Terror in the Wax Museum (1973)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

An Exercise In Nonsense

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Terror in the Wax Museum is not a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) nor it's remake House of Wax (1953). I can see this film makes a "nod" towards Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) but the two stories are different from one another.I was 1 year old in 1973 (the year this film came out) but I must have been about 3 or 4 years of age when I first saw Terror in the Wax Museum because I do have memories of this movie way back then - a couple of memories vivid. This is one of the films that scared me when I was a kid... yes this movie was still a new film back then and as a kid it was terrifying! Wax figures "coming to life" (the dream sequences) and mainly Jack the Ripper - Oh yes I was afraid way back then.I finally had a chance to watch this movie again all these years later and I have to say it's not all that scary to me any more but it is a good film surrounding a wax museum! The one idea that is still creepy to me is the idea of someone "hiding behind" (pretending to be) a wax figure to commit murder. Not to mention the true stories behind each wax display. So there is a bit of horror in this film - it's just not the blood and guts type of horror that we see in movies today.I enjoyed the film - I give it 8 stars BUT I have some personal memories from my childhood attached to this film so I have to give it an extra star - an extra star for my childhood memories.9/10

John Carradine doesn't last long as Claude Dupree, owner of "Dupree's Wax Museum" in turn-of-the century London, who wears coke-bottle glasses and coaches deformed hunchback half-wit Karkov in the art of wax dummy production. Carradine plots to sell his business to Amos Burns (Broderick Crawford), dreams his creations come to life and kill him, wakes up (love that cap!) and one dressed like Jack the Ripper stabs him. His niece Meg (Nicole Shelby) and her bitchy guardian Julia (Elsa Lanchester) show up to reopen the business and everyone fights about who actually owns the place. After a few more murders, police think the killer is angry museum curator Harry Flexner (Ray Milland), but there are many others after the inheritance.This Bing Crosby production has poor period detail, is cheap and very restrained (no gore, nudity, bad language), plus there are several unsuccessful attempts to copy Corman-esque nightmare sequences, but the lovable cast of veteran horror stars (also including Maurice Evans from ROSEMARY'S BABY and Patric Knowles from THE WOLF MAN) helps a little. My favorite moment is when John Carradine snarls, "You know I always insist on perfection!" (Check out his resume!)Score: 4 out of 10.

This is one of those cheapo horror flicks that were churned out in the 60s/70s, using lots of people who'd been big stars in the 30s and 40s, and not really giving them that much to do. Elsa Lanchester comes off best in this one, as her value didn't diminish much over the years (and she never looked any different!). Not that scary, apart from one or two disturbing bits, the plot is wafer thin and one of those that when you get to the end you keep thinking 'but ...'. And poor Shani Wallis and that dreadful song! But, overall, it is fun and has that weird curiosity value of 'where have I seen him/her before'? for those of us who watch old black and white stuff on a regular basis. Worth tracking down but could have been much, much better.

This is a cheaper BCP film than ARNOLD, and much less fun! What a terrible waste of a good cast.....the greatest horror is listening to poor Shani Wallis sing that stupid song OVER and OVER! What a shame to see a good singer/actress such as Wallis go from OLIVER to these BCP cheapies.