House of Wax

This by-name-only remake of the 3-D classic starring Vincent Price almost qualifies as a decent slasher flick, but it falls short in the end. Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray star as siblings who join their friends for a camping trip and wind up being pursued by psychotic twins who have turned a whole town, and its inhabitants, into wax. Brian Van Holt manages some creepy moments as the twins, and director Jaume Serra manages some nice, atmospheric chills early on. Unfortunately, the movie goes haywire in its final act. The twins actually have constructed a large museum structure made entirely of wax (floors, furniture, roof, etc.), and it’s too ridiculous to accept, even in a horror movie. Too bad, because this one had the makings of a passable genre picture before it went totally berserk. Paris Hilton takes a javelin through the head, a moment that brought rousing applause in the screening I attended.