Post by George Willson on Mar 18, 2006 18:52:03 GMT -5
The plot of a wax museum curator using corpses as wax models is a plot going way back and is doubtless the result of the lifelike appearance of wax dummies.
This version of the tale from 1953 with Vincent Price in the lead role is a good take on this tale. When his partner decides to burn the museum down in order to take advantage of the insurance money, the owner, who has an unnatural attachment to his work, takes on apprentices to do his work for him. At the same time, there are a series of murders and the corpse disappears, baffling the police.
Only one person has seen this murderer and that is Sue Allen, but the cops don't believe her description of the assailant as he is badly burned. One might believe this to be the museum owner, but low and behold, when we see him, his face is not only normal, but he is in a wheelchair, and can't walk.
It tells a great tale in the style of a thriller approaching early slasher. The characters are decent and the only complaint I have in this one is the heroine getting herself into danger by going placs we know full well she shouldn't, though in this case, there is at least some measure of reasonable motivation.
Overall, the film works well as an old style horror tale with that macabre twist that is done so well in older films when they couldn't get much in the way of gore past the censors.
This version of the tale from 1953 with Vincent Price in the lead role is a good take on this tale. When his partner decides to burn the museum down in order to take advantage of the insurance money, the owner, who has an unnatural attachment to his work, takes on apprentices to do his work for him. At the same time, there are a series of murders and the corpse disappears, baffling the police.
Only one person has seen this murderer and that is Sue Allen, but the cops don't believe her description of the assailant as he is badly burned. One might believe this to be the museum owner, but low and behold, when we see him, his face is not only normal, but he is in a wheelchair, and can't walk.
It tells a great tale in the style of a thriller approaching early slasher. The characters are decent and the only complaint I have in this one is the heroine getting herself into danger by going placs we know full well she shouldn't, though in this case, there is at least some measure of reasonable motivation.
Overall, the film works well as an old style horror tale with that macabre twist that is done so well in older films when they couldn't get much in the way of gore past the censors.