Waxwork

No sorry, that pimple is impossible to remove
Once in a while you come across a horror flick that leaves you feeling fluffy-happy and nostalgic. And, as I recently discovered, Waxwork falls rather snugly into this category. Released in the 1980s, this cheesy horror-comedy was directed by Anthony Hickox, a movie-maker who is well-known for his sense of humor. Definitely worth adding to the cheesy horror collection.

The movie itself is rather simple and keeps to the 80s style of horror movies. You know, the concept of featuring a group of teens with their own weird little personalities who end up trapped/attacked/conned by a supernatural entity. In this case, the teens end up touring a waxwork exhibition that showcased a whole bunch of creepy fictional figures who, incidentally, were engaged in equally creepy torture tactics. You can see how this ends. One by one, the teens find themselves entering the display area, only to discover that “Yikes, I'm trapped in another dimension” and “Yikes, these creatures are out to kill me”. Yea, not many of them make it out alive.

OMG, those colors are so David Bowie

To be fair, the writer did end a strange twist, albeit a cheesy one, to the story. Seems that the waxwork owner had to sacrifice a certain number of people to the displays. This meant that he could finally revive his minions for the whole world domination plot. Or something along those lines, it was hard to keep track once all the display folks came alive and started prancing around.

So keeping aside the silly plot, what helps sell this flick? Firstly, if you're familiar with the trends of the 80s (and love the cult classic horror of the good old days), you'll love the various tributes. Thus, there's the instance where the angry cop browses through the missing kids' posters. Hang on, they just like the Lost Boys' posters …. wait, it is the same one, look at the Santa Carla phone numbers. It probably also helps that I recently ogled at, I meant watched, the Lost Boys movie. Other than that, the writer also throws in villain-worthy folks like Marquis de Sade, non-sparkly Dracula and the Mummy.

Oh sorry, I was looking for Lion-O

On that note, it was a relief to see them poke fun at the horror genre itself. One of the girls, China, is the typical spoilt popular girl who is portrayed as rather promiscuous. Well, they imply it anyway (think about when she says "Can't a girl get laid around here without being burned at the stake?" ). That comment was a good jab at the way horror genre punished sexually active teens by killing them off first. And contrary to what you would expect from the genre, China didn't run off bare-naked in the woods, whilst a crazy man stalked her. Rather, she ran off down a corridor in a mansion with a hungry bloodsucker on her heels. And she didn't exactly keel over and die easily; she went down in a blaze of glory, killing off her pursuer and three other vampires.

Which brings me to something else that was extremely likable about this flick – the over-the-top blood and gore. Sure most horror flicks are full of them these days but I tend to appreciate it more when it is done in a humorous manner. Case in point, is the death-match of sorts that involved China. She ended up fighting near one of the vampire's captives (or appetizer as he was fondly referred to by the stalker vampire). The portrayal of this captive and his role in the plot was pure genius. There he was, lying on a slab with one leg missing where the area around it was all gooey and tattered. China ends up using this table as a buffer when she fends off the hungry advances of the vampire with the end result that the fangboy jumps up and lands on the missing leg. Ouch! It was a 'you had to be there moment' but one definitely worth seeing.