I have a friend who’s holidaying in New York and just yesterday bumped into Leonardo DiCaprio at a grocery store.  I suppose if you walk the streets of New York or Los Angeles, you’re sure to run into the royalty which makes up the American film industry.

Here in Brisbane, Australia, you’d be hard pressed to run into any celebrity of note.  However, every few years, a major production comes to town.  They usually shoot at Warner Bros’ Movie World on the Gold Coast and recent examples have included The Phantom and Scooby-Doo. 

House Of Wax is the latest blockbuster to be filmed here in Brisbane and I can remember all the hoopla when Paris Hilton and company came to town last year to commence filming.  I hope they had a good time because you probably won’t when watching their work on screen.

It’s another teen slasher thriller which unites some rising actors and becomes a guessing game to see who will live and who will die.  There are six in all and they’re driving across country before camping out for the night in an isolate area off the main road.  They hear noises in the night and when they awake, the car’s fanbelt has been cut.  They ain’t going anywhere.

Stumbling into the nearest town for help, they come across a rundown wax museum.  This is just the start of a spooky night which leaves them screaming, and screaming and screaming for help.  Someone’s out to kill them and in doing so, create 6 new sculptures for the House Of Wax.

Elisha Cuthbert from The Girl Next Door and Chad Michael Murray from A Cinderella Story are your two leading stars.  Much as has been made of her appearance in the film, but Paris Hilton’s role is quite small.  Her acting is a bit wooden but I admire her sense of humour in going along with a script which sees her being videotaped by a friend making out with someone and being attacked whilst wearing revealing lingerie.

It takes a long time to get going and way too much time is wasted introducing the actors but the big finale is worth hanging around for.  The sticky wax was a cool effect and it must have been a fun scene to shoot.  This makes it the perfect film to skip at the cinemas and try to pick up on video.  Let us praise technology and the magical fast-forward button.