(Reviewed by Preppy) - It could have been worse.  A bunch of 20-somethings are on their way to a concert. They're driving through a forest and decide to stop and camp out for the night. They wake up in the morning to find their car fan belt wrecked. The nearest town is miles away but two of them get a ride by a VERY strange man. They find the town--but it's strangely deserted...and what about that House of Wax building they see? The wax figures in there seem strangely real...

There's a lot more to the plot but that's the basic structure. There are a lot of plot holes it you look at this closely. The real plot makes little sense and in the movie the House of Wax is made totally of real wax (that could never happen in real life). Also people keep doing dumb things like wandering into rooms for no good reason (and it just happens to be the room the killer needs them to be in) and going up the stairs when they should be bolting for the door. Still, compared to some recent horror movies, this isn't too bad.

For one thing not all the characters are annoying. Even the dreaded "comic" relief (played by Jon Abrahams) isn't bad. But he does go around filming everything with a hand-held video camera. Can we PLEASE stop having that in every horror film? It's stupid and has no bearing in the plot at all. And not all the sympathetic characters live--one murder really surprised me. And there is in interracial couple introduced with no fuss. It takes it's time getting to the blood and gore but when it comes it's VERY gruesome and nasty (this is not for the squeamish). The special effects are also excellent if a bit too realistic.

As for the acting...it's not totally terrible. Elisha Cuthbert is very good and Brian van Holt is damn scary as the villain. The others actors are OK except for Paris Hilton. She is TERRIBLE!!! Easily one of the worst actors EVER! And Chad Michael Murray shows off his buff upper body--very impressive. It also plays homage to the two originals before it--one character is named Vincent (Vincent Price was in the 1950s "House of Wax") and the final showdown is briefly filmed through some Art Deco windows which immediately reminded me of the 1930s "Mystery of the Wax Museum". Also there's an impressive ending when the house literally melts! So, an OK pretty gruesome horror film. Just don't examine the plot TOO closely. (7/10)