The teen comedy horror genre isn't exactly popular with the critics. But people watch them because, well, they can be fun. And that's just what this is. Nice, neat fun.
It's especially impressive considering it's from a first-time writer/director, Anthony Hickox, who later went on to make decent werewolf TV movie "Full Eclipse" in 1993. Here he gives his own homage to a wide variety of horror movies. You've got your werewolf movie (the very first waxwork, incidentally), your vampire movie, mummies, zombies and an trashy period piece about the Marquis de Sade ... all of these are in waxwork museum along with brief appearances from aliens, Jack the Ripper and more.
At first I expected it just to be a "Dr Terror's House of Horror" style piece with six different stories involved, but it turns out the film has more than enough original ideas to keep itself going. It all ends with every waxwork piece in the place coming to life for a final battle. Which is nice. The actors playing the teenagers all give fairly decent, entertaining performances and you have notable cameos from the likes of Miles O'Keeffe, John Rhys-Davies (as the werewolf), David Warner and Patrick Macnee (who was in "The Howling"). The script is pretty well structured and very little about the storyline is disappointing.
All in all, this is among the most entertaining movies I've seen in a while, and I'd recommend it if you're after an ninety minutes of light-hearted, slightly twisted enjoyment.
It's especially impressive considering it's from a first-time writer/director, Anthony Hickox, who later went on to make decent werewolf TV movie "Full Eclipse" in 1993. Here he gives his own homage to a wide variety of horror movies. You've got your werewolf movie (the very first waxwork, incidentally), your vampire movie, mummies, zombies and an trashy period piece about the Marquis de Sade ... all of these are in waxwork museum along with brief appearances from aliens, Jack the Ripper and more.
At first I expected it just to be a "Dr Terror's House of Horror" style piece with six different stories involved, but it turns out the film has more than enough original ideas to keep itself going. It all ends with every waxwork piece in the place coming to life for a final battle. Which is nice. The actors playing the teenagers all give fairly decent, entertaining performances and you have notable cameos from the likes of Miles O'Keeffe, John Rhys-Davies (as the werewolf), David Warner and Patrick Macnee (who was in "The Howling"). The script is pretty well structured and very little about the storyline is disappointing.
All in all, this is among the most entertaining movies I've seen in a while, and I'd recommend it if you're after an ninety minutes of light-hearted, slightly twisted enjoyment.