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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.
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439:(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
29:
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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
426:
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
242:. 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.
445:. 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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433:(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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760:"...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'
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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
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716:"Wax Mask – Severin Films (BluRay/CD Combo)"
312:Riccardo Serventi Longhi as Andrea Conversi
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939:Curci, Loris (May 1997). "Wax Ecstatic".
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422:Director Sergio Stivaletti in 1996
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867:. 11 April 1997. p. 35.
745:"GIALLO SUNDAY: The Wax Mask"
607:. 18 April 1997. p. 27.
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1038:1997 directorial debut films
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475:in Canada on July 24, 1997.
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173:4 April 1997
442:The Stendhal Syndrome
430:The Stendhal Syndrome
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392:short story entitled
315:Umberto Balli as Alex
262:The Stendhal Syndrome
1008:Italian horror films
864:Screen International
604:Screen International
543:"Review: 'Wax Mask'"
400:(which had produced
1033:Gothic horror films
1013:French horror films
319:Gabriella Giorgelli
249:'s health in 1994,
1043:1990s French films
1023:Films set in Paris
479:Critical reception
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394:The Waxwork Museum
240:gothic horror film
1028:Films set in Rome
1003:1997 horror films
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321:as Aunt Francesca
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348:Lucio Fulci
247:Lucio Fulci
209:$ 3 million
75:Produced by
53:Lucio Fulci
36:Directed by
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932:References
882:"Wax Mask"
869:$ 1=L1,700
849:Curci 1997
837:Curci 1997
825:Curci 1997
801:Curci 1997
679:Curci 1997
609:$ 1=L1,700
583:January 9,
571:"Wax Mask"
342:Production
214:Box office
177:1997-04-04
135:Production
16:1997 film
515:Footnotes
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358:The Mummy
333:as Victor
189:Countries
145:Cine 2000
137:companies
114:Edited by
978:Wax Mask
942:Fangoria
913:AllMovie
634:June 14,
503:See also
495:AllMovie
468:Wax Mask
225:Wax Mask
124:Music by
83:Starring
65:Story by
22:Wax Mask
783:May 15,
754:May 15,
725:May 15,
548:Variety
485:Variety
463:Release
448:Variety
409:Blu-ray
230:Italian
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891:May 6,
490:Hammer
206:Budget
198:France
885:(PDF)
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195:Italy
983:IMDb
956:ISBN
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556:2016
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273:Plot
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