Wax Mask [Blu-ray]

Overview

In the grand tradition of Britain's Hammer low-budget horror films of the '60s, this Gothic and gory chiller is the third screen version of Gaston Leroux's tale The Wax Museum. The prologue is set in turn-of-the-century Paris at New Years. Just as the bells ring out, a young sleeping couple are attacked by a hooded figure whose hand has been replaced by a fearsome steel claw. Their gruesome deaths are witnessed by their unseen little girl. The story moves ahead 12 years and moves to a Roman brothel where Lucas, a young patron, accepts a bet to spend an entire evening in a particular wax museum filled with gruesome reenactments of the world's most horrible crimes. Though he knows the figures are only wax, they literally horrify Lucas to the point of death. The official cause is listed as heart failure, a fact that attracts considerable attention from the press causing the curator, Boris, to devise a new set of grim tableaux. His latest creations are chillingly real, mostly because they are real but for the special chemical Boris injects into them. The curator's diabolical schemes unravel shortly after he hires Sonia, the little girl from the prologue, as his new costumer. The museum exhibits bring her childhood trauma flooding back to the surface. Fortunately, her lover, an ingenious reporter has teamed up with a determined police inspector who has been investigating her parents' murder for the past 12 years. The film is dedicated to Lucio Fulci, one of Italy's premiere masters of schlock horror who died during production in March, 1996. He was replaced by first-time director Sergio Stivaletti.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/24/2019
UPC:	0663390003312
Original Release:	1997
Source:	Severin
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:38:00
Sales rank:	23,803

Special Features

Audio Commentary with Director Special Effects Artist Sergio Stivaletti and Michelangelo Stivaletti; Beyond Fulci: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng, Actress Gabriella Giorgelli and Filmmaker Claudio Fragasso; The Chamber of Horrors: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng and actress Gabriella Giorgelli; Living Dolls: Interviews with Prodcer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo and actress Gabriella Giorgelli; The Mysteris of the Wax Museum: Interveiw with SFX Artist Sergio Stivaletti; The Waxworks Symphony: Interview with soundtrack Composer Maurizio Aberi; The Grand Opening: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti and Producer Giuseppe Columbo; Wax Unmasked: Interview with film writer Alan Jones; Vintage Featurettes: Behind the scenes; Special Effects; On Set with Dario Argento

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Romina Mondello	Sonia
Robert Hossein	Volkoff
Riccardo Serventi Longhi	Andrea
Gabriella Giorgetti	Francesca
Umberto Balli	Alex
Valery Valmond	Giorgina
Aldo Massasso	Commissioner Lanvin
Gianni Franco	Inspector Palazzi
Antonello Murru	Custodian
Daniele Auber	Luca
Maurizio Abeni	Composer

Technical Credits

Dario Argento

Lucio Fulci

Daniele Stroppa

Fulvio Lucisano	Producer
Dario Argento	Producer,Screenwriter
Giuseppe Colombo	Producer
Lucio Fulci	Screenwriter
Sergio Stivaletti	Director,Special Effects
Daniele Stroppa	Screenwriter
Benoit Squizzato	Special Effects
Riccardo Palmieri	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

An interesting variation on the classic Gaston Leroux story, which was also the inspiration for the 1953 3-D classic House of Wax, Maschero di cera is an interesting footnote in the ushering of Italian horror into the new millennium. Though it shows little progress in development of plot over style (a notorious criticism of Italian horror), the fact that it was intended to be the first partnering of genre contemporaries Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento excited many genre diehards. With the death of intended director Fulci throwing the production an unexpected curve ball, frequent Fulci/Argento special effects collaborator Sergio Stivaletti was chosen as his successor. Displaying a competent handling of the material, as well as the stylistic excesses that have become synonymous with Italian horror, Stivaletti drenches the dark corridors of the wax museum with rich primary hues and keeps the story moving at a satisfying pace. Blending the conventions that defined Italian horror in the past decades with the modern, digital special-effects mentality that Stivaletti has been refining in recent years, M.D.C. isn't a breakthrough in any sense of the term, and though its final 30 seconds nearly destroy the redeeming qualities of the preceding 97 minutes, it ultimately serves its eerily entertaining purpose.

All Movie Guide - Jason Buchanan