Waxwork (1988, USA / UK / Germany)

Directed by: Anthony Hickox
Produced by: Staffan Ahrenberg
Written by: Anthony Hickox
Starring: Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Johnson, David Warner, Dana Ashbrook, Miles O'Keeffe, Patrick Macnee, John Rhys-Davies
Music by: Roger Bellon
Cinematography: Gerry Lively
Editing by: Christopher Cibelli
Distributed by: Vestron Pictures
Release dates: June 17, 1988
Running time: 95 min. (R-rated), 100 min. (unrated)
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: $1.5 million
Box office: $808,114
Plot: A waxwork museum comes to town, and a mysterious man invites some teens to come to a special showing at midnight. Once inside, while viewing different exhibits, the scenes come alive and the viewer is sucked into the story.

Info: Waxwork is a 1988 American horror comedy film starring Zach Galligan and Deborah Foreman. Often cited as the first self-referential horror well before Scream and such, the film was given a limited release 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 $2 million). The film's budget was $1.5 million.

Film Facts: The 18 wax horror exhibits in the movie are: The Marquis De Sade - The Werewolf, The Mummy, Dracula - Count Dracula, Phantom of the Opera - The Witch, It's Alive - Demonic Baby, Invasion of the Body Snatchers - The Pod, Frankenstein - Frankenstein's Monster, Little Shop of Horrors - Venus Fly Trap, The Invisible Man, Jack the Ripper - Mr. Hyde and Romero-style zombies.

There were three characters that were supposed to be displays in the Waxwork, but left out of the film for legal reasons: Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th (1980), five children from Village of the Damned (1960), and The Thing.


Waxwork original 1988 trailer.

Kane Hodder, who did stunt work for the movie, also had an uncredited role in the film as Frankenstein's monster.

Writer/director Anthony Hickox wrote the screenplay in only 3 days.

Effects artist Bob Keen spent 18 hours a day for 8 weeks working on the monsters in the film.

After the policeman visits the Waxwork with Mark, he realizes that many of the statues of the victims resemble missing people from posters he had seen. These posters are actually just copies of one of the posters from the opening credits of The Lost Boys (1987). All of the missing person posters have a single photo of a missing adult, but the posters all have the same information of two missing children on the poster: William G. Bailey 7-26-62 Sandy blond hair brown eyes Missing since August 6, 1979 (or 1973) Call the Santa Carla Police Department Susan Wilbur 5-30-69 Black Hair Blue Eyes Missing since February 6, 1983.

Waxwork promotional photo; The Mummy scene.

In the original shooting script, the caged "cobra-man" circus freak was supposed to be a were-beast and the Man in the Iron Mask was supposed to be one of the exhibits.

During the scene in the basement of the vampire's mansion, crew on the sets said that it was "The bloodiest thing ever put to the screen". Much of the gore in the scene was cut by the MPAA.

End Credits: Dedicated to Hammer, Argento, Romero, Dante, Landis, Spielberg, Wells, Carpenter, Mom and Dad, and many more ...

Christopher Bradley, who played Stephan, said in an interview that the bridge attached to hold the fake fangs in place to the roof of his mouth broke during production. Bradley had to stuff chewing gum inside of the hollow fangs in order to get them to stick to his teeth.

Patrick Tantalo said that the Zombie sequence was filmed in one night in Griffith Park. Because they only had one night to film the sequence, the scene where a severed Zombie hand grabs Zach Galligan (Mark) on the wrist was filmed in reverse.

Waxwork art by horror artist Jim Warren.

In the shooting script, there was supposed to be scene where Mark and Sarah visit James and Gemma after they had decided not to attend the Waxwork tour. The couple are watching Dawn of the Dead (1978) together in James's basement and Gemma unsuccessfully tries to get her boyfriend's attention since it's just the two of them. James isn't in the mood, as he's too caught up into the film, and Gemma sulks by getting a cigarette. Gemma hears a scraping noise on the window. and she switches the TV off to get James's attention. James originally dismisses Gemma's claim as nothing, until he hears the same noise, louder than before. James goes to the window and finds nothing, but is startled when Mark grabs his throat and leaps up screaming like a zombie. James falls to the floor, Mark and Sarah peer up from the window laughing, and James tells them to get lost. James leaves to go to bed, with Gemma shrugging and following after James. It remains unknown if the sequence was ever filmed or simply scripted.

Michael Gough, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence were all possibles for the cameo role of Sir Wilfrid.

Released by Artisan / Lions Gate. Waxwork / Waxwork II: Lost in Time Double Feature DVD. You get both great movies at one low price. A must for horror fans!

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Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992, USA, UK, Germany)

Directed by: Anthony Hickox
Produced by: Nancy Paloian
Written by: Anthony Hickox
Starring: Zach Galligan, Alexander Godunov, Monika Schnarre, Martin Kemp, Bruce Campbell
Music by: Steve Schiff
Cinematography: Gerry Lively
Editing by: Christopher Cibelli
Distributed by: Live Home Video
Release dates: June 16, 1992
Running time: 104 min.
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
Plot: Mark and Sarah survive to the fire in the wax museum, but Sarah is followed by a severed hand that kills her father. Sarah becomes the prime suspect and goes to trial. Mark and Sarah search evidence to prove her innocence and they go to Sir Wilfred's house. They find a footage prepared by Sir Wilfred with a puzzle based of the Alice and the Looking Glass. They solve the puzzle and find a compass that opens portals through time. They travel to the most different places in time seeking something to help Sarah in her trial in a dangerous journey.

Info: Waxwork II: Lost in Time is a 1992 horror comedy film directed and written by Anthony Hickox and a sequel to the 1988 film, Waxwork. In this sequel, a couple must use a portal through time to defeat evil. Tagline: A killer is waiting... In the past, present and future. The movie opens with the final scenes from Waxwork (1988).

Film Facts: Waxwork II: Lost in Time pays a great homage to classic horror and sci-fi films. When the couple opens the portal and goes through time. They find themselves trapped and play in these classic films: Nosferatu (1922), Frankenstein (1931), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), House of Wax (1953), Psycho (1960) A wig and a knife (similar to the ones Norman Bates uses), as well as a key to cabin 1, can be seen at Sir Wilfred's home., Jack the Ripper (1959), Godzilla (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Haunting (1963), The Legend of Hell House (1973), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Alien (1979), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Shot of sunrise over the orb of the Earth & the space shuttle, with "Zarathustra" playing in the background.


Waxwork II: Lost in Time original 1992 trailer.

The Raven (1963) Sir Wilfred, in the form of a raven, releases Mark from imprisonment in the same way that Peter Lorre, as a raven, rescues Vincent Price from the dungeon of his enemy., Alice Through a Looking Glass (1928) Sir Wilfred refers to it., The Masque of the Red Death (1964), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Saturday Night Fever (1977), The Shining (1980), Friday the 13th Part III (1982) A bloody hockey mask (similar to the one Jason wears) can be seen at Sir  home., Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) A crate with a swastika on it, similar to the one that contains the ark, can be seen at Sir Wilfred's home., Back to the Future Part II (1989) In the end Sarah receives a package send to her by Mark who lives in the past.

Anthony Hickox offered Dolph Lundgren the part of Frankenstein's monster but Lundgren turned it down.

Deborah Foreman was asked to reprise her role as Sarah, but turned said offer down.

Bruce Campbell stars in this creepy homage to The Haunting (1963). This homage was originally filmed in color. But, director Anthony Hickox thought it looked better and creepier in black and white. Also, it gave a better homage to The Haunting (1963), since it was in black and white. We agree. The promotional photo above gives us a gory look in color.

The same actor who plays the Nazi-obsessed lecturer in the first film, Buckley Norris, plays the Judge in this one.

Flying saucer landing seen on Sarah's stepfather's TV is from Lobster Man from Mars (1989).

This is John Ireland's last film.

When the "hand" hits the stepfather with the hammer, you can see a black rod attached to the hand, controlling it.

This movie is considered a low budget movie. But, considering. The makeup department done a excellent job bringing this alien to life in the homage to Alien (1979). It was one of my favorite homages.

During the end credits, a funny rap music video is playing. It shows scenes from the movie and some behind the scenes footage, but has rappers singing the title song "Lost In Time" while the cast dances to the music in the background.

End Credits: Godzilla AS HIMSELF Filmed Entirely in THE 4TH DIMENSION

Conclusion: If you don't have a sense of humor or an appreciation for classic horror you won't like this film. It's a montage of homage that is devoted to capturing the pace, direction style, acting style, dialogue etc. of such films as Alien, The Haunting, Dawn of The Dead, Nosferatu on a relatively low budget. The pared down scenes accentuate the spoof sentiment and remind us why horror is fun. Take the Alien scene, hard talking', pulse rifle carrying space marines complete with transmission samples as background juxtaposed to the reefer madness-esque black and white, highly stylized scene of The Haunting. Battling evil can be funny and Bruce Campbell's cameo, as well as others, lends support. If nothing else, it's a treasure hunt for horror genre fans.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 1 out of 5 stars. We give it a 5 out of 5 stars.

Released by Artisan / Lions Gate. Waxwork / Waxwork II: Lost in Time Double Feature DVD. You get both great movies at one low price. A must for horror fans!

Click here to visit our Ebay shop.