House of Wax

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House of Wax

PG

1953

1h 28m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

46 Reviews

73%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Wax sculptor Henry (Vincent Price) is horrified to learn that his business partner, Matthew (Roy Roberts), plans on torching their wax museum to collect on the insurance policy. Henry miraculously survives a fiery confrontation with Matthew and re-emerges some years hence with a museum of his own. But when the appearance of Henry's new wax sculptures occurs at the same time that a number of corpses vanish from the city morgue, art student Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) begins suspecting wrongdoing.

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Critics Consensus

House of Wax is a 3-D horror delight that combines the atmospheric eerieness of the wax museum with the always chilling presence of Vincent Price.

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

De Toth directs the heck out of House of Wax, and it’s one of the only 3-D offerings of the period that doesn’t rely entirely upon its visual gimmick to shock its audience.

Rated: 3.5/4

May 25, 2023

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TIME Magazine

An intermittently gripping shocker.

Oct 17, 2011

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Variety Staff

Variety

Casting is competent, Vincent Price is capital as the No. 1 menace.

Oct 7, 2008

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Kristin Battestella

InSession Film

Big VP hones his campy, over the top horror mastery, and viewers root for his slick talking, multifaceted artist. We believe his masterfully diabolical plan to serve his enemies their comeuppance...

Apr 19, 2024

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

If nothing else, it reinforces perceptions about the inferiority of remakes.

Rated: 2.5/4

Feb 18, 2022

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Nell Dodson Russell

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Filmed in Warnercolor and having the advantage of an actor of Vincent Price's calibre to head the cast, House of Wax will make suspenseful entertainment for most movie-goers. The figures in the wax museum become almost too realistic as seen in 3-D.

Dec 15, 2021

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Corey J

The way Vincent Price talks always makes thing creepy. The story was just fine. It wasn't scary today but maybe back in the 50s it was scarier. It was fun, though, to watch this in 2D and imagine all the things that were clearly made to be the 3D parts of the movie.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

11/06/25

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Shizue Leigh H

I'm 74. House of Wax is in this Baby Boomer's Top Ten LEM ("Love Every Minute" GEMs🤙😉🫡

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/31/25

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Stephen C

Success in 1 hour and 28 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Horror in color and black and white versions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dubbed and subtitled in worldwide studios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/30/25

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Harry H.

Can almost never go wrong with Vincent Price.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/30/25

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D. Hunter P

Vincent Price's first big movie. His character is a professor that makes wax statues and they are tragically destroyed in the opener by an investor that wants the insurance money. Wow, so poignant to today. You would think maybe we could stop having so much greed. Anyway, this movie has a great starting point, but this event twists our protagonist from the first scene into the antagonist. The twist was something that I somehow didn't figure out.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/28/25

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ChrisCSH H

House of wax is classic horror at its finest and Vincent Price is always fantastic and he is as well in this film. The cast is good. The story is entertaining. an overall classic.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/20/25

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Andre de Toth

Director

Vincent Price

Prof. Henry Jarrod

Frank Lovejoy

Lt. Tom Brennan

Phyllis Kirk

Sue Allen

Carolyn Jones

Cathy Gray

Paul Picerni

Scott Andrews

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Synopsis

Wax sculptor Henry (Vincent Price) is horrified to learn that his business partner, Matthew (Roy Roberts), plans on torching their wax museum to collect on the insurance policy. Henry miraculously survives a fiery confrontation with Matthew and re-emerges some years hence with a museum of his own. But when the appearance of Henry's new wax sculptures occurs at the same time that a number of corpses vanish from the city morgue, art student Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) begins suspecting wrongdoing.

Director: Andre de Toth
Producer: Bryan Foy
Screenwriter: Charles Belden, Crane Wilbur
Distributor: Warner Home Vídeo, Warner Bros.
Production Co: Warner Brothers
Rating: PG
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 10, 1953, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Runtime: 1h 28m
Sound Mix: Stereo, Mono

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