Review: Wax Mask (1997)
(aka M.D.C. - Maschera di cera)
Directed by: Sergio Stivaletti
Starring: Robert Hossein, Romina Mondello, Riccardo Serventi Longhi
Written by: Lucio Fulci, Daniele Stroppa
Music by: Maurizio Abeni
Country: Italy
Available on: Blu-ray (Severin Films)
IMDb
Italian horror auteur Dario Argento initially lined up this flick — a loose remake of House of Wax (1953), about a serial killer whose victims end up as wax figures in the museum he curates — as a favor for fellow director Lucio Fulci, who was ailing in poor physical and financial health. But pre-production on Wax Mask wasn’t completed before Fulci died in 1996. The directing gig was handed off to renown Italian effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, a frequent collaborator of Michele Soavi (Cemetery Man, The Church, The Sect).
I don’t know what Argento intended for this movie before Stivaletti stepped in and reworked it to show off some impressively nasty effects work, but I somehow doubt it included a T-800. But instead of being sent to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, the Terminator has been sent to the early 20th century to run a wax museum. As you can imagine, that’s a pretty dull gig for a cyborg designed for murder, so he ends up butchering folks and preserving the corpses for display. The story isn’t really what anyone’s here for, though. Stivaletti, in his feature film directorial debut, and cinematographer Sergio Stalvati (yes, these are two different people) really shoot the hell out of this flick, with its Jack the Ripper-gone-steampunk vibes, vivid colors, and brisk pacing. Although some of the trademarks of Italian horror are here (awful dubbing, pervy assistants with infinite leers, lots of boobage and goreage), this is a more serious horror movie than normally emerges from the country. It’s nearly Hammer in its gothic aspirations, though it can’t help but sleaze shit up.
On the merits, this is a decent, well-made slasher. But where it distinguishes itself is in its array of flesh-rending special effects, which leverages practical gore, stop-motion animation, animatronics, and some computer-generated visual effects that are mostly used with enough discretion that they’re not distracting. There’s plenty of atmospheric heart ripping, skin melting, and limb tearing to satisfy the most lustful gorehounds.
The more subdued, sober mood of Wax Mask means it never goes as loony as you hope it will at times, and its forgettable characters and dry, entirely predictable flirtations with mystery are definitely not helping matters. But it’s doing a thing with its visually enticing mashup of Victorian gothic kink, Italian trashiness, and bawdy retrofuturism. Stivaletti’s film isn’t required viewing, but it’s an impressive last gasp during the death knell of Italian horror in the late ‘90s.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10
