I watched the English version, not the Italian…but Italian posters are so much more lurid
It’s been a long day, but after getting tomorrows lecture together and composing another quiz, I decided to unwind with a classic horror movie, House of Wax. Not the terrible 2005 version with Paris Hilton, but the original, the fabulous, 1953 version with Vincent Price in his prime and Phyllis Kirk screaming her heaving bosom out. This is, to my mind, the perfect horror movie. It has a simple plot, it clips along at a rapid pace, there is little gore (although Vincent’s makeup is rather horrifying), no sex or nudity (Kirk’s bondage scenes are carefully shot), and Price’s voice is perfection. It also features Carolyn Jones and Charles Bronson.
Despite being a tight hour and 28 minutes long, it also includes an intermission, which would be nice to have in some of these 3 and 4 hour movies we’re getting now. It was a little gimmicky — this was a 3-D movie, and the intermission featured a barker with paddle balls. Everyone remembers that scene. Our local theater ought to a have a carnival show outside the doors to draw customers in.
More impressive and terrifying is the scene where House of Was burns down, and the mannequins are all melting in rather grisly ways. I bet Spieldberg was inspired by that scene for the effect of opening the Ark of the Covenant on Nazis.
Here’s the original theatrical trailer, which is long on voice-over hype, but is also good for not giving away the whole movie. Movie makers should learn from this.
Go watch it and get ready for Hallowe’en. So good. And it came out 4 years before I was born!
I saw it in a theater and the paddle ball scene is one of the few 3D scenes where someone seems to leave the screen.
I meant something leaves the screen.
I’ve actually been watching all the Vincent Price 1960’s (or close) horror movies this October. I really liked The Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, and House of Usher. Did not care for The Abominable Dr. Phibes. The others are somewhere in between, although I still have a few left to go..
Gotta applaud the arsonist’s dedication. After setting the gallery alight, he continued to personally burn the *second* floor, then came back down for a leisurely inspection. Then a fist fight. Though he really should have unlocked the front door before doing all that. The effort paid off cuz when every room simultaneously ignites, it looks to investigators like an accident.
Stjepan, yes, but Vincent had range.
Seen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General_(film) from 1968?
My favorite scene is Charles Bronson’s 3D moment.
;-)
Is this from before Hammer Films?
“The fire came from inside the house”.
Wow! The first two thirds of that trailer exactly decribe the night I lost my virginity in 1980…
@7 — Yes and no. Hammer Films was founded in 1934, but its classic horror films date from the mid-1950s.
Saw it in 3D at a local art-house theater many moons ago.