Despite its being another rather silly horror flick...there are a few eye-catching scenes in the new House of Wax that benefit from high-def.
If the movie is good for anything, it's for the incidental advice it dispenses. For instance, we learn never to take detours through Southern backwoods. Yeah, I know we should have learned this a long time ago, way back in the days of "Deliverance," but it's always good to be reminded. Next, when alone in the woods at night and you experience a horrible smell, you should never run off trying to find out where it's coming from, particularly when there may be pits full of animal carcasses scattered about. Along the same lines, when alone in the woods at night and a mysterious pickup truck stops and shines its lights on you, it's not the best idea to throw a beer bottle at it. Also, do not accept lifts from strangers who demonstrate the IQ of a lamppost and the look of a Leatherface. Then, when you and a friend are in a big, old, unfamiliar building made entirely of wax, you should never split up and go your separate ways; nor should you ever walk backwards. Finally, and most important, remember that you can never, ever, keep a good monster down. Always make sure he's dead; and even then make sure he's good and dead! I mean, don't you just hate it when you have to go around with an arrow through your heart?
"House of Wax" is rated R for all the usual reasons: Blood, gore, mayhem, maimings, knifings, impalings, finger snippings (ouch, that's gotta hurt!), and decapitations. Something for everybody.
Video:
When I watched the standard DVD edition of this film, I thought the transfer looked pretty ordinary. While the colors were reasonably true and facial tones were realistic, the picture was somewhat grainy, especially in darker scenes, which tended to obscure inner detail. Often, the director's use of a pastel-tinted color palette made some hues soft and slightly blurred.
Most of my reservations about the video quality were erased, however, upon watching the HD-DVD version. The screen dimensions remain the same, about 1.78:1, but because of the higher, 1080 definition, the colors are more stable and the images better delineated. Moreover, there are details I saw this time that I hadn't noticed before, little things like the red marks on a child's arm, the consistency of catsup at a hamburger stand, and the print on a magazine cover. Facial tones remain good, and hues are generally bright against the deepest possible black levels. If anything, the colors may be a little too intense to be altogether natural. The film grain I noted previously was still in evidence but less pronounced, now simply giving the image a more-realistic texture. Nighttime shots reveal the most grain, which one would expect (and most of the film is inside or at night), but it is not objectionable.
Audio:
Again, the audio does everything that can be reasonably expected of it, and now in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, it does even more. The sonics continue to be tonally well balanced, if occasionally a touch edgy, and well spread out among the speakers. Just don't be surprised if you don't hear a lot of rear-channel effects in the film's first half hour or so. Again, the soundtrack is rather subtle in its use of creaky doors, crackling fires, melting wax, and musical ambiance, but with the benefit of Dolby Digital Plus's added clarity, these noises are even more distinct.
This second time around, I was impressed by the audio's wide dynamics, strong transient impact, and taut, if not overly deep, bass. All the dialogue remains center-channel bound, but that's par for a modern movie. The front-channel stereo spread is effective, and the end result is a typically clean, clear movie soundtrack.
Extras:
Warner Bros. have included on the HD-DVD the same complement of bonus materials they included on their standard-edition disc, all of them in 480 SD. Let me repeat them. First, there's what's called a "B-Roll and Bloopers Video Cast Commentary." Here we find four of the cast members sitting in a living room discussing the movie for twenty-six minutes in a split-screen affair, with them at the top and the movie rolling at the bottom. It's all very chatty and informal, with a lot of giggling. Next, there's "Wax On," a seven-minute featurette in which the filmmakers discuss the movie's production design, surely the best part of the picture. Then, there's "The House Built on Wax," ten minutes in which the filmmakers discuss the visual effects in the film. This was one of the better things to watch, too. After that is a three-minute gag reel, very cute; a short, minute-and-half alternate opening, "Jennifer Killed," very bloody; and a another minute-and-a-half "From Location: Joel Silver Reveals House of Wax," which ends appropriately (trust me).
The extras conclude with thirty-one scene selections, but no chapter insert; a widescreen theatrical trailer; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired; WB's usual pop-up menus; an indicator of elapsed time; a zoom-and-pan feature; and an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Shots:
"House of Wax" aims low and hits the mark. It has all the gory bloodshed you could ask for and all the appropriate special effects. If that's what you're looking for and all you expect, the movie does its job with the efficiency of a well-oiled amusement park ride. Only now, with its improved picture and sound, the ride is a little wilder.
"House of Wax" is rated R for all the usual reasons: Blood, gore, mayhem, maimings, knifings, impalings, finger snippings (ouch, that's gotta hurt!), and decapitations. Something for everybody.
Video:
When I watched the standard DVD edition of this film, I thought the transfer looked pretty ordinary. While the colors were reasonably true and facial tones were realistic, the picture was somewhat grainy, especially in darker scenes, which tended to obscure inner detail. Often, the director's use of a pastel-tinted color palette made some hues soft and slightly blurred.
Most of my reservations about the video quality were erased, however, upon watching the HD-DVD version. The screen dimensions remain the same, about 1.78:1, but because of the higher, 1080 definition, the colors are more stable and the images better delineated. Moreover, there are details I saw this time that I hadn't noticed before, little things like the red marks on a child's arm, the consistency of catsup at a hamburger stand, and the print on a magazine cover. Facial tones remain good, and hues are generally bright against the deepest possible black levels. If anything, the colors may be a little too intense to be altogether natural. The film grain I noted previously was still in evidence but less pronounced, now simply giving the image a more-realistic texture. Nighttime shots reveal the most grain, which one would expect (and most of the film is inside or at night), but it is not objectionable.
Audio:
Again, the audio does everything that can be reasonably expected of it, and now in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, it does even more. The sonics continue to be tonally well balanced, if occasionally a touch edgy, and well spread out among the speakers. Just don't be surprised if you don't hear a lot of rear-channel effects in the film's first half hour or so. Again, the soundtrack is rather subtle in its use of creaky doors, crackling fires, melting wax, and musical ambiance, but with the benefit of Dolby Digital Plus's added clarity, these noises are even more distinct.
This second time around, I was impressed by the audio's wide dynamics, strong transient impact, and taut, if not overly deep, bass. All the dialogue remains center-channel bound, but that's par for a modern movie. The front-channel stereo spread is effective, and the end result is a typically clean, clear movie soundtrack.
Extras:
Warner Bros. have included on the HD-DVD the same complement of bonus materials they included on their standard-edition disc, all of them in 480 SD. Let me repeat them. First, there's what's called a "B-Roll and Bloopers Video Cast Commentary." Here we find four of the cast members sitting in a living room discussing the movie for twenty-six minutes in a split-screen affair, with them at the top and the movie rolling at the bottom. It's all very chatty and informal, with a lot of giggling. Next, there's "Wax On," a seven-minute featurette in which the filmmakers discuss the movie's production design, surely the best part of the picture. Then, there's "The House Built on Wax," ten minutes in which the filmmakers discuss the visual effects in the film. This was one of the better things to watch, too. After that is a three-minute gag reel, very cute; a short, minute-and-half alternate opening, "Jennifer Killed," very bloody; and a another minute-and-a-half "From Location: Joel Silver Reveals House of Wax," which ends appropriately (trust me).
The extras conclude with thirty-one scene selections, but no chapter insert; a widescreen theatrical trailer; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired; WB's usual pop-up menus; an indicator of elapsed time; a zoom-and-pan feature; and an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Shots:
"House of Wax" aims low and hits the mark. It has all the gory bloodshed you could ask for and all the appropriate special effects. If that's what you're looking for and all you expect, the movie does its job with the efficiency of a well-oiled amusement park ride. Only now, with its improved picture and sound, the ride is a little wilder.
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[release]19769[/release]