Waxwork (film)

Waxwork is a horror-comedy released in 1988.

A mysterious wax museum shows up in a suburban neighborhood one night. Mark and his friends are naturally curious about it, but they soon find out the owner's true intentions. It turns out anyone who enters the museum dies after being sucked into one of the displays (unless they can convince themselves that it's not real). When the right amount of people die in the museum, all of the waxworks will come to life and help the owner take over the world.

Thankfully, Mark's grandfather and his friends have been on the owner's tail for decades and are ready to help Mark and his girlfriend, Sarah, fight against the waxworks.

A sequel, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, was released in 1992. It takes place immediately after the first film, with Sarah's father being murdered by a wax hand that escaped destruction hours before. Sarah's case for her innocence looks bad, thanks to no one believing her and Mark's claims about the wax museum. When they go to Mark's grandfather's mansion, they find a magic compass that allows them to travel through time. Believing it can be used to get evidence for the trial, the two of them start going through time and space while ending up in sci-fi and horror film parodies along the way.

Despite its name and setting, the video game Wax Works has nothing to do with the films.

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This contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Sarah's dad despises her because she reminds him of her mother, so he's constantly screaming at and hitting her.
• Ancient Tomb: The cop investigating the wax museum ends up in the Mummy's tomb exhibit.
• Bondage Is Bad: Sarah is forced into a bondage act in the first film, but she actually enjoys it.
• Deal with the Devil
• Depraved Dwarf: The miniature butler who works for the Big Bad.
• Distressed Damsel: Sarah is one at first, but gradually becomes an Action Girl.
• Everything's Deader with Zombies: Zombies are included in the exhibits of the first movie. Zombies appear again in the second movie in one of the alternate timelines reminiscient of Dawn of the Dead.
• Face Heel Turn / Transhuman Treachery: All of the victims that are killed in the exhibit and brought back to life once the number reaches high enough. Most notable being China, one of Mark and Sarah's friends, who died in the Dracula exhibit, and now an evil vampire herself, nearly sinks her fangs into Mark.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Averted hard in both movies.
  • Gorn
• Helping Hands: The wax hand that kills Sarah's dad, of course!
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Marquis de Sade, who is now one of the most evil men ever existed.
• Monster Mash
• Must Have Caffeine: Mark's need for caffeine is introduced early in the first film, then it's promptly dropped.
• Pop Cultural Osmosis Failure: "They made a movie about the Phantom of the Opera?"
• Ravens and Crows: Mark's grandfather appears as a raven to him in his times of need in the sequel.
• Sequel Hook: The wax hand that survived the destruction of the museum in the first film.
• Sword Fight: Mark duels Scarabis through alternative time periods in the climactic fight of the second film.