Rated R For horror violence, some sexual content and language.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Paris Hilton…
House of bad acting?
All the teen heart throbs and cool sets couldn’t help this rookie director pull this one off. As a matter of fact, who am I kidding. The heart throbs hindered it!
The story is about a group of friends on their way to a college football game that falls prey to a pair of “Texas-chainsaw family” wannabees, two murderous brothers in an abandoned small town. The friends discover that the brothers have expanded upon the area's main attraction…The House of Wax and created an entire town filled with the wax-coated corpses of unlucky visitors. Now the group must find a way out before they too become permanent exhibits in The House of Wax…
Sorry. I’ve watched more entertaining lava lamps!
But I have to let you in on a little peek at our youth culture today – a sad look at the people our kids hold in the limelight as role models. The special features section of the DVD allows you to meet the cast “out of character” and see how incredibly shallow…no, I’m being too nice…how incredibly narrow, spoiled and just plain ignorant they were. If you’re a regular watcher of DVD interviews and audio commentary from talented directors and actors, then this special features section will make you ill. Usually actors are pretty insightful and you can hear their passion for their work. This group was about as passionate as Droopy. I was amazed that directors wanted to work with some of these people.
The DVD allows you to watch a split-screen of the bratty cast watching some of the outtakes and deleted scenes and offering commentary. This is classic stuff! Most of the insight they offer are mere giggles followed by, “Ha, do remember that? That was funny!” You won’t hear anything deeper than, “Yeah…he’s a really good actor. Yeah, really good.” Murray seems put out by the whole ordeal and you will have absolute new DISrespect for Paris Hilton. It’s worth the DVD rental.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
Absolutely not. It earns its R rating with horror violence and sexual content including a little scene where Paris puts on a little strip show down to her teeny little undies. Funny…it looks like she’d done this before???
Side Note:
As said above, we don’t recommend your kids see this film. But on the occasion that they actually have already seen it, you may want to dialogue about the film with them. These questions below may be a help to you.
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
- What are some of the messages or themes you observed in this movie?
- How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
- How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
