Wax Mask

Last updated
Wax Mask
Wax-mask-italian-poster-small.jpg
Directed by Sergio Stivaletti
Screenplay by
Story by Dario Argento [1]
Produced byGiuseppe Colombo
Starring
Cinematography Sergio Salvati
Edited by Paolo Benassi
Music by Maurizio Abeni
Production
companies
  • Cine 2000
  • France Film International [1]
Distributed byItalian International Film [1]
Release date
  • 4 April 1997 (1997-04-04)(Italy)
Countries
  • Italy
  • France [1]
Budget$3 million [2]
Box office$0.25 million [3]

Wax Mask (Italian : M.D.C. - Maschera di cera) is a 1997 gothic horror film. [1] The film is set in Rome where a Wax Museum has opened up, whose main attraction is gruesome murder scenes. Shortly after its opening, people began to vanish as new figures appear in the museum.

Contents

After witnessing the poor state of Lucio Fulci's health in 1994, Dario Argento decided to help Fulci by working with him to develop a new project. The two eventually agreed upon a remake of House of Wax . Pre-production lasted longer than expected as Argento had been working on his own film The Stendhal Syndrome . Fulci died in 1996, which led to Argento having special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti enter to direct the film. [4] Stivaletti changed the film's script to focus more on special effects.

Plot

The film begins with the murder of a couple in Paris during the year 1900 by a masked man with a metal claw that he uses to rip out their hearts. The sole survivor and witness to the massacre is a young girl, Sonia, who is discovered by an inspector searching the crime scene, Lanvin. Twelve years later, a new wax museum opens in Rome. The main attractions are lifelike recreations of gruesome murder scenes designed to frighten customers. A young man named Luca is encouraged to spend the night in the museum over a bet but is found dead the next morning, seemingly from heart failure.

Soon after, Sonia arrives at the museum seeking a job, as her deceased mother had taught her how to create costumes for wax figures. She is hired by Boris, the owner and curator of the museum, despite objections from his assistant Alex. When she is leaving the museum, Sonia's picture is taken by Andrea, a reporter looking into Luca's death. The two soon become lovers, and Sonia finds herself drawn into his investigations, especially after people start disappearing and new figures fill the museum halls. Inspector Lanvin, who had chosen to reconnect with Sonia while investigating some leads on her mother's death, becomes suspicious of the museum. He becomes particularly suspicious after witnessing the wax exhibit of the murder of Sonia's mother and her partner, as the exhibit contains a metal claw, a detail that was never revealed to the press or anyone outside of the investigation crew. This eventually leads to the murderer visiting Lanvin's hotel room and murdering him while wearing a mask that duplicates his face exactly.

Rattled by Lanvin's death, Sonia begins to suspect that Boris is the man behind the murders and disappearances in Rome, as well as that of her mother. An attempt to learn the truth is thwarted when she discovers that he lacks a metal claw for a hand, however she is eventually kidnapped by the murderer. Her disappearance is noted by her blind aunt, who informs Andrea and the local police that the husband of Sonia's mother did the murders. He was a cold man who chose to focus more on his wax figures, which led to his wife taking a lover. The aunt also talks of the man's strange experiments, which made him seemingly perish in a fire. Back at the museum, Sonia wakes to discover that she was kidnapped by Boris, who is indeed the murderer and had covered up his burned face and metal claw with lifelike skin made of wax.

She manages to get free, but only after discovering that the museum's wax figures are actually people he murdered and treated with chemicals to resemble wax figures. They are kept in a state of life via chemicals Boris invented, but cannot move. Andrea arrives to save Sonia but must battle Boris, whose wax skin progressively melts during the fight as the museum has caught on fire. Sonia and her lover manage to run from Boris, who follows them. During the chase, he is attacked by Alex, who says that he will no longer be his creature. Eventually, Sonia and Andrea are cornered by Boris, who has melted down to a metal skeleton, showing that almost his entire body was wax. He is then killed by Alex, who decapitates him and destroys Boris's brain. As the trio leave the burning museum, Alex leaves to enter a hidden room. He pulls off his face, showing that he has a similar metal skeleton, and switches it out with another, implying that Boris had switched faces with Alex and is now free to kill again in a new location.

Cast

Production

On speaking of his rivalry between himself and Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento stated that at the Rome Fanta Festival in 1994, he saw Fulci in a wheelchair, describing him as being in a "dreadful physical condition". [5] Argento was informed that Fulci was about to have a serious hospital operation. [5] Argento felt that working would help Fulci recover, and decided to back him in a project of his choosing. [5] Initial plans for a project involved doing a modern adaptation of The Mummy with Dardano Sacchetti working on a screenplay. [5] According to Fulci's daughter Antonella, they heard that George A. Romero was going to make an adaptation of the film and that Argento was not happy with Sachetti's script, so he fired him, hiring Daniele Stroppa. [6]

The project later became a remake of Andre de Toth's House of Wax . [5] Argento liked this idea, and screened copies of de Toth's film as well as Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). [5] Fulci and his collaborator Daniele Stroppa decided to claim that a Gaston Leroux short story entitled The Waxwork Museum was their official source of inspiration, in case they had any legal problems with Warner Bros. (which had produced House of Wax). [7] There is, however, no such story by Leroux; an interview with film writer Alan Jones (included in the 2019 Severin Films Blu-ray) clarifies that the film was "inspired" by Leroux, but not an adaption of a specific story. [8] Despite this fact, many sources erroneously refer to The Wax Mask as an adaptation of a Leroux story. [9] [10] [7]

Director Sergio Stivaletti in 1996 Sergio Stivaletti 1996.jpg
Director Sergio Stivaletti in 1996

According to Alan Jones, Fulci and Argento argued about the direction of the film, with Fulci wanting a more atmosphere driven film while Argento wanted to increase the gore. [7] Pre-production lasted longer than expected as Argento was working on post-production and promotion for his own film The Stendhal Syndrome (1996). [7] Fulci died on March 13, 1997, causing Argento to turn to special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, who he had previously worked with on films as early as Phenomena (1985). [7] Stivaletti stated that he was shocked when Argento contacted him, finding that he "had been looking or a chance to direct and thought it would be with [his] own film and script [...] I was in the right place at the right time and accepted the offer." [7] On Fulci's death, Stivaletti had the script completely revised. [6] [11] Stivaletti made changes to Fulci's script, tailoring it to his interest in special effects. [12] Much of the films crew was reunited from Argento's film The Stendhal Syndrome . [6] The film had a budget of US$2million that was raised by pre-selling it in France and Germany and involving Italy's biggest foreign distributor, Italian International Films. [6] Variety stated the budget for the film was under $1.25 million. [1] Stivaletti originally had Robert Englund in mind for the lead, but due to budgetary restraints, Robert Hossein took the role. [11] Most of the special effects shots were to be done during post-production allowing the director to supervise them more closely. [13] The film was in production for six weeks in 1996. [14]

Release

Wax Mask opened in Italy on 4 April 1997. [15] It grossed $137,435 from 47 screens on its opening weekend placing ninth at the Italian box office. [16] After 10 days it had grossed $250,000. [3] The film had its North American premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada on July 24, 1997. [17]

Critical reception

Variety reviewed the film favorably, terming it "a luridly entertaining return to the style of Britain's Hammer productions of the '60s" and "a highly enjoyable salute to cheesy vintage horror" but lamented the lack of "a guiding hand with the actors". [1] AllMovie complimented Stivaletti for "[d]isplaying a competent handling of the material, as well as the stylistic excesses that have become synonymous with Italian horror" and concluded that the film "ultimately serves its eerily entertaining purpose." [18]

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rooney, David (20 April 1997). "Review: 'Wax Mask'". Variety . Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  2. ↑ Jones, Alan (February 1997). "Wax Mask". Cinefantastique . Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Italy Top 15". Screen International . 18 April 1997. p. 27. $1=L1,700
  4. ↑ Dietsch, Drew (August 21, 2020). "'Wax Mask' Blends Classical Horror With Modern Effects Nastiness [We Love '90s Horror]". Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Howarth 2015, p. 65.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Curci 1997, p. 35.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Howarth 2015, p. 66.
  8. ↑ Den Boer, Michael (September 27, 2019). "Wax Mask – Severin Films (BluRay/CD Combo)". 10k Bullets. Retrieved May 15, 2020. Topics discussed in the interview with Alan Jones include... Gaston Leroux/Phantom of the Opera, how Wax Mask was based on an idea inspired by Gaston Leroux and not an adaption of a one of his stories
  9. ↑ Fulwood, Neil (September 11, 2011). "GIALLO SUNDAY: The Wax Mask". The Agitation Of The Mind. Retrieved May 15, 2020. "[The movie is ]...Loosely based on a story by Gaston Leroux – the same story that, equally loosely, provided the raw material for Andre de Toth's 'House of Wax'
  10. ↑ Lucas, Tim (October 6, 2011). "Unmasking THE WAX MASK". Video WatchBlog. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  11. 1 2 Curci 1997, p. 36.
  12. ↑ Howarth 2015, p. 67.
  13. ↑ Curci 1997, p. 37.
  14. ↑ Curci 1997, p. 34.
  15. ↑ Curci 1997, p. 38.
  16. ↑ "Italy Top 15". Screen International . 11 April 1997. p. 35. $1=L1,700
  17. ↑ "Wax Mask" (PDF). Fantasia Film Festival. p. 84. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  18. ↑ Buchanan, Jason. "Wax Mask (1997) - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie . Retrieved 20 September 2016.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaston Leroux</span> French author and journalist

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dario Argento</span> Italian film director and screenwriter

Dario Argento is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. His influential work in the horror and giallo genres during the 1970s and 1980s has led him to being referred to as the "Master of the Thrill" and the "Master of Horror".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucio Fulci</span> Italian filmmaker (1927–1996)

Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and spaghetti Westerns, he garnered an international cult following for his giallo and horror films.

<i>The Stendhal Syndrome</i> 1996 Italian giallo film by Dario Argento

The Stendhal Syndrome(Ital. La Sindrome di Stendhal) is a 1996 Italian horror film written and directed by Dario Argento and starring his daughter Asia Argento, with Thomas Kretschmann and Marco Leonardi. It was a critical and commercial success in Italy, grossing ₤5,443,000 Italian lira.

<span title="Italian-language text"><i lang="it">Giallo</i></span> Literature and film genre

In Italian cinema, giallo is a genre of murder mystery fiction that often contains slasher, thriller, psychological horror, psychological thriller, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamberto Bava</span> Italian film director

Lamberto Bava is an Italian film director. Born in Rome, Bava began working as an assistant director for his director father Mario Bava. Lamberto co-directed the 1979 television film La Venere d'Ille with his father and in 1980 directed his first solo feature film Macabre.

<i>Demons</i> (1985 film) 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava

Demons is a 1985 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Lamberto Bava, produced by Dario Argento, and starring Urbano Barberini and Natasha Hovey. The plot follows two female university students who, along with a number of random people, are given complimentary tickets to a mysterious movie screening, where they soon find themselves trapped in the theater with a horde of ravenous demons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claudio Simonetti</span> Italian musician and film composer (born 1952)

Claudio Simonetti is an Italian musician and film composer. The keyboardist of the progressive rock band Goblin, Simonetti has specialized in the scores for Italian and American horror films since the 1970s.

<i>Phenomena</i> (film) 1985 film by Dario Argento

Phenomena is a 1985 Italian giallo film produced and directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Franco Ferrini. It stars Jennifer Connelly, Daria Nicolodi, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Patrick Bauchau and Donald Pleasence. The plot concerns an American teenage girl (Connelly) at a remote Swiss boarding school who discovers she has psychic powers that allow her to communicate with insects, and uses them to pursue a serial killer who is targeting young girls at and around the school.

Adaptations of <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i>

There have been many literary and dramatic works based on Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera, ranging from stage musicals to films to children's books. Some well known stage and screen adaptations of the novel are the 1925 film and the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ; Susan Kay's 1990 Phantom is one of the best known novels and includes in-depth study of the title character's life and experiences.

Franco Ferrini is an Italian screenwriter. His works often fall into the genres of horror or thriller. He was one of the interviewees represented in the book Spaghetti Nightmares.

<i>Manhattan Baby</i> 1982 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Manhattan Baby is a 1982 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci, and starring Christopher Connelly and Carlo De Mejo. The film begins in Egypt, where Susie, the daughter of archaeologist George Hacker, is given a mysterious talisman by an old woman. Meanwhile, her father investigates a tomb, and is blinded by a blue light. George and Susie return to New York, where George gradually recovers his vision. Strange deaths begin to occur around the Hackers, seemingly caused by the amulet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luigi Cozzi</span> Italian film director and screenwriter

Luigi Cozzi is an Italian film director and screenwriter. At a young age, Cozzi became a fan of science fiction and began his career as an overseas correspondent for Western film magazines. After directing his first film The Tunnel Under the World, Cozzi befriended director Dario Argento and began working with him in film and television as well as directing his own features including Hercules as well as continuing work with Argento. In the 2010s, he returned to directing with the film Blood on Méliès' Moon.

<i>Cat in the Brain</i> 1990 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Cat in the Brain, also known as Nightmare Concert, is a 1990 Italian horror film written and directed by Lucio Fulci. Fulci stars as a fictionalized version of himself, a tortured horror filmmaker who is driven by the violent visions that he experiences both behind the camera and off the set. Feeling like he's losing his grip on reality and disturbed by murderous fantasies, Fulci consults a psychotherapist, who is secretly a serial killer and using hypnosis, exploiting the director's vulnerabilities to his own murderous ends.

<i>Demonia</i> (film) 1989 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Demonia is a 1990 Italian horror film co-written and directed by Lucio Fulci.

<i>Aenigma</i> (film) 1987 Italian horror film by Lucio Fulci

Ænigma is a 1988 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci and was produced by Boro Banjac, Walter Brandi and Ettore Spanuolo. The plot evolves around supernatural and paranormal phenomena in relation to violent deaths occurring in an American college perpetrated by a newcomer who is possessed by a serial killer's ghost.

<i>Sette note in nero</i> 1977 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Sette note in nero is a 1977 Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci and co-written by him with Roberto Gianviti and Dardano Sacchetti. Sette note in nero stars Jennifer O'Neill, Gianni Garko, Marc Porel, and Ida Galli. The film involves a woman who begins experiencing psychic visions that lead her to discover a murder; her husband is charged with the killing. The psychic must embark on an investigation with a paranormal researcher to clear her husband's name of the crime.

<i>Voices from Beyond</i> Film directed by Lucio Fulci

Voices from Beyond is a 1994 Italian horror film by director Lucio Fulci. The original shooting title of the film was Urla dal profondo. The story centers around the murder of a wealthy man despised by most of his relatives, with his spirit returning from the afterlife to guide his daughter in uncovering the identity of his killer.

<i>The Red Monks</i> 1989 Italian film

The Red Monks is a 1989 Italian horror film directed by Gianni Martucci, and produced by Pino Buricchi. The screenplay was co-written by Martucci and Buricchi, based on a story by Luciana Anna Spacca. Buricchi began promoting the fact that famed Italian horror director Lucio Fulci had handled the special effects, or that Fulci had even co-directed the film. Fulci claimed he never worked on the film, and director Gianni Martucci even said that Fulci was way too ill at the time to have worked on the project with him. The film was later released to home video however with credits that still claimed that Lucio Fulci had collaborated on the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergio Stivaletti</span> Italian special effects and make-up artist (born 1957)

Sergio Stivaletti is an Italian special effects artist, make-up artist, director and screenwriter.

References

  • Curci, Loris (May 1997). "Wax Ecstatic". Fangoria . No. 162.
  • Howarth, Troy (2015). Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films. Midnight Marquee Press, Inc. ISBN   978-1936168538.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.