Waxwork (1988)

WARNING:  I’m going to give out major details, including the ending.


Near where I live is a stretch of businesses.  It looks like they are operating out of former houses, probably as the result of rezoning without much rebuilding.  It was a little unsettling for me to look at, as they looked like regular family homes with business names.  David Lincoln runs a wax museum that seems to have similarly taken over a random house in a random neighborhood.

Sarah and China happen to be walking past the house when Mr. Lincoln stops them.  He invites the two young ladies +4 to visit the museum, which is still in progress.  It will be sort of like a soft open, but for no more than six people.  (He insists on six as a strict limit.)  Sarah and China aren’t sure what to make of it, but they tell their friends who decide to go with varying degrees of enthusiasm.  Two even back out at the last minute.

The displays are a who’s who of popular monsters.  One of the friends, Tony, gets sucked into a display to find himself in an actual forest.  He is eventually bitten by a werewolf and becomes part of the display.  China gets to meet Count Dracula, who inflicts a similar fate on her.  Mark and Sarah manage to make it out, leaving Lincoln in need of four more people.

Mark tells everything to an Inspector Roberts, who is eventually persuaded to investigate.  As you might imagine, Lincoln is able to get rid of Roberts easily.  Actually, Lincoln tries to push Roberts into a display with no luck.  It isn’t until Roberts realizes that there are actual missing people in the museum that he goes back and finds himself trapped in Mummy World.

Mark and Sarah eventually visit Sir Wilfred, who knew Mark’s grandfather.  Dear old granddad collected items associated with 18 or the worlds most notorious bad guys throughout history.  The items were stolen by none other than Mr. Lincoln, who embedded them in replicas of the 18 evil people.  The plan is to sacrifice innocent people in batches of 6 to bring the evil people back.  The only real hope is to destroy the remaining displays before they can claim a victim, since it’s an all-or-nothing deal.

When Mark and Sarah return to the museum, the find out that only two displays remain.  Mark is pushed into a world overrun by zombies and Sarah meets Marque de Sade.  Mark realizes that his belief in the display is required.  He’s able to escape by remembering that it’s not real.  He finds Sarah, who apparently has latent masochistic tendencies.  Yes, she’s enjoying being whipped by the Marquis, who likes to call her names.

Mark is able to pull Sarah out of there only to have Lincoln push two more of their friends into the displays.  Now that he has all 18 sacrifices, the displays come to life.  Hope is not lost, though, as Sir Wilfred brings a large group of people to fight the monsters.  In the end, only Mark and Sarah make it out alive.  Yes, most of the characters die a long and horrible death.  (Well, some are quick deaths, but they’re all horrible.)  They’re followed by a zombie hand, thus setting up the sequel.

This is one of those movies that was right at home in the late 1980s.  Given that it has an R rating, I’m assuming it got a theatrical release.  However, it tends towards made-for-TV in terms of quality.  With most of the effects, you can’t see the strings.  The only noticeable exception is the wax displays.  There were two ways to go: Either make wax replicas of the actors and risk having cheesy wax mannequins or just have the actors stand in place and hope no one blinks.  They went for the second option.  You can see the actors swaying, mostly looking like they’re desperately trying not to ruin the shot.

I’m honestly not sure if this is supposed to be a legitimate horror movie or if it was meant to be satirical.  It name checks a lot of other movies and genres.  (We see a plant that I assume was supposed to be from Little Shop of Horrors, for instance.)  It’s not necessarily scary, but it does earn the R rating in other ways.  The only thing I’d really warn parents about is the Marquis de Sade scenes.  Much of the violence is tame by today’s standards, although some things might scare younger children.

This was the first film that Anthony Hickox wrote or directed, so I can forgive some things.  It did have a few big names, like Zach Galligan.  (This was filmed in between Gremlins and Gremlins 2.)  The movie even went on to have a sequel of its own, picking up right after the events of this movie, but that’s another review.

IMDb page

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 137 (Chain of Command: Part 2)

As you might have guessed from the episode title, Chain of Command, Part II is the second of a two-part story.  In the first, Captain Picard is sent to a planet with Dr. Crusher and Lieutenant Worf to find and destroy some nasty weapons.  The entire plot is convoluted, but it’s used to set up this episode.  At the end of the last episode, Captain Picard is captured by the Cardassians.

This episode begins with the Cardassians interrogating Picard for information on a particular sector of space.  Even under the influence of some heavy drugs, Picard says that he doesn’t know.  That’s not good enough.  The Cardassian interrogating him, Gul Madred, keeps at it.  He even tries to get Picard to say that there are five overhead lights when there are only four.  If the Captain doesn’t say five, Madred pushes a button and Picard is given excruciating pain.

Meanwhile, Captain Jellico is still in command of the Enterprise.  Commander Riker meets Worf and Crusher to bring them back to the Enterprise.  Riker wants to rescue Picard, but Jellico won’t let him.  Their mission is negotiating with the Cardassians.

It doesn’t take long before they admit to having Picard, which puts Jellico in a tough spot.  If they admit that Picard was operating under orders, Picard gets certain protections.  Otherwise, he’s a terrorist.  The Cardassians present an offer:  If the Federation gives up certain sectors, Picard will be released.  Jellico isn’t about to do that.

Things finally come to a head between Jellico and Riker with the result being that Riker is relieved of duty, making Lieutenant Commander Data the first officer, albeit temporarily.  Riker is reinstated when Jellico is made aware of Riker being the best shuttle pilot available.  His skills are needed to place mines around a Cardassian fleet, thus giving Jellico the edge he needs to get Picard back.  Once Picard is safely back on the Enterprise, all goes back to normal.  The only notable exception is that Counselor Troi (or Lieutenant Commander Trou, if you prefer) wears the standard uniform throughout the rest of the series.

This is one of the few cases where the second part was better than the first.  Most of the first episode was meant to set up this one.  This episode deals primarily with Picard being interrogated.  Gul Madred uses a variety of means to break Picard, including dehydration and humiliation.  One thing I didn’t realize upon first watching the episode was that Madred’s insistence that there were five lights when there were really four was meant to break Picard’s will.  Once he gave into that, it would be easier to manipulate him.

As I pointed out in m review of the previous episode, needing Picard seemed a bit contrived.  There had to be easier ways to get the information.  It seems unlikely that Picard would have full battle plans in case of a specific conflict.  I don’t know if the Cardassians tried hacking into Starfleet of if Starfleet even had that information, themselves.  I’d think that there would have been easier ways to come by it.

The episode was well acted.  The scenes between Madred and Picard are believable.  We also learn a little about Cardassian society.  (Not coincidentally, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would premier not long after this episode aired.)  Some of my complaints about the previous episode carry over.  Jellico was still an arrogant captain.  I admit that the character’s traits were necessary for the episode, but I have to wonder what kind of captain he is normally.  Did his style work normally?

It seems like this episode could have been used to shake things up a little more.  Instead, it seemed like things mostly went back to normal for the Enterprise.  Jellico’s influence was a one-off deal.  It was interesting to see Jellico and Riker speak frankly.  Both are correct in their assessments of the other.  However, neither seems to learn from that.  (To be fair, Jellico is never seen or heard from again.)  It was a memorable episode, but it could have been better.


IMDb page

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 136 (Chain of Command: Part 1)

There were certain movies or TV episodes that made sense over time.  I didn’t get the message as a child.  However, as an adult, I began to pick up on things that I wasn’t aware of when I was younger.  Sometimes, the reverse is true.  When Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Chain of Command aired, I didn’t question certain things.  This is probably why I remember the episode as being better than it actually was.  It wasn’t until later that I began to pick up on things.

The episode starts with Captain Picard being told that he’s being relieved of command of the U.S.S. Enterprise.  The reason is that he’s being sent on a covert operation along with Dr. Crusher and Chief of Security Worf.  The details aren’t forthcoming, but Picard gets to meet his replacement, Captain Edward Jellico.

It doesn’t take long for Jellico to start making changes.  He tells Commander Riker that he wants the crew on a four-shift rotation rather than the current three shifts.  He also takes Lieutenant Commander Data around the ship making demands, like telling engineering that he wants efficiency up and certain parts of the ship overhauled.  Data tells Jellico that it’s possible, but also points out that it would just barely be so.  Jellico wants it done anyway.

Meanwhile,  Picard, Worf and Crusher are training for their unspecified mission.  It isn’t until they leave that Picard can fill them in on the details: The Cardassians are making a weapon that could wipe out all organic life on a planet.  The three of them are to invade a research facility and destroy anything that might be dangerous.  It turns out that it’s a trap.  Crusher and Worf retreat, presumably to escape while Picard is captured.

When the episode first aired 25 years ago, the only thing that really bothered me was that they not only replaced Picard as captain, but the replaced him with a jerk.  Jellico isn’t concerned with being nice.  He’s concerned with results.  How people feel is secondary.  He’s the captain.  I came to realize that this was probably necessary, as he’s being sent to deal with Cardassians.  Riker at one point asks why he isn’t leading the mission.  Riker wouldn’t have been able to carry those scenes.  They needed someone who was abrasive.

It’s a little surprising to me that he made captain at all.  I suppose it’s possible that his method isn’t so bad if you’re used to it.  The crew seems to hate him mostly for changing things.  In fact, this is probably the only time that Riker is made to look bad.  When he has to tell Jellico that the change in shift rotation hasn’t happened yet, Jellico doesn’t care how the department heads feel.  In all fairness, Riker should have gotten it done sooner.  However, it’s done more to show how demanding Jellico is being.  I think the episode could have done without it.

Upon rewatching the episode, what seems most odd is that they would have sent Picard in the first place.  The next episode will have Picard being interrogated.  This episode serves to put him in that situation, but the reasoning is convoluted.  He’s one of three living captains to know about a certain technology.  The other two are retired.  You’re telling me that in all of Starfleet, the best person to send is a captain?  There are no engineers or science officers that could go instead?

The same goes for the chief medical officer of the Enterprise.  They only need someone to verify and possibly destroy the weapon.  Jellico is brought to the Enterprise on another starship, meaning you had at least two medical crews to choose from.  It was never explained why Dr. Crusher is needed.  (The reasoning will become obvious in the second part.)

If you’re thinking that these are the only problems I had with the story, I’ll be making some more points in my review of the second part.  This episode tends to typify why the season sets were a good idea.  Back when the episodes were being released on VHS, there were certain episodes like these that had some good scenes, but not great episodes.  It’s hard to recommend buying them, as you really have to buy two episodes when it’s not necessarily worth the price of one.  I hate to tear it down only to tell you to watch it, but it isn’t really worth avoiding altogether.


IMDb page