Waxwork(1988)

Submitted by Evan B

Pooper:
Sir Wilfred and his compatriots storm the waxwork and kill most of the creatures in the battle before the waxwork building burns down and kills almost everyone inside. Sarah and Mark kill the Marquis de Sade and Lincoln and are the only survivors (along with the sliced-off, sentient hand of a zombie).

Long Ending:
The film opens with a man (later revealed to be Mark’s grandfather) being murdered before the assailant steals some relics from the victim.

Many years later, college students China (Michelle Johnson) and Sarah (Deborah Foreman) walk by a newly opened wax museum (a “Waxwork”). The owner, a man named Lincoln (David Warner) invites them to bring some friends over that night for an exclusive show. They get their friends Tony, Gemma, James, and Mark (Zach Galligan) to come along. They are greeted by two Waxwork employees, a little person named Hans (Michu Meszaros) and an extremely tall butler named Junior (Jack David Walker). Gemma and James decide not to go in as they find the Waxwork too creepy, but the other four enter.

Inside, they are greeted by 18 exhibits depicting real-life and fantastical murderers. The exhibits include an axe murderer (similar to Jason Voorhees), the phantom of the opera, the invisible man, Dracula (Miles O’Keefe), zombies, a werewolf (John Rhys-Davies), the Marquis de Sade (J. Kenneth Campbell), a mummy (Paul Badger), a snake-like circus freak, a killer plant (similar to Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors), the Frankenstein monster, a voodoo priest, a demonic baby (similar to Rosemary’s Baby), Jack the ripper, a golem, an alien (similar to that from the Thing), a witch, and Dr Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. China and Tony become hypnotized by the exhibits of Dracula and the werewolf respectively. As they draw close to the respective exhibits, they get sucked through a portal and meet the monsters. Both are killed inside the exhibits by the monsters and they become part of the exhibits. Sarah begins to be transfixed by the Marquis de Sade exhibit when Mark – assuming China ditched them to hook up with another guy – decides to leave. He grabs Sarah and they depart the Waxwork.

Sarah and Mark eventually realize that China and Tony have disappeared. The pair get the police to investigate, but the detectives assigned to the case get killed at the Waxwork (one of them by the mummy). Convinced the Waxwork is supernatural, Mark goes through his grandfather’s old things in hopes he can learn and learn more about it. He sees that Lincoln used to work for his father and hasn’t aged since his grandfather died. Mark deduces that Lincoln must have been his grandfather’s killer and is up to no good. Mark and Sarah then meet with one of Mark’s grandfather’s associates, a man named Sir Wilfred (Patrick Macnee). Wilfred says that he and Mark’s grandfather were part of a society that went around the globe to collect artifacts. Wilfred says that Lincoln stole 18 occult artifacts from Mark’s grandfather linked to the monsters and killers in the Waxwork. Wilfred deduces that Lincoln must be sacrificing victims to these monsters and killers and, once all 18 have received sacrifices, the monsters and killers (along with the people sacrificed to them) will be resurrected and will destroy the world.

Mark and Sarah go to the Waxwork to burn it down, with only two exhibits (the Marquis de Sade and zombies) not having received a sacrificed. Sarah gets transfixed and enters the Marquis de Sade exhibit while Lincoln pushes Mark into the zombie exhibit. Mark eventually realizes that if you don’t believe in the evil forces in the exhibits, they can’t hurt you. He is able to escape safely from the zombie exhibit, and then enters the Marquis exhibit and rescues Sarah (outraging the Marquis in the process). However, Hans and Junior then capture the pair and Lincoln tricks Gemma and James to come to the Waxwork where he successfully sacrifices them to the Marquis de Sade and zombies. All the monsters and killers, along with their possessed, evil victims, come to life. Sir Wilfred suddenly arrives with the rest of the members of his society (including Mark’s butler) to battle the evil forces. Sir Wilfred gives Mark and Sarah Mark’s grandfather’s silver swords and the heroes join in fighting the villains. Eventually, a huge fire breaks out and begins killing hero and villain alike.

During the fight, the Marquis chases Mark into another room, where they find Lincoln hiding. The Marquis de Sade defeats Mark and is about to kill him when Sarah stabs the Marquis in the back and kills the Marquis. Lincoln begins shooting at the pair, but Sir Wilfred appears and fatally shoots Lincoln (who falls into his vat of hot wax). The werewolf then kills Sir Wilfred. Mark and Sarah escape just before the entire Waxwork goes up in flames, killing everyone inside. Mark and Sarah walk off victorious, not realizing that the severed, sentient hand of a zombie (a hand Mark himself chopped off a zombie when trapped in the zombie exhibit) survived the inferno and crawls off into the night.

Order of Deaths:

1. Mark’s grandfather – Lincoln throws him into a fireplace and then robs him of his occult objects.
2. Tony – He enters the werewolf exhibit and is bitten by the werewolf. As he is turning into a werewolf himself, a hunter shoots him with silver bullets. Once he’s resurrected, Mark stabs him dead again with a silver sword.
3. Various vampires – China slays most of the vampires by blowing them up with a cross and impaling them with stakes and champagne bottles.
4. China – She enters the Dracula exhibit. Although she almost escapes, she is ultimately hypnotized by Dracula, who drinks her blood. When she’s resurrected, Mark’s butler fatally stabs her through the heart as she tries to hypnotize and kill Mark.
5. Football player – Searching for his one-night-stand China, he enters the Waxwork. Lincoln pushes him into the Phantom of the Opera exhibit, and the Phantom kills him offscreen.
6. Police detective – He enters the mummy’s exhibit. The detective tries to shoot the mummy, but it has no effect. The mummy throws the detective into a sarcophagus infested with spiders and snakes, where he dies. He is resurrected but consumed in flames when the Waxwork is burned.
7. 2nd police detective – When he goes looking for his partner, Junior snaps his neck.
8. Gemma – She enters the Marquis de Sade’s exhibit and is killed offscreen by the Marquis. When resurrected, she is killed again when Mark shoots her in the chest with a shotgun.
9. James – He enters the zombie exhibit and is killed by them offscreen. When resurrected, Sarah and one of the other fighters bludgeon him to death.
10. Mark’s Butler – Fatally stabbed during the climactic fight by Junior.
11. Junior – An enraged Mark fatally stabs Junior with a sword after Junior kills his butler.
12. Hans – During the climactic battle, Sarah scoops Hans up and feeds him to the giant carnivorous plant.
13. Marquis de Sade – The Marquis wins a sword fight with Mark and is about to kill him when he is fatally stabbed in the back with an axe by Sarah.
14. Lincoln – Wilfred shoots Lincoln as Lincoln is about to kill Mark and Sarah. Lincoln falls over a railing and into a vat of boiling hot wax where he’s killed.
15. Wilfred – The werewolf rips Wilfred’s head right off his body and then eats it.
16. Various heroes and villains – Many are killed in the climactic battle – most by being stabbed or bludgeoned. Notably, the demonic baby is blown apart by a shotgun, Mark stabs the voodoo priest to death, and when Dracula turns into a bat – he is snatched in mid-air and the bat’s head is blown off with a gun. Eventually, everyone not killed in battle is consumed by flames when the Waxwork is set on fire (except for a severed, sentient zombie hand).