But This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!
Stars:
Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Johnson, Dana Ashbrook, Miles
O’Keefe, Patrick Macnee, John Rhys-Davies, David Brown, Joe Baker, Alexander
Godunov, Monika Schnarre, Martin Kemp, Bruce Campbell, Michael Des Barres, Jim
Metzler, Marina Sirtis, David Carradine, George “Buck” Flower, Maxwell
Caulfield, Alex Butler, Anthony Hickox, and Drew Barrymore
Writer:
Anthony Hickox
Director:
Anthony Hickox
Feature
length: 97 minutes/ 104 minutes
Languages:
English Stereo Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 22/ 22
Sound:
Stereo Sound
Year
of Theatrical/Home Video Releases: 1988/1991/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributors: Vestron Pictures/ Electric Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Artisan Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
I
have to admit that when I first picked up the box for “Waxwork
& Waxwork II: Lost In Time: Double Feature DVD” I wasn’t expecting too
much, but I did happen to read some newsgroup posts from fans of the film who
were happy to have it on DVD so I figured maybe this will surprise me and it
did. Writer and Director Anthony Hickox must have some connections or something
to get so many genre stars to appear in small cameos in the films. I mean one
can spot John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones and Lord Of The Rings Trilogy), Marina
Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead Trilogy),
Martin Kemp (Killing Zoe), Michael Des Barres (Nightflyers), “George
“Buck” Flower (They Live), David Carradine (Kill Bill), Maxwell Caulfield
(Grease 2), and Drew Barrymore (Charlie’s Angels) in various cameo appearances
in both films alongside the stars who include David Warner (Tron), Patrick
Macnee (The Avengers), and Zach Galligan (Gremlins.) However all of the guest
appearances in the world would not mean a thing if the movies were not so fun to
watch and this is very much an entertaining series to watch.
They
are a humorous love letter to some of the classic genre films with characters
entering alternate film inspired universes with nods to “Night Of The Living
Dead,” “Dawn Of The Dead,” “Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” “The
Wolfman,” “The Mummy,” “Jack The Ripper,” “Aliens,” “The
Haunting,” and many more. Everyone in the film plays it for laughs and as a
result we get some great fight sequences and lots of splatter gore effects
courtesy of Bob Keen without feeling disturbed. It is not easy to mix horror and
comedy together, but Hickox succeeds with a bit of fantasy in his movies to
spare.
The
story is deceptively simple. A few college kids enter a strange wax museum that
contains doorways to alternate universes. There has been a battle played between
the forces of evil and the forces of good in the fourth dimension for all
eternity. David Warner is the museum owner who sold his soul to the devil, but
found a loophole by corrupting the chess game played between God and Satan and
letting loose the evil creatures of past legends and movies by getting six real
world sacrifices to enter and die in the various waxwork doorways. If he
succeeds and just one creature gets loose into the “real” world, the balance
would be corrupt forever. It’s up to Zach Galligan and his girlfriend (played
in the first film by Deborah Foreman and the second film by Monika Schnarre) to
keep that from happening along with the help of an army of do-gooders let by
Patrick Macnee. The sequel picks up right where the first film left off and
continues the adventures as our young couple attempt to find evidence that the
events that happened in the first film are true and in the process travel
through time in a series of adventures that expand a bit upon the world created
in the first film.
Overall
I found the double feature to be very satisfying. Both films are presented in
their original (1.33:1) aspect ratio, which preserves the way they were shot. I
think the first film was matted for theatrical release while the second one went
straight to video in America. The picture quality is not great, but it is not
terrible either. There is a bit of grain here and there as well as some
anomalies and dirt on the source print, but I suppose it is still better than
the original NTSC VHS releases. English Stereo Soundtracks are included for both
films, but they are somewhat low and not terribly vibrant so crank up the volume
about decibels for normal sound playback. English Closed Captions for the
hearing impaired are encoded onto both presentations, which have been placed on
a dual layered DVD. The menus are standard interactive still frames that are
easy to navigate.
With a suggested retail price of only $14:98, one should be able to find this disc for less at retailers on and offline. For a fun double dose of horror laughs “Waxwork & Waxwork II: Lost In Time: Double Feature DVD” is definitely worth checking out and is available on DVD-Video now courtesy of Artisan Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!