2K Replay: HOUSE OF WAX (2005)

by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best Film” at the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. It lost to King Kong (2005).

• Best Scene/Moment (tie): Jon Abrahams trying to save wax Jared Padalecki and the finale with the melting House of Wax. It’s fantastic.

• Best Song: “Helena” by My Chemical Romance. This movie has a great soundtrack, btw.

• Best Merch: A “2005 House of Wax…5x25 Mylar Movie Posters Lot of 8” for $49.99. I wish AMC used these. I don’t like how they no longer post what movie is playing in each auditorium. The mylars weren’t as cool as putting up the posters, but it’s better than nothing at all. These would be great to own because you could use the line “Want to get out of here and see my mylars?” when you meet someone at a bar. Then they’ll be all “Now playing in your bathroom…Van Helsing!” when they come over.

• Director Grade: House of Wax (2005) was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: House of Wax (2005), Orphan, Run All Night, The Shallows
OK Movies: N/A
Bad Movies: Non-Stop, The Commuter, Jungle Cruise
Unseen By Me: Goal II: Living the Dream, Unknown, Black Adam, Carry On, The Woman in the Yard
Overall Grade: B-

• Double It with This 2005 Movie: The Amityville Horror (2005)

• Year 2005 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Cry_Wolf, The Fog (2005), Venom

• Never Talk to Strangers or House of Wax (2005)? House of Wax (2005)

• Mall Movie? It must be, right? It’s Dark Castle after all. The only thing holding me back is the 112-minute runtime. Mall movies are usually shorter.

• Only in 2005: A horror movie where Paris Hilton factored heavily into the marketing.

• Scene Stealer: Brian Van Holt.

• I Miss: The Dark Castle logo.

• I Don’t Miss: The Jon Abrahams character. I have nothing against the actor. It's just that he played the same type of d-bag in a lot of movies during the early 2000s.

• 2005 Crush: Elisha Cuthbert.

• 2025 Crush: Elisha Cuthbert.

• What I Thought in 2005: I loved it! I thought House of Wax (2005) was by far the best of the Dark Castle movies with great special effects and a standout finale. I also dug the Chad Michael Murray performance, which starts one way and then develops into something more appealing as he tries to escape the wax town with his sister (also played well by Elisha Cuthbert).

• What I Think in 2025: I don’t love it like I used to but I’m still a fan. What I appreciate the most nowadays is that the remake stands apart from the original House of Wax (with Vincent Price) and takes a new direction. Both can be enjoyed together as a double feature like The Blob (1958 & 1988). House of Wax (2005) is more of a remake of Tourist Trap, which isn’t a bad thing at all because that movie also rules.