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Andrea, a reporter looking into Luca's death. The two soon become lovers, and Sonia finds herself drawn into his investigations, especially after people start disappearing and new figures fill the museum halls. Inspector Lanvin, who had chosen to reconnect with Sonia while investigating some leads on her mother's death, becomes suspicious of the museum. He becomes particularly suspicious after witnessing the wax exhibit of the murder of Sonia's mother and her partner, as the exhibit contains a metal claw, a detail that was never revealed to the press or anyone outside of the investigation crew. This eventually leads to the murderer visiting Lanvin's hotel room and murdering him while wearing a mask that duplicates his face exactly.
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whose wax skin progressively melts during the fight as the museum has caught on fire. Sonia and her lover manage to run from Boris, who follows them. During the chase, he is attacked by Alex, who says that he will no longer be his creature. Eventually, Sonia and Andrea are cornered by Boris, who has melted down to a metal skeleton, showing that almost his entire body was wax. He is then killed by Alex, who decapitates him and destroys Boris's brain. As the trio leave the burning museum, Alex leaves to enter a hidden room. He pulls off his face, showing that he has a similar metal skeleton, and switches it out with another, implying that Boris had switched faces with Alex and is now free to kill again in a new location.
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murderer. Her disappearance is noted by her blind aunt, who informs Andrea and the local police that the husband of Sonia's mother did the murders. He was a cold man who chose to focus more on his wax figures, which led to his wife taking a lover. The aunt also talks of the man's strange experiments, which made him seemingly perish in a fire. Back at the museum, Sonia wakes to discover that she was kidnapped by Boris, who is indeed the murderer and had covered up his burned face and metal claw with lifelike skin made of wax.
450:(1985). Stivaletti stated that he was shocked when Argento contacted him, finding that he "had been looking or a chance to direct and thought it would be with own film and script I was in the right place at the right time and accepted the offer." On Fulci's death, Stivaletti had the script completely revised. Stivaletti made changes to Fulci's script, tailoring it to his interest in special effects. Much of the films crew was reunited from Argento's film
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stated that at the Rome Fanta
Festival in 1994, he saw Fulci in a wheelchair, describing him as being in a "dreadful physical condition". Argento was informed that Fulci was about to have a serious hospital operation. Argento felt that working would help Fulci recover, and decided to back him in a
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She manages to get free, but only after discovering that the museum's wax figures are actually people he murdered and treated with chemicals to resemble wax figures. They are kept in a state of life via chemicals Boris invented, but cannot move. Andrea arrives to save Sonia but must battle Boris,
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The film begins with the murder of a couple in Paris during the year 1900 by a masked man with a metal claw that he uses to rip out their hearts. The sole survivor and witness to the massacre is a young girl, Sonia, who is discovered by an inspector searching the crime scene, Lanvin. Twelve years
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Soon after, Sonia arrives at the museum seeking a job, as her deceased mother had taught her how to create costumes for wax figures. She is hired by Boris, the owner and curator of the museum, despite objections from his assistant Alex. When she is leaving the museum, Sonia's picture is taken by
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Rattled by Lanvin's death, Sonia begins to suspect that Boris is the man behind the murders and disappearances in Rome, as well as that of her mother. An attempt to learn the truth is thwarted when she discovers that he lacks a metal claw for a hand, however she is eventually kidnapped by the
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According to Alan Jones, Fulci and
Argento argued about the direction of the film, with Fulci wanting a more atmosphere driven film while Argento wanted to increase the gore. Pre-production lasted longer than expected as Argento was working on post-production and promotion for his own film
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later, a new wax museum opens in Rome. The main attractions are lifelike recreations of gruesome murder scenes designed to frighten customers. A young man named Luca is encouraged to spend the night in the museum over a bet but is found dead the next morning, seemingly from heart failure.
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complimented
Stivaletti for "isplaying a competent handling of the material, as well as the stylistic excesses that have become synonymous with Italian horror" and concluded that the film "ultimately serves its eerily entertaining purpose."
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opened in Italy on 4 April 1997. It grossed $ 137,435 from 47 screens on its opening weekend placing ninth at the
Italian box office. After 10 days it had grossed $ 250,000. The film had its North American premiere at the
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Topics discussed in the interview with Alan Jones include... Gaston Leroux/Phantom of the Opera, how Wax Mask was based on an idea inspired by Gaston Leroux and not an adaption of a one of his stories
253:. The film is set in Rome where a Wax Museum has opened up, whose main attraction is gruesome murder scenes. Shortly after its opening, people began to vanish as new figures appear in the museum.
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took the role. Most of the special effects shots were to be done during post-production allowing the director to supervise them more closely. The film was in production for six weeks in 1996.
456:. The film had a budget of US$ 2million that was raised by pre-selling it in France and Germany and involving Italy's biggest foreign distributor, Italian International Films.
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444:(1996). Fulci died on March 13, 1997, causing Argento to turn to special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, who he had previously worked with on films as early as
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771:"...Loosely based on a story by Gaston Leroux – the same story that, equally loosely, provided the raw material for Andre de Toth's 'House of Wax'
422:) clarifies that the film was "inspired" by Leroux, but not an adaption of a specific story. Despite this fact, many sources erroneously refer to
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productions of the '60s" and "a highly enjoyable salute to cheesy vintage horror" but lamented the lack of "a guiding hand with the actors".
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was going to make an adaptation of the film and that
Argento was not happy with Sachetti's script, so he fired him, hiring Daniele Stroppa.
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decided to help Fulci by working with him to develop a new project. The two eventually agreed upon a remake of
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reviewed the film favorably, terming it "a luridly entertaining return to the style of
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enter to direct the film. Stivaletti changed the film's script to focus more on special effects.
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project of his choosing. Initial plans for a project involved doing a modern adaptation of
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stated the budget for the film was under $ 1.25 million. Stivaletti originally had
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was their official source of inspiration, in case they had any legal problems with
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working on a screenplay. According to Fulci's daughter
Antonella, they heard that
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393:. Argento liked this idea, and screened copies of de Toth's film as well as
399:(1933). Fulci and his collaborator Daniele Stroppa decided to claim that a
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323:Riccardo Serventi Longhi as Andrea Conversi
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950:Curci, Loris (May 1997). "Wax Ecstatic".
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919:"Wax Mask (1997) - Review - AllMovie"
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898:. Fantasia Film Festival. p. 84
754:Fulwood, Neil (September 11, 2011).
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256:After witnessing the poor state of
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335:Gianni Franco as Inspector Palazzi
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632:Dietsch, Drew (August 21, 2020).
347:Aldo Massasso as Inspector Lanvin
965:. Midnight Marquee Press, Inc.
552:Rooney, David (20 April 1997).
783:Lucas, Tim (October 6, 2011).
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878:. 11 April 1997. p. 35.
756:"GIALLO SUNDAY: The Wax Mask"
618:. 18 April 1997. p. 27.
580:Jones, Alan (February 1997).
520:List of Italian films of 1997
1049:1997 directorial debut films
486:in Canada on July 24, 1997.
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590:. Fourth Castle Micromedia
171:Italian International Film
760:The Agitation Of The Mind
396:Mystery of the Wax Museum
246:M.D.C. - Maschera di cera
159:France Film International
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18:M.D.C. – Maschera di cera
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785:"Unmasking THE WAX MASK"
961:Howarth, Troy (2015).
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338:Sonia Topazio as Nurse
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184:4 April 1997
453:The Stendhal Syndrome
441:The Stendhal Syndrome
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273:The Stendhal Syndrome
1019:Italian horror films
875:Screen International
615:Screen International
554:"Review: 'Wax Mask'"
411:(which had produced
1044:Gothic horror films
1024:French horror films
330:Gabriella Giorgelli
260:'s health in 1994,
1054:1990s French films
1034:Films set in Paris
490:Critical reception
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405:The Waxwork Museum
251:gothic horror film
1039:Films set in Rome
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639:Bloody Disgusting
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332:as Aunt Francesca
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731:10k Bullets
359:Lucio Fulci
258:Lucio Fulci
220:$ 3 million
86:Produced by
64:Lucio Fulci
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1009:1997 films
1003:Categories
943:References
893:"Wax Mask"
880:$ 1=L1,700
860:Curci 1997
848:Curci 1997
836:Curci 1997
812:Curci 1997
690:Curci 1997
620:$ 1=L1,700
594:January 9,
582:"Wax Mask"
353:Production
225:Box office
188:1997-04-04
146:Production
27:1997 film
526:Footnotes
447:Phenomena
369:The Mummy
344:as Victor
200:Countries
156:Cine 2000
148:companies
125:Edited by
989:Wax Mask
953:Fangoria
924:AllMovie
645:June 14,
514:See also
506:AllMovie
479:Wax Mask
236:Wax Mask
135:Music by
94:Starring
76:Story by
33:Wax Mask
794:May 15,
765:May 15,
736:May 15,
559:Variety
496:Variety
474:Release
459:Variety
420:Blu-ray
241:Italian
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902:May 6,
501:Hammer
217:Budget
209:France
896:(PDF)
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206:Italy
994:IMDb
967:ISBN
932:2016
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567:2016
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284:Plot
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