Waxwork (1988 film)
Encyclopedia
Waxwork is a 1988
horror comedy film starring Zach Galligan
and Deborah Foreman
.
appears, seemingly overnight. The owner invites two college students, Sarah and China, to attend that night with four more guests of their choice. The two girls pick Mark Loftmore, a rebellious rich student and China's former boyfriend, and three other classmates - Tony, Gemma, and James. That night James and Gemma are spooked and quickly leave, while the other four enter the waxwork, where they are welcomed by a diminutive butler and his giant companion who usher them to the exhibition. Inside they encounter several morbid displays, all of which contain stock characters from the horror genre, including a mad lumberjack axing a passerby to death, a voodoo houngan
, Dracula
, a cobra
-like circus freak, the Invisible Man
, one of the alien pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and the Marquis de Sade
.
Tony drops his cigarette lighter into a forest display and stumbles across the felt rope, finding himself inside an actual forest, and is bitten by a werewolf
. Two hunters appear and shoot the werewolf and Tony, who is already turning into a werewolf himself. As the camera zooms out, it appears that the dead Tony has completed the scene in the display.
Similarly, China is drawn into a waxwork of a mysterious caped figure. She participates in a Victorian
dinner, hosted by a soft-spoken count
, and is later attacked by the count's son, who reveals himself to be a vampire
. China flees down to the basement, where she manages to dispatch the intruding Stephan and four female vampires, but back in the dining room she falls victim to the hypnotic charm of the count, who sinks his teeth into her neck as the camera again retreats to reveal another display.
Sarah is fascinated by a display of the Marquis de Sade, while Mark searches for the missing friends and interrupts Sarah just before she could enter the display. The two decide to leave and are told by the butler that the others have already left. The same night, China's current boyfriend, who is looking for her, sneaks into the Waxwork and ends up as the victim in the Phantom of the Opera exhibit.
The next day, seeing that Tony and China still have not been found, Mark contacts Detective Roberts, who reluctantly agrees to have a look at the waxworks. In the exhibition, Roberts is especially attracted to the scene of an Egyptian tomb and is almost shoved into the scene by the owner. Roberts tells Mark to go home but later returns to the waxwork, where he takes a probe of China's face from the vampire display. He is then drawn into the Egyptian display, where he is attacked by a mummy and dumped into a sarcophagus. His partner, who was waiting outside, also enters and is killed by the giant butler, after which the owner berates him.
Mark tells Sarah that he recognizes the owner of the waxwork and takes her to the attic of his house, where he shows her an old newspaper detailing the murder of his grandfather (which was seen in the prologue); the only suspect was David Lincoln, his chief assistant, whose photograph closely resembles the waxwork owner. The two then consult the wheelchair user Sir Wilfred, a friend of Mark's grandfather, who explains how he and Mark's grandfather, a benevolent adventurer, went around the globe collecting trinkets from "eighteen of the most evil people who ever lived" and that Lincoln stole the artifacts; Lincoln, having sold his soul to the devil, wanted to bring their previous owners to life by creating some wax effigies and feeding them the souls of victims, a concept taken from voodoo. Providing all eighteen with a victim would bring about the "voodoo end of the world, when the dead shall rise, and consume all things".
On the advice of Sir Wilfred, Mark and Sarah enter the waxwork at night to burn the exhibits, especially those still without a victim. As they douse the museum with gasoline, Sarah's attention is again captured by the Marquis de Sade, and, before Mark has the chance to pull her away, she steps into the display while Mark is pushed into a zombie display by the two butlers. Mark is approached by a horde of zombies and is soon overwhelmed, but reasons that none of the displays is real and that if he does not believe the monsters, then they do not exist. This theory proves correct and Mark finds his way out of the display. He dashes past the butlers and also enters into the Marquis de Sade exhibit, where Sarah is being whipped by the Marquis. Mark unchains Sarah, but she refuses to leave. Mark tells the Marquis that he is not real and, unharmed by bullets and strokes of the whip, takes Sarah out of the room and the exhibit, while the Marquis vows revenge.
Back in the real world, Mark and Sarah are apprehended by Lincoln and his two butlers and are dragged into hiding, as James and Gemma, the friends who earlier shied away from the waxwork, step into the display room. The two unknowingly stray into the final two displays and within seconds they appear dead and are waxed inside the Zombie and Marquis display, accomplishing Lincoln's plan and bringing the various displays to life.
Mark and Sarah attempt to flee but are stopped at the door by the mad lumberjack. Suddenly, Sir Wilfred and a huge group of armed men arrive and in the ensuing battle, several waxworks and slayers die, including Lincoln's butlers and Mark and Sarah's former friends, now evil. Lincoln attempts to escape but is pursued by Mark. The Marquis de Sade, bent on revenge, follows Mark and challenges him to a fencing duel. The Marquis eventually gains the upper hand but as he pauses to look up to a balcony, where Lincoln orders him to kill his opponent, he is killed by the lumberjack's axe, wielded by his former whipping-girl Sarah.
The reunited couple is confronted by Lincoln, who points a gun at the duo but before he shoots Sir Wilfred bursts onto the scene and shoots Lincoln, who falls off his balcony and into a tub of boiling wax. Lincoln tries to drag Mark into the tub as well but is quickly stopped and dies in the wax. Sir Wilfred tells Mark and Sarah to save themselves before he is killed by a werewolf. Sarah and Mark manage to escape the burning waxwork with their lives and begin to walk home, not noticing that the hand from the Zombie display is scuttling away from the rubble.
The Eighteen most evil beings used in the film are; the Marquis de Sade, the werewolf Anton Weber, Count Dracula his son and brides, the Phantom of the Opera, Raoul the Mummy, Romero-style Zombies, Frankenstein's monster, Jack the Ripper, the Invisible Man, a voodoo priest, a witch, a snakeman, pods from Invansion of the Body Snatchers, a mutant baby, an axe murderer, a multi-eyed alien, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Several crew members appear in small roles:
in the United States
by Vestron Pictures
in June 1988. It grossed $808,114 at the box office. It was released by Vestron Video
the same year on VHS
in both R-rated and Unrated editions and went on to sell over 150,000 units (an estimated gross of $20 million), the films budget was 1.5.
The film was released on DVD
in 2003 by Lionsgate as a double feature with the sequel Waxwork II: Lost in Time
.
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
horror comedy film starring Zach Galligan
Zach Galligan
Zachary Wolfe "Zach" Galligan is an American actor.-Biography:Galligan was born in New York City, the son of Carol Jean , a psychologist, and Arthur John Galligan, a lawyer who was a founding partner of the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro. He has a sister, Jessica, and attended Columbia University...
and Deborah Foreman
Deborah Foreman
Deborah Lynn Foreman is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her starring role in the 1983 movie Valley Girl, as "Julie Richman" acting opposite Nicolas Cage as "Randy".-Early life:...
.
Plot
In a small suburban town a wax museumWax museum
A wax museum or waxworks consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses....
appears, seemingly overnight. The owner invites two college students, Sarah and China, to attend that night with four more guests of their choice. The two girls pick Mark Loftmore, a rebellious rich student and China's former boyfriend, and three other classmates - Tony, Gemma, and James. That night James and Gemma are spooked and quickly leave, while the other four enter the waxwork, where they are welcomed by a diminutive butler and his giant companion who usher them to the exhibition. Inside they encounter several morbid displays, all of which contain stock characters from the horror genre, including a mad lumberjack axing a passerby to death, a voodoo houngan
Houngan
Houngan is the term for a male priest in the voodoo religion in Haiti . The term is derived from the Fon word "hùn gan". There are two ranks of houngan, houngan asogwe and houngan sur pwen...
, Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, a cobra
Cobra
Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
-like circus freak, the Invisible Man
Griffin (The Invisible Man)
Griffin is a fictional character, the eponym and antagonist of H. G. Wells's science fiction novel The Invisible Man, first published in 1897. Griffin is a young scientist who wants to create the ultimate humanoid by creating a race of invisible people....
, one of the alien pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and the Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
.
Tony drops his cigarette lighter into a forest display and stumbles across the felt rope, finding himself inside an actual forest, and is bitten by a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
. Two hunters appear and shoot the werewolf and Tony, who is already turning into a werewolf himself. As the camera zooms out, it appears that the dead Tony has completed the scene in the display.
Similarly, China is drawn into a waxwork of a mysterious caped figure. She participates in a Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
dinner, hosted by a soft-spoken count
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, and is later attacked by the count's son, who reveals himself to be a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
. China flees down to the basement, where she manages to dispatch the intruding Stephan and four female vampires, but back in the dining room she falls victim to the hypnotic charm of the count, who sinks his teeth into her neck as the camera again retreats to reveal another display.
Sarah is fascinated by a display of the Marquis de Sade, while Mark searches for the missing friends and interrupts Sarah just before she could enter the display. The two decide to leave and are told by the butler that the others have already left. The same night, China's current boyfriend, who is looking for her, sneaks into the Waxwork and ends up as the victim in the Phantom of the Opera exhibit.
The next day, seeing that Tony and China still have not been found, Mark contacts Detective Roberts, who reluctantly agrees to have a look at the waxworks. In the exhibition, Roberts is especially attracted to the scene of an Egyptian tomb and is almost shoved into the scene by the owner. Roberts tells Mark to go home but later returns to the waxwork, where he takes a probe of China's face from the vampire display. He is then drawn into the Egyptian display, where he is attacked by a mummy and dumped into a sarcophagus. His partner, who was waiting outside, also enters and is killed by the giant butler, after which the owner berates him.
Mark tells Sarah that he recognizes the owner of the waxwork and takes her to the attic of his house, where he shows her an old newspaper detailing the murder of his grandfather (which was seen in the prologue); the only suspect was David Lincoln, his chief assistant, whose photograph closely resembles the waxwork owner. The two then consult the wheelchair user Sir Wilfred, a friend of Mark's grandfather, who explains how he and Mark's grandfather, a benevolent adventurer, went around the globe collecting trinkets from "eighteen of the most evil people who ever lived" and that Lincoln stole the artifacts; Lincoln, having sold his soul to the devil, wanted to bring their previous owners to life by creating some wax effigies and feeding them the souls of victims, a concept taken from voodoo. Providing all eighteen with a victim would bring about the "voodoo end of the world, when the dead shall rise, and consume all things".
On the advice of Sir Wilfred, Mark and Sarah enter the waxwork at night to burn the exhibits, especially those still without a victim. As they douse the museum with gasoline, Sarah's attention is again captured by the Marquis de Sade, and, before Mark has the chance to pull her away, she steps into the display while Mark is pushed into a zombie display by the two butlers. Mark is approached by a horde of zombies and is soon overwhelmed, but reasons that none of the displays is real and that if he does not believe the monsters, then they do not exist. This theory proves correct and Mark finds his way out of the display. He dashes past the butlers and also enters into the Marquis de Sade exhibit, where Sarah is being whipped by the Marquis. Mark unchains Sarah, but she refuses to leave. Mark tells the Marquis that he is not real and, unharmed by bullets and strokes of the whip, takes Sarah out of the room and the exhibit, while the Marquis vows revenge.
Back in the real world, Mark and Sarah are apprehended by Lincoln and his two butlers and are dragged into hiding, as James and Gemma, the friends who earlier shied away from the waxwork, step into the display room. The two unknowingly stray into the final two displays and within seconds they appear dead and are waxed inside the Zombie and Marquis display, accomplishing Lincoln's plan and bringing the various displays to life.
Mark and Sarah attempt to flee but are stopped at the door by the mad lumberjack. Suddenly, Sir Wilfred and a huge group of armed men arrive and in the ensuing battle, several waxworks and slayers die, including Lincoln's butlers and Mark and Sarah's former friends, now evil. Lincoln attempts to escape but is pursued by Mark. The Marquis de Sade, bent on revenge, follows Mark and challenges him to a fencing duel. The Marquis eventually gains the upper hand but as he pauses to look up to a balcony, where Lincoln orders him to kill his opponent, he is killed by the lumberjack's axe, wielded by his former whipping-girl Sarah.
The reunited couple is confronted by Lincoln, who points a gun at the duo but before he shoots Sir Wilfred bursts onto the scene and shoots Lincoln, who falls off his balcony and into a tub of boiling wax. Lincoln tries to drag Mark into the tub as well but is quickly stopped and dies in the wax. Sir Wilfred tells Mark and Sarah to save themselves before he is killed by a werewolf. Sarah and Mark manage to escape the burning waxwork with their lives and begin to walk home, not noticing that the hand from the Zombie display is scuttling away from the rubble.
The Eighteen most evil beings used in the film are; the Marquis de Sade, the werewolf Anton Weber, Count Dracula his son and brides, the Phantom of the Opera, Raoul the Mummy, Romero-style Zombies, Frankenstein's monster, Jack the Ripper, the Invisible Man, a voodoo priest, a witch, a snakeman, pods from Invansion of the Body Snatchers, a mutant baby, an axe murderer, a multi-eyed alien, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Cast
- Zach GalliganZach GalliganZachary Wolfe "Zach" Galligan is an American actor.-Biography:Galligan was born in New York City, the son of Carol Jean , a psychologist, and Arthur John Galligan, a lawyer who was a founding partner of the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro. He has a sister, Jessica, and attended Columbia University...
as Mark Loftmore - Deborah ForemanDeborah ForemanDeborah Lynn Foreman is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her starring role in the 1983 movie Valley Girl, as "Julie Richman" acting opposite Nicolas Cage as "Randy".-Early life:...
as Sarah Brightman - Michelle JohnsonMichelle Johnson (actress)Michelle Johnson is an American actress, probably best known for her role in Blame It on Rio.-Career:Director Stanley Donen signed her, as a 17-year-old, to appear as Michael Caine's love interest in the romantic comedy film Blame It on Rio...
as China Webster - Dana AshbrookDana AshbrookDana V. Ashbrook is an American actor, perhaps best known for playing Bobby Briggs on the cult TV series Twin Peaks and its 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.-Personal life:...
as Tony - Micah Grant as Jonathan
- Eric BrownEric Brown (actor)Eric Brown, , is an American film and TV actor of the 1980s.Brown is best known for his role as Phillip Fillmore in the coming of age motion picture Private Lessons and as Vinton "Buzz" Harper, Jr...
as James - Clare CareyClare CareyClare Carey is a film and television actress.-Background:Carey was born at a Catholic mission in Zimbabwe where her father and mother were serving...
as Gemma - David WarnerDavid Warner (actor)David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
as David Lincoln - Patrick MacneePatrick MacneePatrick Macnee is an English actor, best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the series The Avengers.-Early life:...
as Sir Wilfred - Mihaly 'Michu' MeszarosMichu MeszarosMihaly "Michu" Meszaros is a Hungarian performer best remembered as the man behind the costume in the NBC sitcom ALF. He is 2 ft 9 inches tall.Meszaros appeared in numerous television and film projects...
as Hans - Jack David Walker (as Jack David Warner) as Junior
- Charles McCaughanCharles McCaughan-Acting:*The Cisco Kid - Haynie*V.I. Warshawski, Detective in High Heels - Trumble Grafalk*Legal Tender - Bud Rennick*Impulse - Frank Munoff*Slaves of New York - Sherman...
as Inspector Roberts - J. Kenneth CampbellJ. Kenneth CampbellJ. Kenneth Campbell is an American film, stage, and television actor with distinctive features that has been cast in over 80 roles.He was born in Flushing, New York.-External links:...
as Marquis de Sade - Miles O'KeeffeMiles O'KeeffeMiles O'Keeffe is a television and movie actor. O'Keeffe got his first big break playing the title role in the 1981 version of Tarzan, the Ape Man.-Early life:...
as Count Dracula - John Rhys-DaviesJohn Rhys-DaviesJohn Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
as Werewolf - Jennifer BasseyJennifer BasseyJennifer Bassey is an American actress.-Biography:After graduating from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Jennifer Bassey moved back to the United States and took roles in many Off-Broadway plays...
as Mrs Loftmore - Joe Baker as Jenkins
- Buckley Norris as Lecturer
- Tom McGreevey (as Tom MacGreevey) as Charles
Several crew members appear in small roles:
- Anthony HickoxAnthony HickoxAnthony Hickox is an English film director, actor, film producer and screenwriter.His works include Waxwork and its sequel, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, "Prince Valiant", "Children of the Corn", "Warlock: Armageddon", "Payback",...
, director, as English prince - James Hickox, assistant editor, as werewolf hunter's assistant
- Gerry LivelyGerry LivelyGerry Lively is a cinematographer and film director, known for directing Darkness Falls , Dungeons & Dragons 2: Wrath of the Dragon God and Body Armour .-External links:...
, director of photography, as Sir Wilfred's butler
Release
Often cited as the first self referential horror well before 'Scream' and such like, the film was given a limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Vestron Pictures
Vestron Pictures
Vestron Pictures was a film studio and distributor of the late 1980s, and a division of Austin O. Furst, Jr.'s Vestron Inc., best known for their 1987 release of Dirty Dancing. The company was a spin-off of the earlier video distributor, Vestron Video. Vestron also had a genre film division,...
in June 1988. It grossed $808,114 at the box office. It was released by Vestron Video
Vestron Video
Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut that was active from 1982 to 1992. It is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market....
the same year on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in both R-rated and Unrated editions and went on to sell over 150,000 units (an estimated gross of $20 million), the films budget was 1.5.
The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2003 by Lionsgate as a double feature with the sequel Waxwork II: Lost in Time
Waxwork II: Lost in Time
Waxwork II: Lost in Time is a 1992 horror/comedy film directed and written by Anthony Hickox.-Plot summary:The film opens with the final scenes of Waxwork. Then a reenactment of Mark and Sarah leaving the burning waxwork . They then part ways...
.