House of Wax (1953)
85%RT Audience Score: 73%
Awards & Nominations: NA
House of Wax is a 3-D horror delight that combines the atmospheric eerieness of the wax museum with the always chilling presence of Vincent Price
House of Wax is a classic horror film that will make you scream and laugh at the same time. Vincent Price is the perfect villain, with his creepy stares and smooth talking. The 3-D effects are surprisingly good for a film from the 50s, and the wax figures are so realistic that you’ll want to touch them (but don’t, because that’s gross). Overall, House of Wax is a must-watch for horror fans and anyone who wants to see Vincent Price at his best. Just don’t watch it alone in the dark, unless you want to be scared out of your wits!
Production Company(ies)
Complete Fiction Media Rights Capital,
Distributor
Warner Bros., Warner Home Vídeo
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
1 King Street, Saint Augustine, Florida, USA
MPAA / Certificate
GP
Year of Release
1953
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.37 : 1
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Runtime:1h 28m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 10, 1953 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 5, 2003
Genre(s)
Horror
Keyword(s)
starring Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones, Paul Picerni, Roy Roberts, directed by Andre de Toth, written by Charles Belden, Crane Wilbur, horror, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Variety Staff, Dave Kehr, David Parkinson, Bosley Crowther, Tom Milne, Nick Schager, Brian Eggert, Nell Dodson Russell, Stephanie Archer, Mike Massie, Clyde Gilmour, Martin Unsworth, PG, Warner Bros., Warner Home Vídeo, Bryan Foy, sound mix, mono, stereo, wax museum, insurance policy, art student, corpses, Vincent Price as Prof Henry Jarrod, Frank Lovejoy as Lt Tom Brennan, Phyllis Kirk as Sue Allen, Carolyn Jones as Cathy Gray, Paul Picerni as Scott Andrews, Roy Roberts as Matthew Burke
Worldwide gross: $23,750,000
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $299,318,182
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 504
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 32,641,023
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $1,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $12,602,871
Production budget ranking: 1,576
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $6,786,646
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $279,928,665
ROI to date (est.): 1,444%
ROI ranking: 72
Frank Lovejoy – Lt. Tom Brennan
Phyllis Kirk – Sue Allen
Carolyn Jones – Cathy Gray
Paul Picerni – Scott Andrews
Roy Roberts – Matthew Burke
Director(s)
Andre de Toth
Writer(s)
Charles Belden, Crane Wilbur
Producer(s)
Bryan Foy
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (45) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (3)
Casting is competent, Vincent Price is capital as the No. 1 menace.
October 7, 2008
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
The effects are done with playfulness, zest, and some imagination (they range from a barker batting paddleballs in your face to a murderer leaping from the row in front of you), making this the most entertaining of the gimmick 3-Ds.
September 24, 2007
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
A film in which just about every technical and dramatic gambit has been judged to near perfection.
September 24, 2007 | Rating: 4/5
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Dimly we foresee movie audiences embalmed in three-dimensional wax and sound.
March 25, 2006
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
De Toth brings off one classic sequence with Kirk fleeing through the gaslit streets pursued by a shadowy figure in a billowing cloak.
February 9, 2006
Tom Milne
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Price brings a touch of creepy class to this otherwise middling B-level horror story.
June 25, 2005 | Rating: B-
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
TOP CRITIC
If nothing else, it reinforces perceptions about the inferiority of remakes.
February 18, 2022 | Rating: 2.5/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Filmed in Warnercolor and having the advantage of an actor of Vincent Price’s calibre to head the cast, House of Wax will make suspenseful entertainment for most movie-goers. The figures in the wax museum become almost too realistic as seen in 3-D.
December 15, 2021
Nell Dodson Russell
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
House of Wax is a film in horror history that, while experiencing varying success with each of its three inductions, can not be overlooked.
January 28, 2021
Stephanie Archer
Film Inquiry
Price can’t help but to be perfect as an evil mastermind, tossing about ominous stares and deceptively gentle chatter.
August 23, 2020 | Rating: 7/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
A three-dimensional item of horror and suspense. As a 3-D spectacle, it is technically far ahead of the recent Bwana Devil, and the corny story is at least up to the average chiller-diller.
October 29, 2019
Clyde Gilmour
Maclean’s Magazine
The film’s place in cinema history is already secured as it’s genuinely one of the best of the fifties horror thrillers from Warner Bros, with Price at his best – being both sympathetic and sinister.
November 10, 2017 | Rating: 9/10
Martin Unsworth
Starburst…
Plot
Professor Henry Jarrod is a true artist whose wax sculptures are lifelike. He specializes in historical tableau’s such a Marie Antoinette or Joan of Arc. His business partner, Matthew Burke, needs some of his investment returned to him and pushes Jarrod to have more lurid exposes like a chamber of horrors. When Jarrod refuses, Burke set the place alight destroying all of his beautiful work in the hope of claiming the insurance. Jarrod is believed to have died in the fire but he unexpectedly reappears some 18 months later when he opens a new exhibit. This time, his displays focus on the macabre but he has yet to reproduce his most cherished work, Marie Antoinette. When he meets his new assistant’s beautiful friend, Sue Allen, he knows he’s found the perfect model – only unbeknown to anyone, he has a very particular way of making his wax creations.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Vincent Price is “capital as the No. 1 menace” in House of Wax, according to one critic review.
Andre-de-Toth.jpg
