What can I say about a film that was marketed around seeing Paris Hilton killed? Dark Castle Entertainment have a very spotty track record; they’ve made some slightly entertaining films and they’ve made some rubbish films. House of Wax is a slightly entertaining rubbish film.

First of all, the characters seem to possess almost zero logic. Granted, most horror films operate with a reduced level of logic, but the characters in this film seem to be borderline retarded. There’s no continuity of behaviour, either. Characters act totally differently in varying scenes.

One element that separates this film from most of the other Hollywood horror fare is the level of violence. House of Wax doesn’t hesitate in mutilating its main characters, something which doesn’t usually happen in typical mainstream horror. This helps give the film a little more edge, though everything else is strictly by the numbers. Perhaps if the writers and director had taken more chances, the film wouldn’t be so formulaic.

While I’ve certainly seen worse films from Dark Castle (fear dot com and Gothika, for instance), this films does little to differentiate itself from recent horror films and is therefore instantly forgettable.

Colin Le Sueur