With Halloween upon us again I thought I might share with you my thoughts on my number one scariest movie since I’ve been on the planet. This movie was so scary to me, it affected the way I watched horror films for years afterward.

The House of Wax, (1953), was a great movie. It was the first movie filmed in 3D by a major studio, (Waner Bros.), including the credits. Directed by Andre’ DeToth and starring Vincent Price and Phyllis Kirk, it was the story about a horribly disfigured sculpter who opens a Wax Museum in New York City but his wax figures are people he kills and covers them with wax.

I was eight years old and, according to my Mother, I had bugged her and bugged her about seeing this movie. They finally agreed and one night my parents took me to the old Mel Theater in Melvendale to watch it.

It was filled with dark capes and hats,and shadows and I guess I was ok until the moment the heroine beats on Price’s face. He looked normal throughout the film, even though you knew he lived through a horrible fire when his business partner torched the old museum for the money. So, me being just a kid, I never suspected that his face was, in fact, wax and it covered the most awful, ugly example of a burn victim that Hollywood could muster up. At least to me.

In a frightening scene where Kirk is trying to fight off Vincent Price, she pounds his face and the wax breaks apart and falls off! I was so upset I had nightmares for weeks afterward and could not watch a scary movie without covering my face with my hand and I didn’t stop doing that for years.

To this day, if I’m surfing channels and that movie pops up, I won’t watch a second of it. Click the remote and it’s gone! And that’s why it’s my #1 scariest movie of all time. Scarier than Alien, scarier than Phycho, scarier than anything ever made. Now send me some mail and let me know what movie scared you the most!

Little known facts about The House of Wax. The director, DeToth, only had one eye so he never was able to see the effect of 3D and the guillotine that was used in a scene where one of the characters is pulled out just as the blade falls was authentic. The actor refused to put his head in it until he was assured the blade would not fall too soon. He finally agreed but would only do it once. Hence there was no retake.