MovieChat Forums > House of Wax (1953) Discussion > The Horror in the Museum- connection?

The Horror in the Museum- connection?

posted 17 years ago by zombietoxin
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Having recently read the short story "The Horror in the Museum" ghost-written by HP Lovecraft for Hazel Heald and found in the collection of the same name, I have to wonder if the writers for House of Wax were directly influenced by it. The short story is about a man who owns a wax museum, and he sacrifices people to a terrible ancient god. He then takes the remains and coats them with wax, and places them on display. Other than the, ahem, religious aspect :) do you think they pretty much took that plot and ran with it?

[–] richard-III 17 years ago

I don't know that Lovecraft story. In what year was its first publication?
Mystery Of The Wax Museum - on which House Of Wax was based - premiered in 1933. Lovecraft died in 1937.

The storylines of Mystery and House have something in common with Gaston Leroux' Phantom Of The Opera novel, with a troubled and wronged soul in a maimed body who tries to gets his way: be it love or revenge or both.

In 1924 Paul Leni made the thriller Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (The Wax Museum), not that the story has much to do with Mystery Of The Wax Museum, but the fascination of filmmakers and audiences were always there. Before film they probably visited M. Toussaud's Wax Museum to look at Jack the Ripper, Landru and Atilla the Hun.

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[–] zombietoxin 17 years ago

"The Horror in the Museum" was published in 1932, I believe.