, Australia, and resulted in a 2006 negligence lawsuit to the tune of 7 mil. $. The conclusion is not readily found online. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Kingdom of Heaven, to a 12 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 32 mil. $ (45.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.3 mil. $ (7.6 %) and Spain with 3.3 mil. $ (4.7 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. The film reportedly earned more than 42.1 mil. $ on VHS/DVD rentals. Collet-Sera returned with Goal II: Living the Dream (2007). Chad Michael Murray (Colors of Love (2021)) returned in Home of the Brave (2006); Elisha Cuthbert (The Girl Next Door (2004)) in The Quiet (2005). House of Wax is rotten at 26 % with a 4.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

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Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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2/14/2022

House of Wax (2005) - Appreciation for Collet-Sera's horror debut

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