House of Wax (DVD)

I am not quite sure what it was about this movie that turned everyone else off, but I enjoyed it. Honestly, what more can you expect from a film centered around a group of teenagers that stumble upon an abandoned town run by a couple of madmen who are dipping real people in wax and putting them on display? For me, this premise and Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert were more than enough to peak my interest, and yeah, I included Paris Hilton. When she is running around in that little red bra you would have to be insane not to find some enjoyment.

WARNING: There are some spoilers below. They have been highlighted in black so as to not ruin the film, to see what they say just highlight the text with your mouse.

As for this DVD it comes with more than a handful of deleted scenes, all of which do not overstay their welcome as the majority of them come in around five minutes long, that is except for the Cast Commentary on the B-Roll and Bloopers Video. Instead of a commentary on the feature film, Elisha, Paris, Chad Michael Murray and Jared Padelecki sit down and chat about some behind the scenes footage and some of their bloopers. While Murray tried to come of as Joe Cool and Paris seemed like she really didn't want to be there, Elisha and Jared geeked out a bit on the opportunity, then again "geeked out" is a rather large exaggeration. The true highlight of the commentary is when Paris refers to the bar sticking out of her head in here death scene and says it looks like a dildo. While it wasn't shocking, it was a firm reminder, as was the rest of this moive of her sexual excapades that became national news around the same time.

As for the rest of the features I enjoyed the visual effects featurettes and the alternate opening is exceptionally gruesome as a young girl meets her death as she is thrown through the windshield of a car, I didn't see that one coming.

One last highlight was to hear director Jaume Collet-Serra say that he wanted to do the film because he liked wax and candles. Candles? Really? That made me laugh for an entire 2 seconds.

Don't get me wrong, the acting in this is horrible. Chad Michael Murray's tough guy act is pathetic and to hear Cuthbert say, "I didn't dime you out," is just enough to make me crack a smile.

However, taking all that into consideration, I enjoyed this movie and this DVD, and if it had not been sent to me to review I would have bought it. I know it didn't make any other critics happy, but there is enough gratuitous gore and sexy women to make me happy. You be the judge, have I lost my mind?