In Paris, in 1900, a man and a woman are slaughtered by a masked man. The only survivor was a young girl. The little girl is taken from the apartment by Inspector Lanvin (Aldo Massasso).
Twelve years later, in Rome, Luca (Daniel Auber) is visiting his favorite prostitute, Giorgina (Valery Valmond), when he learns that a new wax museum is opening up. Another patron of the establishment begins a conversation about fear and how the wax museum, which features horror exhibits, would be terrifying to stay in at night alone. He then wagers 20 lire that Luca couldn’t spend the night alone in the museum without being scared. Since 20 lire would pay for many nights at the brothel, Luca agrees. He is found dead the next morning. The cause of death is labeled as heart failure.
Sonia Lafont (Romina Mondello) is looking for a job. She has been educated by her Aunt Francesca (Gabriella Giorgelli) as a dress designer. The owner of the wax museum, Boris Volkoff (Robert Hossein), hires her to create clothes for the wax figures. Boris’ assistant, Alex (Umberto Balli) is not happy that his boss has taken such an interest in the young woman.
Outside of the museum Sonia meets Andrea Conversi (Riccardo Serventi Longhi). Andrea is a reporter who is taking pictures of the museum and interviewing people about the Luca’s death for an article he is writing about the unusual event. Andrea and Sonia become lovers. As Andrea continues his investigation people begin to disappear from the streets of Rome and new exhibits begin to appear in the museum.
Inspector Lanvin comes to Rome. As the investigator who discovered her when she was a child hiding from the monster that killed her mother he is still invested in finding the killer. He visits her at the museum. One of the exhibits is reproduction of the murder of Sonia’s mother and her lover. He becomes suspicious of Boris when he sees that the recreation matches the real murders exactly and includes things that were never reported in the newspapers.
Things start to unravel when Sonia is kidnapped and secrets begin to be revealed.
“The Wax Mask” AKA “M.D.C. - Maschera di cera” was released in 1997 and was directed by Sergio Stivaletti. It is an Italian gothic horror mystery.
The movie is sort of a remake of Andre De Toth’s 1953 version of “House of Wax” as well as Michael Curtiz’s 1933 version of “Mystery of the Wax Museum, both of which were based on Gaston Leroux’s story “The Waxwork Museum”.
The movie is loaded with special effects, mostly of gore and body horror. It’s sort of a kitchen sink of every wax museum movie as well as every “Phantom of the Opera” movie and “The Terminator” 1984. Granted a lot of the movie is the usual creepy wax museum tropes, but the special effects draw you in and keep you engaged. There are a couple slower spots but for the majority of the film you are assaulted with gore, blood and some naked women. The nudity is mostly gratuitous but it is an Italian film so it is also almost required. It was an interesting film, a bit confusing at times with the many flashback sequences but still very enjoyable.
There is also a subtle twist at the end that may be a little confusing.