{"id":79178,"date":"2025-05-06T12:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/79178\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T12:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:55:13","slug":"20-years-since-house-of-wax-was-released-this-ugly-piece-of-history-still-crops-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/79178\/","title":{"rendered":"20 years since House of Wax was released, this ugly piece of history still crops up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"A
\n\t\tHouse of Wax turns 20 this month, but one thing about horror\u2019s leading ladies hasn\u2019t changed in two decades (Picture: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

With buckets of gore, a killer soundtrack, and a star-studded cast, 2005\u2019s House of Wax<\/a> remains a beloved slasher film 20 years on.<\/p>\n

Directed by Orphan and The Shallows creator Jaume Collet-Serra, it was a remake of the 1953 film of the same name<\/a>, itself a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum.<\/p>\n

Starring Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton<\/a>,and Jared Padalecki among others, a group of college friends en route to a football game become stranded in a ghost town when they get a flat tire.<\/p>\n

They seek help in the only place that\u2019s open in Ambrose \u2013 an impossibly creepy, seemingly abandoned wax museum.<\/p>\n

As they explore the terrifying property and the chilling works of \u2018art\u2019 on display, they soon discover all is not what it seems (of course, what else would you expect entering a creepy building in an almost abandoned town) as they are hunted by twin brothers Bo and Vincent (Van Holt in a dual role) who run the museum.<\/p>\n

House of Wax is filled with brutal kills, but none more vicious than that sustained by Hilton\u2019s character Paige, who is chased to the town\u2019s sugar mill and impaled on a metal pole by Vincent.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\tHouse Of Wax is Paris Hilton\u2019s first and only horror film (Picture: Vince Valitutti\/Warner Bros\/Kobal\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\tShe stars as Paige, who is brutally killed by the maniacal twins who run the titular museum (Picture: Vince Valitutti\/Warner Bros\/Kobal\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

In fact, the socialite\u2019s onscreen death was a large part of the film\u2019s marketing campaign, urging potential viewers to \u2018See Paris Die\u2019 in morbid promotional materials.<\/p>\n

Though the team behind the film assured audiences it was a tongue-in-cheek slogan, the villainisation of leading ladies deemed \u2018love to hate them\u2019 personalities in the public eye is a terrible trend horror cinema<\/a> can\u2019t shake as House of Wax marks its 20th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Despite receiving mostly negative reviews, the film still amassed $70 million (\u00a352.7 million) worldwide thanks to its viral marketing campaign, with the focus placed entirely on Paige\u2019s grisly death.<\/p>\n

The 2000s saw Hilton shoot to unprecedented heights of stardom, becoming the focus of several tabloid articles thanks to her party lifestyle and celebrity friends, which only intensified with the release of a sex tape<\/a> featuring her in 2003.<\/p>\n

At the time of her casting, she was starring in the wildly popular reality TV show The Simple Life<\/a> with Nicole Richie<\/a>, which was a huge draw for audiences alongside 24\u2019s<\/a> Cuthbert, One Tree Hill\u2019s<\/a> Murray, and Gilmore Girls\u2019<\/a> Padalecki.<\/p>\n

But many slammed Hilton as being famous simply for being famous<\/a>, and her mere existence in the public eye drew vitriolic hate from many, with the twisted \u2018See Paris Die\u2019 campaign appeasing the masses who wanted nothing more than to tear her down.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\tHilton\u2019s appearance, and death, in the film was the focus of the marketing campaign (Picture: Warner Br\/Everett\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\tThe marketing team used the public perception and hatred levied toward Paris to draw in audiences, and it worked (Picture: Warner Br\/Everett\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

The hatred didn\u2019t end when the credits rolled, with Hilton receiving a barrage of criticism and negative reviews for her performance, which also led to her receiving a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress.<\/p>\n

Sure, the quality of Hilton\u2019s performance in House of Wax is debatable, but jibes were levied toward the star before the film had even hit cinema screens, showing that this negativity wasn\u2019t solely based on her acting chops.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight<\/a> recently, Hilton described her death scene as \u2018iconic\u2019, continuing: \u2018People always talk about it as one of the most iconic scenes ever in a horror film. So, it makes me really proud that that film has just really stood the test of time.\u2019<\/p>\n

But this same legacy is tainted by the terrible treatment of Hilton by horror fans simply for not fitting the mould of what many may expect from an actor, and an almost scolding approach to her personal life that isn\u2019t applied to Hollywood A-listers deemed more \u2018worthy\u2019 of these roles.<\/p>\n

Two years later, fellow it girl Lindsay Lohan<\/a> appeared in I Know Who Killed Me, a much-loathed slasher that has gone on to garner a cult following.<\/p>\n

The year in which the film was made saw Lohan check into the Wonderland Center rehabilitation facility<\/a> after her high-profile party girl lifestyle and trouble with the law<\/a> \u2018caught up with her.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Lindsay
\n\t\tLindsay Lohan was subjected to similar treatment when making I Know Who Killed Me (Picture: AP)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Lindsay
\n\t\tLohan\u2019s struggle with addiction and brushes with the law meant all of her projects were wrapped in her personal life (Picture: Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As such, much of the coverage of I Know Who Killed Me revolved around Lohan\u2019s personal life, and as she fell from stardom, every film she appeared in drew criticism from the masses simply due to the turning tides of her public perception.<\/p>\n

I Know Who Killed Me bombed at the box office and was trashed by critics, mostly focusing on Lohan\u2019s performance, which has since been praised as a dark gem in her filmography and strangely reflective of her real-life struggles with fame. <\/p>\n

In 2009, history repeated itself once more when Jennifer\u2019s Body<\/a>, starring Megan Fox<\/a> and Amanda Seyfried<\/a>, hit the big screen, telling the story of the titular high school student who becomes a succubus following a botched sacrificial ritual.<\/p>\n

Despite the feminist narrative covering everything from violence against women and girls, to toxic masculinity and Queer relationships, the marketing for Jennifer\u2019s Body focused on one thing \u2013 Fox\u2019s sex appeal.<\/p>\n

Posters featured Jennifer scantily clad in a school uniform or a cheerleading outfit, and much of the promotional material around Jennifer\u2019s Body drew attention to one scene in the film that saw Fox and Seyfried kiss.<\/p>\n

Jennifer\u2019s Body has become a cult classic praised for its important themes, but at the time, the marketing missed the film\u2019s target audience and led to negative reviews, most of which were aimed at Fox, who had become a sex symbol following her stint in the Transformers<\/a> franchise and felt constantly objectified by the media.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Editorial
\n\t\tMegan Fox received intense and undeserved backlash due to the initial failure of Jennifer\u2019s Body (Picture: Fox Atomic\/Kobal\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Editorial
\n\t\tThe film\u2019s marketing revolved around Fox and Amanda Seyfried sharing a steamy scene, missing the point of the narrative (Picture: Fox Atomic\/Kobal\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Her performance was phenomenal, but as the film\u2019s leading lady and a popular figure at the time, attracting plenty of headlines, the brunt of the backlash was aimed squarely at her, leaving Fox feeling \u2018vilified.\u2019<\/p>\n

She told CinemaBlend<\/a>: \u2018I was being vilified a little bit when the movie was getting ready for its release, it was that interesting juxtaposition to shooting up to extreme heights of fame right before the movie was released and then\u2026 the tearing me down was starting to happen. Then I had this media fallout with someone I worked with in the industry.<\/p>\n

\u2018That happened right when I was on the press tour for Jennifer\u2019s Body. I think it all sort of exploded at once. I felt people definitely viewed me as negative or having bad intentions or just being really shallow and selfish, if it could be reduced and simplified even down to that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Fox went as far as to say that the hatred she faced and the constant objectification she experienced at the time of Jennifer\u2019s Body\u2019s release almost led to a \u2018total breakdown\u2019 and her stepping back from the public eye.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the 00s rife with this behaviour, with Kim Kardashian<\/a> facing accusations of \u2018ruining\u2019 American Horror Story<\/a> simply for being cast, long before any episodes had even aired<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Kardashian empire is well-known, with the reality TV family known across the globe and often described as the world\u2019s most famous family.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"American
\n\t\tKim Kardashian was hit by claims she had \u2018ruined\u2019 American Horror Story simply by being cast (Picture: FX)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"This
\n\t\tSydney Sweeney\u2019s appearance became a huge talking point around the release of Immaculate (Picture: AP)<\/p>\n

Like Hilton, she was hit by intense backlash when a sex tape featuring the Skims businesswoman and Ray J was released in 2007<\/a>, and she hasn\u2019t been far from headlines since, whether it be down to drama within her family<\/a>, her ex-husband Kanye West<\/a>, or her 2016 Paris robbery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last year, Kardashian was cast in the 12th season of American Horror Story, titled Delicate, as Siobhan Corbyn, a publicist hired by protagonist Anna (Emma Roberts<\/a>) who supports her through her IVF treatments, pregnancy, Oscar campaign, and career woes when scandal hits.<\/p>\n

Her character was eerily like her own \u2018momager\u2019, Kris Jenner, and Kardashian played the role expertly with enough charisma, sass, and terror to make her a standout of the season<\/a> in what was her acting debut.<\/p>\n

But even before the season aired, many slated the programme for even considering casting the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star solely because of how she achieved fame, without considering her potential acting talents.<\/p>\n

In the same year, Sydney Sweeney\u2019s<\/a> appearance became an unusual political symbol around the release of body horror film Immaculate<\/a> with some social media users claiming her rise to fame marked an end to \u2018wokeness.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Why? She is a conventionally attractive blonde who occasionally shows off her sizable chest in low-cut dresses.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Sydney
\n\t\tSydney Sweeney\u2019s breasts sparked an entire anti-woke movement last year (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n

While this isn\u2019t the same rampant negativity that Hilton, Lohan, and Kardashian faced, it still acts to show how horror\u2019s leading ladies are reduced to bodies to be objectified, whether its using their violent onscreen deaths as marketting fodder, or discussing their bodies in a vulgar manner as if they\u2019re not even human beings.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the horror genre that sees the personal lives and perceptions of its stars affect a movie. Our obsession with celebrity culture often means that the world of showbiz and art collide.<\/p>\n

But our inability to detach these real-life humans from the characters they play, coupled with salacious headlines and our parasocial relationship with stars, means that celebrities face frightening reactions that could well lead to devastating consequences as we have seen time and time again.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say people in the public eye can\u2019t be criticised, it\u2019s important to hold people with a platform to account when need be, but to levy such hatred towards people struggling with addiction, intimate material leaked without their consent, or simply for being famous seems a waste of time and energy that could be spent toward causes that justify it.<\/p>\n

If we mark the 25th anniversary of House of Wax with anything, it needs to be leaving the poor treatment of horror\u2019s leading ladies behind and judging a performance for exactly what it is without a star\u2019s celebrity status and personal life clouding our vision.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWhere to watch these often misunderstood films and TV shows\t\t\t<\/p>\n

House of Wax (2005) \u2013 available to rent on Prime Video, Apple TV+, and the Sky Store<\/p>\n

I Know Who Killed Me (2007) \u2013 Plex<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jennifer\u2019s Body (2009) \u2013 Disney Plus<\/p>\n

American Horror Story: Delicate (2024) \u2013 Disney Plus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Immaculate (2024) \u2013 Prime Video<\/p>\n

Got a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: \u2018Chilling\u2019 horror film with 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating heading to streaming service<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: Kim Kardashian shoots security guard fiery glare as he steps on her Met Gala dress<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: First trailer launches for \u2018demented\u2019 new horror movie with 100% Rotten Tomatoes score<\/a><\/p>\n

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