Ah, to be a teen in the 80s. To be able to enjoy every awesome horror release.

Combining everything that was awesome about 80s horror: bored, affluent teens seeking (ultimately) deadly thrills; likable genre actors and actresses; comedy and gore; killer poster art — “Waxwork” goes above and beyond what’s required to become a classic. Not to mention there are 18 (!) different monsters/villains that are used throughout the film. You couldn’t ask for anything more!

The storyline is quick with the set-up and doesn’t hesitate getting to the good stuff: a group of college students discover a newly opened wax museum while on a walk one day. The proprietor invites them to a gathering and, naturally, they accept. When they visit the museum the next night, they find themselves being sucked into the displays and interacting with the scenery directly. One student gets sucked into a werwolf scene, another is sucked into a vampire scene. So forth and so on.

This one always stuck out to me as there’s so much going on, with all the different scenarios and monsters. This was followed by an equally cool/fun sequel.