House of Wax (2005)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A group of friends traveling to a football game find themselves trapped in a wax museum where the figures aren't what they seem.
The story
While traveling to a football game, a group of friends including Carly Jones and her brother Nick stop in the ghost town of Ambrose. After a mechanical issue with their vehicle, they seek help from a local man named Bo. While the group is split up, Carly and her boyfriend Wade end up at 'Trudy's House of Wax,' a local tourist attraction. The atmosphere turns perilous as they realize the town is largely abandoned and the wax figures within the museum are not merely sculptures, but something far more sinister. The group must navigate the eerie environment to escape the local inhabitants and the secrets hidden within the wax.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
While traveling to a football game, Carly Jones, her brother Nick, and their friends encounter a mysterious man in a truck. After a car breakdown, Carly and her boyfriend Wade seek help from a local named Bo in the ghost town of Ambrose. They visit 'Trudy's House of Wax,' where Wade is abducted by Bo's twin, Vincent, who wears a wax mask to hide his face. Carly is captured and held in a cellar. The rest of the group eventually arrives in Ambrose to search for them. They discover that the wax figures throughout the town are actually the wax-coated corpses of missing people. A violent confrontation ensues as the group is hunted by Bo and Vincent. A fire breaks out in the building, leading to a final confrontation where Carly and Nick defeat both men. The group escapes as the museum melts, while the local authorities note that the town has been abandoned for a decade. The film ends with a mysterious man, Lester, watching the survivors leave.
- First release year
- 2005
- Runtime (minutes)
- 113
- Production countries
- United States; Australia
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Jaume Collet-Serra
- Writers
- Chad Hayes · screenplay; Carey W. Hayes · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Elisha Cuthbert · Carly; Chad Michael Murray · Nick; Brian Van Holt · Bo; Paris Hilton · Paige; Jared Padalecki · Wade; Jon Abrahams · Dalton; Robert Ri'chard · Blake
- Genres
- slasher; horror
- Themes
- survival; deception
- Tone and mood
- tense; suspenseful
- Setting
- The ghost town of Ambrose, specifically the House of Wax museum.
- Premise and plot tags
- slasher; horror; remake; ghost town
- Source material / true-story basis
- The Wax Works by Charles S. Belden
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics but developed a cult following in the years following its release.
- Production trivia
- Approximately 20 tons of wax were used for the sets.; The design of Ambrose was inspired by Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…