Behind the Scenes: The Making of the House of Wax (2005 Remake)

Facts, Trivia and the Making of the House of Wax Remake

Talk about a unique horror movie: a house made entirely of wax, a town inhabited by wax people, and death by wax encapsulation. House of Wax has a fast-paced story line that hurls a group of college-age kids into a “lost town” off the beaten path, literally inaccessible by way of normal vehicle.  The town of “Ambrose” is the home of the serial killing family Sinclair, who kill their victims and preserve them as wax people for their famed wax museum. Ultimately a town that consists of fully automated wax people and only a few feigning killers, is enough to trick nearly all of the victims long enough for slaughter.

Facts and Trivia About House of Wax

House of Wax Fact #1: Film Name Change

Originally the 2005 horror film was going to be called “Wax House, Baby,” however, Warner Bros. Changed the name to “House of Wax” after they realized they were permitted to use it. In fact, a lot of posters and other promotional materials had already been created for Wax House, Baby, before the name change!

House of Wax Fact #2: Principal Photography from Australia

Most of the principal photography for House of Wax took place in Queensland, Australia. This means, despite a lot of the cast being American, most of the actual filming of the movie itself occurred in Australia.

House of Wax Fact #3: Special Effects Team Sued

Village Theme Park Management and Warner Brothers Movie World Australia sued special effects expert David Fletcher and the company Wax Productions on the basis of negligence after a fire broke out on set during actual production.

House of Wax Fact #4: A Song Without a Credit

The House of Wax soundtrack features a 12 song list, however, there is an additional song that plays during the overnight campfire party scene. The song is “Roland” by Interpol.

House of Wax Fact #5: Extras Wearing Masks

Most of the wax figures throughout the movie are actually actors wearing masks. This is especially true in scenes featuring larger numbers of wax people, such as within the church and movie theater.

House of Wax Fact #6: Peanut Butter Wax

The wax bed used to consume Elisha Cuthbert’s character, Carly, is actually peanut butter.  The bed was so sticky and entrapping that she actually got stuck several times while filming and between scenes!

House of Wax Fact #7: Real Glue

Elisha Cuthbert insisted on using real glue to seal her lips while in the basement of the auto shop.

House of Wax Fact #8: An Embarrassing Scream

Paris Hilton reportedly was so embarrassed by her scream that she needed the entire crew to scream along with her (cast included) for the first few times she had to yelp.

House of Wax Fact #9: Too Short to See

Elisha Cuthbert was so much shorter than her costar Jared Padalecki, that she required two inch thick blocks of wood to be taped to the bottom of her boots for all of their knee-up shots.

House of Wax Fact #10: Only a Loose Remake

Although the movie was inspired by the original House of Wax film in 1953, it is only a loose remake of the plot itself, sharing mostly only movie title and film environment.

House of Wax Fact #11: The Construction of Ambrose

The town of Ambrose was thrown up in an impressive 10 weeks and was modeled after a real life town of Asmara. Asmara is located in Eritrea, East Africa, and was built during World War II in Modern Style.

House of Wax Fact #12: Lester’s Character

Lester was named “The Roadkill Collector” in the script, however, is nameless in the movie itself.

House of Wax Fact #13: Paris at the Center

The entire cast as a whole were built around Paris Hilton, even being trained to repeat her catch phrase throughout the film (“That’s Hot”).  Before Paris was chosen for the role of Paige, both Jennifer Connelly and Kate Winslet were considered.

House of Wax Fact #14: Tourist Trap

Minus the original House of Wax novel and movie from the 50s and 60s, there was one other predecessor which may have helped develop the House of Wax script, that movie being Tourist Trap (1979).  Tourist Trap features a similar group of young friends stranded at a secluded roadside attraction.  A masked psycho with telekinetic powers kills the friends one by one within the museum.

House of Wax Fact #15: Elisha’s Hair

Elisha Cuthbert actually dyed her hair brown for the film. 

House of Wax Fact #16: The Death of Paris Hilton

As a part of a Warner Bros. promotional, Paris Hilton sold shirts pre-release which read “On May 6^th, Watch Paris Die.”

House of Wax Fact #17: Vincent Lives

Vincent, one of the killers in House of Wax, is a tribute to the Vincent Price of the original House of Wax (1953).

House of Wax Fact #18: Alternate Beginning

A character named Jennifer is killed by Bo or Vincent in an alternate opening scene available as a special feature on the DVD and Blu-ray.  This character was stranded on the side of the road when she met up with one of the killers.  She is still in the movie itself in form of the female wax sculpture that Vincent works on (later displayed with flowers in a pink dress outside of the movie theater).

Final Notes About House of Wax

House of Wax (2005) remains one of our favorite horror movies at the Horror Enthusiast, due to it’s original deaths by hot wax encapsulation and creepy town setting. However, the movie does retain some of the most landmark necessities of a good, suspenseful thriller…the killers are clever, the victims at first unaware, and there is blood!  The acting is obviously a little cheesy, however, that’s what you get when you cast Chad Michael Murray and Paris Hilton in a horror flick (or in any film for that matter)!  Regardless of casting choices, House of Wax still reels in an exciting and suspenseful experience that can be counted on by nearly anyone for a good time.