1924 · horror · fantasy · german
Waxworks
Directed by Leo Birinski, Paul Leni1h 23m1924
A poet is hired by the owner of a wax museum in a circus to write tales about Harun al Raschid, Ivan the Terrible and Jack the Ripper. While writing, the poet and the daughter of the owner, Eva, fantasize the fantastic stories and fall in love for each other.
Our read: Waxworks (1924) reads as a sombre, measured, surreal horror · fantasy · german entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, ambivalent in outlook, with a strong directorial signature.
Sombre, measured, measured horror / fantasy, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, cold.
- sombre
- measured
- inventive
Watching Waxworks tonight? Spin for your lens.
Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.
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Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.
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How Waxworks feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want German expressionist silent anthology of fantasy, terror and a frame romance.”
Skip it tonight — You want a single story with modern effects or fast dialogue.
Eight films that feel like this one.
Closest in the twelve-axis space, not “people also liked”. All films like Waxworks, with why →
Discussion
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