House of Wax

1953 Directed by André De Toth

UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU'VE SEEN BEFORE!

A New York sculptor who opens a wax museum to showcase the likenesses of famous historical figures runs into trouble with his business partner, who demands that the exhibits become more extreme in order to increase profits.

Vincent Price Frank Lovejoy Phyllis Kirk Carolyn Jones Paul Picerni Roy Roberts Angela Clarke Paul Cavanagh Dabbs Greer Charles Bronson Reggie Rymal Oliver Blake Larri Thomas

Alternative Titles

Museu de Cera, The Wax Works, L'homme au masque de cire, Paniek in het wasmuseum, Das Kabinett des Professor Bondi, Muzeul figurilor de ceara, Vahakabinetti, Kuća od voska, Panoptikum - A viaszbabák háza, Gabinet figur woskowych, Máscaras de Cera, Къщата на восъчните фигури, Canavarlar Sarayi, Niku no rouningyou, Музей восковых фигур, Terror en el museo de cera, Los crímenes del museo de cera, La maschera di cera, Kerines maskes, De man met de wassen beelden, Vokskabinettet, Vaxkabinettet

mystery horror

90 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Ian West ★★★½

Enjoyable career revitalizer for Price but not one of my go to watches when it comes to his huge catalogue of macabre, still though, House of Wax has a lot going for it—nice camera work, obviously amazing setting, shadowy street chases, long takes, and the great ending reveal that we all know is coming. Plus the cultural significance of 3D and what this meant for career of Vincent Price.
Speaking of the third dimension, the fact that this was filmed in 3D by a man who was blind in one eye fascinates me, as does young Charles Bronson’s muscles and the future Morticia Addams.
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★ 4

Creepy, stately, but remarkably spry for a mid-century horror film, Andre De Toth's "House of Wax" begins with bang before settling into drier yet engrossing horror beats. Starring Vincent Price as a sculptor of wax figures, the film is a capable thriller that may not have a lot of narrative depth but makes up for that with atmosphere, entertainment value, and a mostly committed tone.
Its plot revolving around revenge, sinister sculptors, and wax-dipped corpses, "House of Wax" takes its color-by-numbers story and elevates it with Price's robust magnetism and a spirited energy. The narrative does not offer much beyond man-is-wronged and man-seeks-vengeance plot points, but it serves as a sturdy foundation for wax museum mayhem.
Price is entertaining, but…
Review by Sam ★★★½

The problem with all these films where Vincent Price plays a villainous character is that he's always so much more charismatic than the protagonists that you can't help but want him to come out on top.
Is that really a problem, actually?
Review by 💀EmperorCupcake🧁 ★★★★

Murder and May-hem, Day 30, challenge #25 - Watch a film featuring one of your favourite actors or actresses
I try not to be too much of a basic horror bitch but yes, my favourite actor is Vincent Price, my favourite slasher is Halloween, my favourite author is Stephen King and I consume barrels full of pumpkin spice every October. Look, some things are basic for a reason!
I say every Price performance is my fave (and it's still House on Haunted Hill), but I love this so much because he gets to be equal parts tragic and sinister and NO ONE ELSE will ever fit that mood so exquisitely. That museum partner had it coming - he was an…
Review by C4rlo5 ★★★★

Wonderful movie.
Such a good old one about The House of Wax.
Most of the movie is set inside the museum of wax, surrounded by realistic wax figures, replicas of important people or transcendent ones, and others not that realistic...
Recommended movie with some great scenes that together with a good story, give shape to this enjoyable piece of cinema.
"Spooky" Month 🎃 2020
Review by Monday Seagull 4

I love doughnuts. Every kind. I’ll even eat jelly doughnuts—which generally speaking, are not very good.
I once wrote a proverb about jelly doughnuts. It went: If you don’t like jelly doughnuts but they’re free, take one anyhow.
My favourite kind of doughnut is the coconut doughnut. Are you aware there are three types of coconut doughnut?
First, there’s the classic coconut doughnut; a circled shaped cake with a hole in the middle, covered in white coconut shavings.
Next, there’s the chocolate coconut doughnut. It’s also got white coconut shavings, but the doughnut, as expected, is chocolate flavoured.
Last, but not least, you’ve got the toasted coconut doughnut. This doughnut is identical to the classic plain model; the only difference…
Review by Tony the Terror😼🏳️‍🌈 👻 ★★★★ 7

This was fun! But, really, any movie with Vincent Price is going to be pretty ok with me.
Here he plays a wax sculptor who is killed in a fire and mysteriously returns to reopen a new wax museum where the exhibits bear a striking resemblance to recently deceased locals! It’s really not hard to see where the plot is going from the beginning but it’s also not trying to hide anything...and does manage a good surprise or two in spite of that predictability...so I guess you probably won’t see everything coming. Even if you do, it’s still a lot of fun. I should add that I have seen the remake (with a certain Paris Hilton) a few times so…
Review by Ragnar ★★★½

Grade: GOOD (3.5 out of 5)
House of Wax has a devilishly fun premise that actually does a good job of showing the villain's descent from talented artist to talented ghoul. The film is at its best when it focuses on Vincent Price, which is no surprise. Price's larger than life charisma combined with the film's macabre sensibilities makes House of Wax come alive.
Unfortunately, the film spends too much time focusing on less interesting topics, namely the victims. To go from seeing Price to seeing...well...anyone else, the drop in interest is dramatic. But the drop in interest is not enough to sink the film, especially with the timeless special effects.
Come for Vincent Price and stay for Vincent Price.
Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★★

To you they are wax, but to me their creator, they live and breathe.
-Professor Henry Jarrod
Here's a film that can be used as a huge bullet point for the career of Vincent Price. He was already an established actor with a 15 year career who had even appeared in a couple of horror films already, but House of Wax is the crossroad in his career where it changed course from being a character actor on his way to becoming a horror icon.
It's not just the fact that he was put in the lead of a horror film, but he was put in the lead of a gorgeous horror production with huge sets, great cinematography with not only…
Review by Nicolò Grasso ★★★★

Original Title:
Year of Release: 1953
Genres: Horror; Mystery
Director: André De Toth
Writers: Charles Belden, Crane Wilbur
Main Cast: Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones, Paul Picerni, Roy Roberts, Angela Clarke, Charles Bronson
07/100 of A Decade Called 1950s: 2021 Edition
When having a stressful day, nothing soothes me more than watching a classic Vincent Price flick. House of Wax is a classic horror from the '50s, and one that has aged surprisingly well! Price is a delight here, as it's expected, and the structure and pacing is genuinely gripping from beginning to end. The wax sculptures in this are terrific, some of the best make-up and effects I've seen from a film of that time, making…
Review by cherryz ★★★ 3

A remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum, I do prefer Mystery more, I really laughed along with the female reporter. Here it follows along almost the same but without that quirk.
It is quite alarming watching wax figures melting, eyes popping out, heads dropping off, although a melted, twisted up Price is just as alarming.
Cathy I adored she was like a blonde Betty Boop, and my face when I seen her pull that corset tighter and tighter 😱. They wrote her character well, you can see a glimpse of Morticia with her macabre sense of humor:-
"Wasn't that the man you were going to marry?",
"yes, but he hung himself instead"...giggles!
The paddle ball show, can you imagine being hired to paddle ball for a big event now? They need to bring that back.
Everything else plays out the same as I remember Mystery, did I say I liked Mystery better?
Review by Ben 3

👍
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that this is my first Vincent Price movie. Great pacing, great setting, great mystery. The final reveal isn’t shocking whatsoever, but man did it look awesome. There’s some Pre-Code levels of violence that took me by surprise. Much better than that 2005 Paris Hilton remake abomination. Looking forward to watching more movies starring the master of macabre.

Recent reviews

Review by Pep ★★★★

nice
Review by Aaron Brooks ★★★½

Vincent Price is so great. This has a nice amount of camp to it but some actual moments of tension that work too. Great premise.
Review by Nicolò Grasso ★★★★

Original Title:
Year of Release: 1953
Genres: Horror; Mystery
Director: André De Toth
Writers: Charles Belden, Crane Wilbur
Main Cast: Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones, Paul Picerni, Roy Roberts, Angela Clarke, Charles Bronson
07/100 of A Decade Called 1950s: 2021 Edition
When having a stressful day, nothing soothes me more than watching a classic Vincent Price flick. House of Wax is a classic horror from the '50s, and one that has aged surprisingly well! Price is a delight here, as it's expected, and the structure and pacing is genuinely gripping from beginning to end. The wax sculptures in this are terrific, some of the best make-up and effects I've seen from a film of that time, making…
Review by Lauren’s Collection ★★★½

7.8
This film was an instant classic in my eyes and it absolutely flew by, which was sad because I wanted to see more! But, it also showed how good it was, time flies when you’re having fun (is that even the saying.. I don’t know). Really enjoyed this film, definitely going to be rewatching this many times in the future.
Really going to try and get into some Vincent Price stuff, I’ve seen a few of his films before this and I have the 6 gothic tales to watch soon. Because of this Leon sent me this very nice HMV Premium Collection. Thank you!
Review by orinow ★★★★

w kostnicy parafinowanych trupów, variété grozy i tricków, revival Vincenta Price'a, --1st-- pierwszy barwny film 3D dużego studia, Natural Vision 3-Dimension, NFR...
the film stars Vincent Price as a disfigured sculptor who repopulates his destroyed wax museum by murdering people and using their wax-coated corpses as displays
"House of Wax" was the --1st-- first color 3-D feature film from a major American studio and premiered two days after the Columbia Pictures film "Man in the Dark", the first major-studio black-and-white 3-D feature. It was the first 3-D movie with stereophonic sound to be presented in a regular theater.
Professor Henry Jarrod is a talented wax figure sculptor with a wax museum in early 1900s New York City who specializes in…
Review by Brandon ★★

Vincent Price just doesn't really do it for me. I find these old horror films to be blase in how they're look, shot, and there's just no energy or momentum to any of it.
Review by Scott McRae ★★★★½

"It's not easy to shut an actor's mouth."
Watched the remake all the time as a kid, dare I say it was one of the first horror movies I had ever seen, which is terrible because that film is absolutely horrible but I'd be lying if there wasn't copious amounts of nostalgia surrounding it.
Price's mustache in this is incredible, he gets to be suave, debonair and simply the most elegant fucking man who ever walked across the screen until he transitions into a hobbling, burned, vengeful monster of a man, and it is not the outside which makes him so horrid but his intent, his persistence and ultimately his goals. The music that played when he was first revealed…
Review by Audrey Manhardt ★★★½ 2

Starting 2021 out on a less-moody note than I would’ve liked. Vincent Price is enjoyable as always and I’m forever a sucker for shameless exploitation of 3D, but I think I prefer the 2005 rendition on almost every level (then again I prefer that to most movies, so it’s hardly a shortcoming on De Toth and company’s part).
(That was Charles Bronson?????)
Should’ve followed through with the guillotine bit. More guillotine usage in my horror movies, please.
Which reminds me...Hope 2021 is a better year for all of us than the one before it! Love y’all <3 <3
Review by Will Wright ★★★★

Kicking off 2021 right with a Vincent Price flick! After 24+ hours of The Twilight Zone, it felt like a logical progression.
I asked for House of Wax on blu-Ray for Christmas after my grandma told me she saw this in theaters when she was 13! She was taken to see it for a friend’s birthday. Consequently, it makes sense that it’s a more mild mannered and less macabre and gory than other Price flicks—but that makes me love it even more. Somehow, it’s…almost wholesome. Fun colors, reveals, and set pieces. Really a very good time! Glad to have it in myPrice library now.
Happy new year, all! Here’s to better and safer times ahead. ♥️
Review by Mody ★★★★

This is such a creepy movie with phenomenal production design and excellent practical work. The pacing is excellent, and the story is really excellent with a really good mystery, the cast is also excellent, this is really a wonderful movie that holds up.
Review by Mark Mallo ★★★½

As a small child I was delighted whenever the family would have the opportunity to visit a Wax Museum. The figures looked so life like and they would haunt me long after we left the museum. House Of Wax brings back the thrills of those early days. Filmed in 3D, it remains as one of the finest examples of the genre. Each shot brilliantly designed to make the most of the 3D effects.
Review by Ben 3

👍
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that this is my first Vincent Price movie. Great pacing, great setting, great mystery. The final reveal isn’t shocking whatsoever, but man did it look awesome. There’s some Pre-Code levels of violence that took me by surprise. Much better than that 2005 Paris Hilton remake abomination. Looking forward to watching more movies starring the master of macabre.