This movie is an overlooked classic, in my honest opinion. Nothing but pure, mindless fun and filled lots of great homages to classic horror. And it doesn't take itself too seriously. Comparisons aside, Waxwork is just a really good flick.
I know what you mean. This had elements of Phantasm and Michael Jackson's Thriller in it. Also had an element of Vincent Price filck House of Wax. I was really enjoying it until the monsters in the graveyard.
I think horror in general has gotten worse with age. Today's directors seem to think just blood alone can make a film and that we just want torture, gore, torture gore, a bit of nudity thrown in to.
This post and film reminds me of a film I seen just the end of last year, Demons (Demoni) 1 and 2, directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento, Argento being a favourite director of mine.
What I loved about Demoni was that the effects where great but the film to was great fun. I feel a lot of horror films these days can go too serious and forget to entertain us. Look at Dawn of the dead probably the best zombie film ever and while it can be said to be scary its also got elements of humour and to me its a great fun film.
You hit the nail on the head. Modern filmmakers seem to think that gore is the same thing as suspense, and it not by a longshot. I think the trend started around the time the first SAW movie came out (a film that I made it through about 30 minutes of and then switched channels.)
The bad news is you have houseguests. There is no good news.