Socialite Paris Hilton made her big screen debut in House Of Wax, a "rubbish but totally ruthless" remake of the camp 50s horror starring Vincent Price. Basically, six college friends visit a wax museum run by some whacko whose mommy didn't love him enough. Although many critics acknowledged that it was (slightly) better than the average slasher flick, it struggled to recoup its $30m budget.
Melting Pot
Director Jaume Collet-Serra doesn't give an audio commentary for the main feature. Instead we're lumbered with half an hour of behind-the-scenes footage presented with vacuous video commentary by stars Paris Hilton, Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray and Jared Padalecki. It's like The Royle Family went to Hollywood and had radical plastic surgery as they sit on the sofa, watching themselves intently. And just when you thought it couldn't get any more narcissistic, Hilton observes, "My boobs look really cute."
Talking of narcissistic, producer Joel Silver places himself front and centre of a featurette on the visual concept of House Of Wax. Production designer Graham Walker merely agrees that it was all Joel's idea to re-invent small-town America in the image of Asmara - the capital city of Eritrea. You may be fascinated to learn that Asmara was given its distinctive look by Italian colonists back in the 30s, but we're betting that the teenage boys who purchase this disc will be more interested in seeing Elisha Cuthbert writhing around in a pool of molten wax...
Wax Works
Yes, they did use actual wax to build The House Of Wax. It says so in a vaguely edifying visual effects featurette that also deconstructs the disfigured face of resident nutter Vincent (Brian Van Holt). All of the really nasty bits were achieved using a combination of practical effects and CGI and a whole department was set up to design and build the gruesome wax figurines. Silver isn't around to take the credit for all this, but he does take centre stage in a pointless one-minute promo.
Wrapping things up is a gag reel that sees Hilton play dead (or maybe she's supposed to be alive - we can't tell) and a gory alternative ending that'll make you wish you renewed your AA membership. In all, this package of extras has as much depth as a molten tea light.
EXTRA FEATURES
