October Horror Challenge 2019 #96: "Waxwork"

This movie always lurks at the edges of my consciousness. Amazon and Netflix both recommend it to me every year, and I once had a roommate who loved this movie and its sequel. I'm finally sitting down to watch it after all these years and I hope it's as good as everyone has said.

This movie is billed as an "episodic" horror movie, which is a bunch of mini horror stories in one. This movie is different from other episodic horror movies though, because it's not a bunch of different stories introduced separately into a collection. The movie 8s about a mysterious waxwork museum that opens in the rich area of a town, and a group of college students are invited to come to a private showing one night at midnight. As each of them wanders off to look at different exhibits, they get sucked into the world that the scene represents. That's such a cool idea! Then each "episode" is just the kids trying to survive whichever scene they find themselves in.

This movie definitely makes me never want to go to a waxwork museum, even if it's not owned by a creepy guy who wants to unleash evil into the world. I think I was supposed to like the characters, especially the young rich man we meet at the beginning who defies his materialistic mother by daring to spend time with the hired help. I get that's supposed to make him sympathetic, but with his money and influence he could do more to help them than he does, and he's still a cocky little jerk who thinks he's a lot cooler than he is.

Call me crazy, but if my friends disappeared after we all visited a creepy wax museum one night, and I had a ton of money and a well-connected family, I'd do more than call a few cops and knock on the door and kindly ask to see the museum again (of course, I would have never left the damn museum in the first place after they disappeared, because I actually give a crap about my friends, but whatever).

There's some cool gore, and I liked watching the scenes play out. Vampires and werewolves are cool! So are mummies! Gotta love the classic monsters. And we get to see a guy ripped apart, and a midnight snack of bloody flesh that actually turned my stomach (I like rare steak, but eeeew). The characters do the typically dumb horror movie stuff (hey, let's go into this creepy wax museum alone at night after a bunch of people have disappeared here!) But without stupid moves like this, the movie would be five minutes long. I like the backstory of the museum owner and why he's doing these evil things. What an evil jerk, seriously. I guess you have to use your talents in life, but come ON, dude. Overall this was a really fun movie, and I'm glad I finally watched it.