Editorials
[It Came From the ’80s] Ultimate Monster Movie Mashup ‘Waxwork’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
There are very few horror films that manage to bring together a multitude of iconic horror movie monsters, and even fewer that manage to be as ambitious as Waxwork. Written and directed by Anthony Hickox, Waxwork brings together the “eighteen most evil beings,” from werewolves, Count Dracula, the Mummy, zombies, Frankenstein’s monster, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, pod creatures, a snake man, even the Marquis de Sade, and more under the clever framing device of an evil wax museum.
Vestron Pictures released this horror-comedy 30 years ago, on June 17, 1988, with subsequent R-Rated and Unrated edition VHS releases following months later. Even decades later, the wacky plot and the fantastic special effects means Waxwork has aged better than most.
Waxwork plays like an anthology, in that the core group of characters fall victim to various wax exhibits in the mysterious wax museum owned by the ominous David Lincoln (David Warner). Stepping foot into any of the 18 exhibits means stepping into an alternate reality full of danger and mortal peril. It’s all a ruse for Lincoln to capture their souls to bring about the end of the world. One by one the group of friends encounter different scenarios with various monsters and often die in gruesome, violent ways.
Written in just a few days, Anthony Hickox’s first feature has one glaring flaw; he waited until the end to film the final battle. The issue with that is that the completion bond people arrived toward the end of production, announcing they were out of money and Hickox had only 24 hours left to complete the final battle. This meant a very abridged final battle that was much smaller than Hickox originally planned. If we’re being nitpicky, another glaring flaw is that the actors playing the wax figures don’t do a very good job of holding still.
Even despite the shortened, chaotic final battle between good and evil, it’s the sense of humor, audacity, and great practical effects that keeps Waxwork just as fun now as it was 30 years ago. Much of that can be attributed to special makeup effects designer and supervisor Bob Keen, and his talented team. The artist, fresh off his role as special makeup effects designer for Hellraiser, turned out an incredible amount of work in Waxwork. Not only did he have a hand in the creation of just about every creature (and there’s an insane amount of creature work here), but he also served as second unit director.
For the werewolf sequence, Hickox requested that Keen model its design after the werewolf from The Howling. His brother, James D.R. Hickox, played the werewolf hunter’s assistant who gets ripped in two by the werewolf. Originally, this sequence came after the vampire sequence. Hickox felt that the werewolf scene did a better job setting up the conceit of the wax museum, and swapped the order of the two scenes in the film. In terms of blood and gore, the switch proved to be a smarter decision in addition to narrative flow. Beginning with one icky dinner party with blood and flesh soup on the menu (that’s made of fruit) that gives way to a showdown that literally paints a white room red with blood, the vampire sequence is a surprise highlight.
Between Keen’s clever designs and the use of public domain monsters, there’s a sort of kitchen sink approach to Waxwork that works like a charm. The end credits say it all about Hickox’s inspirations for his film; he thanks Dario Argento, George A. Romero, John Landis, John Carpenter, Joe Dante, and Steven Spielberg. There’s a clear reverence for horror on display, as well as a self-aware sense of humor. In combination with Keen’s tireless efforts on the special makeup effects, Waxwork remains an all-time underseen gem.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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