ZaWolven

I came into this remake of the 1953 original with fairly low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised as it turned out to be a very watchable, if undemanding popcorn slasher.

A group of college students including Elisha Cuthbert of 24 fame and reality show star Paris Hilton are on a road trip when car trouble forces a diversion to the small town of Ambrose, whose main attraction is its wax museum. Rather unsurprisingly, all is not as it seems in the town and before long the friends are on the run from a pair of murderous brothers who have a very unusual method of dealing with their victims.

Although the plot is about as formulaic as they come, this shouldn't detract from what is essentially a very enjoyable film. The actors succeed in creating well rounded characters that you actually care about, which is a rarity in the genre and even Paris Hilton in her first major role isn't too bad (although the reports that her character has a habit of stripping at every available oppurtunity are widely exaggerated).

First time director Jaume Collet-Serra has created a very dark, claustrophobic atmoshpere for the film and although it is about as scary as Harry Potter, the gore factor has been pushed up to the max and there are one or two highly graphic, blood-soaked death scenes.

Despite the problems created by the simple predictability of the plot there is still much to enjoy here. Nothing spectacular but certainly a cut above most teen horror flicks.

My Rating: 3/5

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