Waxwork
(1988)/Waxwork
2: Lost in Time
(1992/Vestron Video Collector's Series/Lionsgate Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B Extras: C+ Films: B/C+
From
the Director of Hellraiser
3,
Anthony Hickox, comes the horror double feature of Waxwork
(1988) and Waxwork
2: Lost in Time
(1992). While the first film is far superior to the second, both
movies are great '80s horror fun for fans and a great double disc
release from Lionsgate and the third entry in the Vestron Video
Collector's Series. The first two releases in the Vestron series,
Blood
Diner
and Chopping
Mall,
are reviewed elsewhere on the site.
What
if you could walk through a wax museum and upon walking near a
display - be sucked into a parallel dimension where that reality
existed? Such is the fate for a group of teens who enter a creepy
Waxwork Museum (where the underrated David Warner is the bizarre
caretaker) where they encounter vampires, mummies, and other horrific
horrors face to face. Some make it out alive and others don't!
There are some great moments in this film and some great production
design as well that fans of classic horror films will enjoy. Some of
the effects are a little dated and an early scene where they see
''wax'' figures are obviously people standing in frozen poses (look
close enough and you can see them move), but it doesn't take away
from the charm or original story concept that make the film endearing
and are a perfect examples of cult genre film.
The
sequel, Waxwork
2: Lost in Time,
picks up right where the first one left off but suffers the fate of
what I like to call 'Back
to the Future, Part 2
casting'
- where the female lead is recast (the gorgeous Deborah Foreman is
replaced with pretty-but-different looking Sophie Ward) while Zach
Galligan returns as the lead. The film is a bit too ambitious for
its britches and ends up ripping off/homaging stronger better films
more than it does bring originality to the table. Aliens,
Night
of the Living Dead,
The
Evil Dead,
and a handful of other films are heavily parodied which doesn't work
more than it works. I'm sure the lack of originality (despite cameos
by Campbell and Carradine) didn't help get a third one off the
ground.
Waxwork
stars Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Patrick Macnee (The
Howling),
David Warner (Time
After Time,
finally arriving on Blu-ray soon itself), and Jennifer Bassey, and
Waxwork
II: Lost in Time,
starring Zach Galligan, Sophie Ward, Martin Kemp, a great performance
by the one and only Bruce Campbell, and a cameo by David Carradine.
Both
films have been remastered and are presented in 1080p high definition
with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 that improves significantly
over previous versions on DVD and VHS respectively. The dark colors
inside the wax museum are contrasty and pop with vivid colors on all
of leads. The transfer leaves little to gripe about. The original
stereo tracks have been remastered too and are presented in lossless
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo Surround (Pro Logic-type
surrounds). A higher mix to 5.1 would have been nice, but
considering they are older genre films and not huge box office
successes, I can see why Lionsgate maybe didn't want to put the money
into the mix as much as they did the picture. Maybe the audio stems
didn't age well enough either.
Special
Features for the first film include...
Audio
Commentary with Anthony Hickox & Zach Galligan
''The
Waxwork Chronicles'' (Parts 1 thru 6)
Vintage
"Making of" Featurette
Theatrical
Trailer
Still
Gallery
The
second film has less features with...
Audio
Commentary with Anthony Hickox & Zach Galligan
Theatrical
Trailer
Still
Gallery
As
a genre fan, I would pick up this Blu-ray set for the first film
alone as it's kind of a hard one to find nowadays and really looks
great on disc. The second one is more of just an added bonus in the
set. I can totally see a remake of this working if done by the right
group of filmmakers, but we have this upgraded set finally, so now
they can be (re)discovered.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
