Best Horror Movie You Never Saw: Waxwork (1988)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Welcome to Arrow in the Head's The Best Horror Movie You Never Saw, which will be dedicated to highlighting horror films that, for one reason or another, don't get as much love as we think they should. We know plenty of you horror hounds out there will have seen many of the movies we pick, but there will be plenty of you who have not. This column is for all of you!

This week we take a look at Anthony Hickox's loony, gory, fun-as-hell WAXWORK (WATCH IT HERE – OWN IT HERE)!

THE STORY: A group of students discover the hard way that the creepy local wax museum is a deadly place to be, and it's not because of something so simple as the scary figures come to life. No, they exist in alternate universes, so once you step behind that velvet rope that separates you and them, you're stuck with them. And they don't mess around.

THE HISTORY: Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. British rock promoter Anthony Hickox flew to L.A. after impressing some with a short film he'd made. While there, he crashed his car into producer Staffan Ahrenberg's car, which turned out to be nothing serious, thankfully. The latter, as it just so happened, was a burgeoning producer looking to make a movie, and it just so happened Hickox was desperate for cash. After a chat, Hickox went off and wrote WAXWORK in a matter of days; he was paid $3,000 upon delivery. The writer-director claims he'd always thought about making a movie set in a wax museum, inspired by the Madame Tussaud wax museum in England he used to visit as a child.

The script got passed around town and, predictably, everyone turned it down, including Vestron Pictures. However, the actual head of Vestron hadn't read the script, it was passed before it got to him, so when producer Dan Ireland made sure the studio boss read it, the man loved it and gave it the green light.

Incidentally, Hickox had filmmaking in his blood, which didn't hurt: his father was Douglas Hickox, director of films like THE GIANT BEHEMOTH, THEATER OF BLOOD and ZULU DAWN, while his mother was Anne V. Coates, an Oscar-nominated editor of films like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, IN THE LINE OF FIRE and OUT OF SIGHT. Pretty cool lineage!

WHY IT'S GREAT: I recall seeing WAXWORK for the first time as a wee babe (well, okay, I was probably about 10). It was on one of those Up All Night shows, maybe the one hosted by Gilbert Gottfried, or perhaps even Joe Bob Briggs. That's when I was devouring all kinds of horror trash, and here was another feast for my sick young mind. But a funny thing happened: Turned out WAXWORK wasn't your typical B-movie fare. It had a humorous vibe, sort of cheeky, and the characters weren't brainless fools, but smart and, surprisingly, well-off. (Seems like most of the kids in these movies are middle or lower class.) There was the visual style, which was elegant and yet playful. And, of course, the rock-and-roll horror sequences involving helpless protagonists being sucked into the various worlds within the wax museum. I don't think I had ever seen a movie that thrust us into so many different horror movie worlds; the movie manages to fit in Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy and plenty more – and they're pretty fearsome creatures indeed, dishing out some really gnarly kills.

I remember sending in my first cut of Waxwork to Jack Valenti at the MPAA, and whenever he’d tell me to take two frames off this or that shot, I would only take one frame off and send it back to him. He knew what I was up to, though [laughs], but he told me that officially, he couldn’t tell me what to do, because censorship isn't allowed in America, so if I didn’t make some changes, Waxwork would have had to go out with no rating, and that would have killed the movie." – Anthony Hickox, Daily Dead

It had been a long time since I had seen WAXWORK until I programmed it for the Alamo Drafthouse last summer, which gave me an opportunity to revisit it, thirty years after its release. I was caught up in its crazy universe all over again. I had the pleasure of introducing it to some friends who'd never seen it before, and this is the kind of movie that is so much fun to watch through fresh eyes. I especially appreciated the cast of the film this time; the flick is filled with horror stars from several eras; you have younger recognizable faces like Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman and Dana Ashbrook, and on the other side of the spectrum, acting vets like David Warner, Patrick MacNee and John Rhys-Davies. Everyone surrounding the main characters are unique character actors; let's put it this way, this isn't a humdrum cast.

The make-up effects by Bob Keen are tremendous, and very icky indeed. One of my favorite bits involves the poor sucker whose had his leg feasted on by vampires and the bloodbath that ensues within the otherwise pristine white room. It's a great example of the nutty tone this film has: it's usually quite funny, but there's also no denying it has many disturbing moments and sights. It's a "grand guignol" through and through.

As an aside, I recommend watching the movie with audio commentary from Zach Galligan and Anthony Hickox; it's funny, frequently self-deprecating, and very informative.

BEST SCENE: Hard to say; obviously, all of the fantasy/horror sequences are terrific, with their fabulous creatures and freaky gore effects, but I've always especially loved the werewolf scene. The wolf effects by the legendary Keen are great, it's a nightmarish-looking thing, and as a bonus, a guy – played by the director's brother – gets ripped in half; something I'll never forget seeing when I was that young kid seated in front of the TV.

BUY IT: WAXWORK is available on Amazon Prime, YouTube and Vudu, as well as on a very nice Blu-ray released by Vestron last year. As a bonus, you get WAXWORK II, which is just as nuts – if not more so!

PARTING SHOT: WAXWORK is just a blast from start to finish. A lot of horror fans have seen it, but I've found there are a surprising amount who haven't – or, at least, who haven't seen it in many years. Now's the time to revisit this sucker!