Parents' Guide to

House of Wax

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Bloody slasher film is nothing like the original.

Movie R 2005 105 minutes
House of Wax Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 14+

Based on 10 parent reviews

Cody G.
Cody G. Adult
April 23, 2023
age 16+
I saw this movie on television when I was 14 and it scared the life out of me. Some kids are pretty jaded but I don’t know, it’s a lot. I enjoy it as a guilty pleasure movie now as an adult.
Victordino
Victordino Adult
July 10, 2020
age 13+
It's good but pretty gory

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
See all 10 parent reviews

What's the Story?

HOUSE OF WAX begins with a camping trip for friends Carly (Elisha Cuthbert) and Paige (Paris Hilton), their boyfriends, gentle Wade (Jared Padalecki) and lusty Blake (Robert Ri'chard), Carly's twin brother Nick (Chad Michael Murray), and Dalton (Jon Abrahams). Around the campfire, they drink, smoke cigarettes, act bored, and make out. The next morning, Carly falls into a pit of bloody, rotted fleshy muck, where a character named only "Roadkill" (Damon Herriman) tosses decayed carcasses. When Wade's Mustang mysteriously breaks down, Wade and Carly accept a ride in Roadkill's smelly pickup truck. They wind up in the small, forgotten town of Ambrose and a literal "House of Wax" (inside are wax figures, wax walls, wax furniture, wax floors), where the victims and eventual survivors are repeatedly frightened, caught in the dark, tied up, cut, and tortured.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (10):
Kids say (16):

This is a remake of the Vincent price film in name and gimmick only; in all other respects it's a brutal slasher film, in which pretty young people are horribly killed one by one. By the time they finally reach Ambrose, the film has already taken too long -- the first half's pacing is deliberate, as if the premise needs careful exposition, which it does not.

The climax is predictably bloody, as well as fiery (to underline the film's inconsistent religious iconography). Good twins Nick and Carly triumph over bad twins Bo and Vincent (both played by Van Holt, one with scarred, waxed over face, indication of his general sickness). Most alarming, the movie leaves open the possibility of a sequel.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the characters' extreme dimwittedness; and how, even for generic plotting, their willingness to explore sinister places and walk headlong into obvious trouble is remarkable. Initially at odds, Carly and her twin brother Nick learn to get along as their friends are killed off; families might discuss their display of sibling bonding, except that they are paralleled by the killer twins, once conjoined, now just thoughtlessly murderous. Families can also talk about the stereotypical representation of the villains as underclass and vaguely rural.

Movie Details

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