House Of Wax Review (1953)

Step right into the inferno, fiends and film freaks, because tonight’s feature is none other than Vincent Price’s House of Wax, a film that still oozes atmosphere like hot wax dripping off a candle in a crypt. If Peter Cushing is the cool, skeletal master of quiet dread, then Vincent Price is his flamboyant American cousin, the velvet-voiced aristocrat of terror who could make even the act of stirring tea sound sinister. And here, in House of Wax, he’s in peak form.

Price plays Professor Henry Jarrod, a gifted sculptor with a love for beauty, a flair for the dramatic, and, after a little accident involving fire and betrayal, a vengeful streak that makes him downright terrifying. The sequence where his once-pristine wax museum goes up in flames is pure Horror spectacle, a fiery baptism that transforms Jarrod into something more monster than man. By the time he re-emerges, scarred and hidden behind a waxen mask, he’s practically the Phantom of the Waxworks, stalking, creating, and killing with a twisted sense of artistry.

The movie itself is drenched in gothic flavor. The sets loom, the wax figures leer, and everything has that sinister carnival energy, like stepping into a museum where the exhibits might actually be breathing. And of course, it was a 3D showcase back in the day, so you get the paddle-ball man swatting at the screen, the flames licking toward the audience, and all those little gimmicks that feel kitschy now but must’ve been mind-blowing in the early ‘50s. But beyond the spectacle, it’s Vincent Price who sells the whole thing. His performance is tragic and terrifying, you almost sympathize with him, right up until he dips someone into hot wax.

What I love about Price here is the way he relishes every word. He doesn’t just speak lines, he coats them in honey and venom, letting them roll off his tongue until you’re caught in the spell. While Cushing chills you with precision, Price seduces you into terror. He is the House of Wax: beautiful, grotesque, impossible to look away from.



House of Wax isn’t just a Horror classic, it’s a showcase for one of cinema’s most iconic villains, brought to life by one of the greatest Horror actors who ever lived. To watch Price stride through this film is to watch gothic Horror itself personified: elegant, menacing, unforgettable.