House of Wax [2005]
Though it doesn't even come close to the fantastic original, in all honesty this wasn't an awful film. Sure, it has flaws, but it's still fairly enjoyable.
First off, I have to applaud the filmmakers for dropping Vincent Price's character. It was one of Price's best roles and it would have been a shame to see it slaughtered.
I quite enjoyed the twist that they put on the original plot, the numerous nods it made to the original were, for the most part, subtle and well-done. The twists are all really obvious and nothing is very original, but it still makes for a decent enough story.
The main downfalls of the film are the actors and the script. The cast is pure eye-candy for both sexes, including the talentless queen of eye-candy "actresses", Paris Hilton. The bad guys were sufficiently over-the-top, but really how hard could it be to play the kind of evil hillbilly that we've seen in half of the slasher movies since Texas Chainsaw? As for the script, we have a few gems like "It is wax, like... literally" and "He looks like Elton John, only gayer". Wow. I think those lines really speak for themselves as far as how well-written the script is.
All in all, this is a decent modern day slasher that really doesn't deliver anything new. It has a decent plot, good effects and some fun deaths, but ultimately the poor acting, awful writing and lack of originality really bring it down. It's worth a watch though, I enjoyed it.
6/10