Rating: 4/5
Oh My Horror 2025 | 41/52 | 50s Horror
On a rainy night in turn-of-the-century New York City, we enter a window where a shadow holds up a kitchen knife. But as we move further in, we see that it is a wax figure. In fact, this brownstone is full of them, all sculpted by Professor Henry Jarrod. Matthew Burke, Jarrod’s business partner, enters from the rainy night, complaining about the slow business, which is all because Jarrod won’t create more exploitative exhibits for the “morbidly curious.” Burke wants out, and Jarrod has Sidney Wallace, a wealthy art critic, coming to visit, who may be interested in buying Burke out.
Later, Bruce, a friend of Jarrod, brings Wallace, and Jarrod gives them a tour of the exhibits. Wallace is enamored and wants to buy out Burke, but that will have to wait until he returns from a three-month series of excavations in Egypt. Burke overhears the whole exchange, as well as Jarrod talking to the wax figures as though they were alive. Burke isn’t satisfied to wait three months, so he proposes setting the place ablaze and collecting the insurance. But Jarrod cannot bear the thought of seeing his friends destroyed. Still, Burke fights Jarrod and begins setting the exhibits on fire. He knocks Jarrod out and pours kerosene for the lamps over the rest of the exhibits and over Jarrod, leaving him to die in the fire.
Burke tells his fiancée, Cathy, about the incident, painting it as a tragic accident. No one found Jarrod after the fire, but Burke received the insurance money. Burke returns to his office to grab some of the cash when a man, dressed in black and with a scarred face, emerges and strangles Burke to death. When the coast is clear, the man ties a rope around Burke’s neck and tosses him down the elevator shaft so that it appears like Burke committed suicide. The attacks continue when the scarred man murders Cathy, but Cathy’s friend, Sue, walks in on the man arranging the scene and runs for her life to a friend’s house.
The murderer steals Cathy’s body from the morgue with the aid of two other shadowy figures. Sidney Wallace receives a letter from Jarrod, who is not only alive but, with the help of two assistants, is opening a new exhibition that caters to people’s more macabre tastes.
— It's a portrait in wax. — Why should it seem so real?
From a technical perspective, the cinematography is tight, the pacing is ideal, and the use of color creates striking images throughout. The pink wax coursing through the chemistry tubes looks like Pepto-Bismol, which I find aesthetically pleasing, but I have an unusual relationship with the stuff. I guess it’s in 3D, but nothing about the images suggests that, except for specific frames having the blurriness of using the 3D lenses.
Throughout the film, we see the morbidity of everyday people. Cathy is nonplussed about Burke’s death. She and Sue joke about how violent men get with them and “knowing when to duck.” The morticians make cracks about bodies moving due to embalming fluid, such as “Leave it to a woman to try and get the last word in.” And, of course, Jarrod’s wax museum becomes a massive hit only when he indulges in people’s morbid curiosity by recreating famous deaths.
The fight and fire scene in the opening is so harrowing! Watching the wax figures melt is pretty nightmarish! It reminds me of the face-melting scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. There’s a moment where Burke throws a sword at Jarrod, and the sword hits the camera! The actors are throwing each other into burning set pieces, tumbling about — it looks dangerous, frankly. But the result is wonderfully tense.
** Actor Talk **
- Carolyn Jones, who plays Cathy, talks like Harley Quinn. The actress played Morticia Addams on the Addams Family TV show!
- This film turned Vincent Price’s career around. Before this, he played bit parts. This movie made him highly sought after for horror roles.
- Young Charles Bronson plays Igor! He looks carved out of butter.
I love how, regardless of gender, folks are trying to get peeks at the wax figures’ private parts.
If you’ve seen movies, this won’t surprise you, but it’s so well done that it’s a joy to watch it all unfold.