House of Wax Page #3

We had a similar case before.

Matthew Burke.

I read about that.

And Patterson,

a Deputy City Attorney disappeared.

We found no trace of him.

We could've laid our hands

on that man that you saw last night.

That's the strangest description

I've ever heard.

- No human being can look like that.

- Sure you didn't imagine it?

I did see him.

Just as I described him to you.

He was incredible, but very real.

Could he be the man

who took Miss Gray to dinner?

That's impossible.

She told me

that he was very good-looking.

That's what the landlady said,

it's a man with gray hair.

We have no suspects

fitting your description.

If we did,

we'd have him in the crazy house.

Don't leave town. Where can we find you?

- Miss Allen will stay in our home.

- Make sure of that. She's our only witness.

That's all. Thank you.

How do you do?

I received a letter giving this address

and signed Professor Jarrod.

But I know the Professor's dead.

Can you tell me who wrote this letter?

My name is Sidney Wallace.

It's so good...

Forgive me. Shaking hands with me

is an unpleasant experience.

My hands are no longer hands.

Sit down, please.

This is Igor. He's a deaf-mute.

He is one of my assistants.

I'm going to open another wax museum

under a different name.

- It startled you, seeing me here?

- I thought you were dead.

Jarrod is dead. I am a reincarnation.

When I saw your signature,

I thought somebody was fooling me.

I don't understand

how you escaped the fire.

It's a mystery to me, too.

All I can remember is

that I tried to get out of my studio.

- I failed at first, but here I am.

- What a frightful experience.

Somehow I made my way

to the house of a doctor.

I still have my limbs but

they won't bear the weight of my body.

As for my hands,

they are no use to me now.

As a sculptor, I can't control them.

But they serve for ordinary functions.

- But you're beginning again?

- With the help of my pupils, yes.

I'm rebuilding my exhibition

from the ground up.

I'm going to give the people

what they want:

Sensation, horror, shock.

Send them out in the streets

to tell their friends...

how wonderful it is to be scared to death.

I'll show you one of my subjects.

Do you recall the case of Kemmler,

the first man to die in the electric chair?

- Yes.

- Igor is working on a model of his head.

He has a strange obsession,

this mute of mine.

Every head he models

takes on the shape of his own face.

But in this case I humor him,

for he somewhat resembles Kemmler.

Crimes of violence

will be reproduced in wax...

and exhibited while they are still fresh

in the public mind.

What do you think of my scheme?

It will succeed, commercially,

though it doesn't sound like you.

- Have you turned your back on beauty?

- No.

But I can no longer create it.

- I never forgot your Marie Antoinette.

- Nor have I.

She will be the leading lady

of my new exhibition.

But I must find her first.

- Find her?

- A model, I mean.

Yes, there will be beauty,

for contrast, if nothing else.

But each subject must be taken from life.

How can I convince my audience

they're alive, if I don't believe it myself?

I have something I think will interest you.

You follow Igor down into the basement.

I have to go my own way.

Here we are. Interesting, isn't it?

One of my pupils is about to dip a body

into a bath of wax.

- Body?

- Yes.

The bodies are constructed separately...

to exact specifications,

of reinforced plaster of Paris.

This is Leon, another one of my pupils.

- Mr. Wallace.

- How do you do?

The wax is melted in the cauldron

you see above the vat...

liquefied and brought to a boiling point...

so that it will distribute itself

evenly over the body.

The head and hands,

tinted by my own secret process...

are attached to the body

after it is covered with its skin of wax.

Now watch.

I wondered how it was done.

It's a method of my own.

Crude but adequate.

- Have you found a home for your museum?

- This is it, the building upstairs.

We'll continue to use the cellar

as the workshop...

it's an excellent location, and the building

can be leased at the right price.

I have some capital, but I need more.

$30,000, at least.

That's why I've asked you to come here.

- I'll think it over.

- Good.

She is about right, now.

Leon, drain out the surplus,

and let her cool.

Leon, open up number 27.

Come this way, please.

I told you that I intend to exhibit

scenes of violence.

Here is an interesting subject.

A mystery they are still talking about.

All right, Leon.

I saw his picture in the papers.

This is a remarkable likeness.

- But it can't be a death mask.

- No, it's from memory.

He hanged himself in an elevator shaft.

Come in, ladies and gentlemen.

See the House of Wax.

See the Chamber of Horrors.

Here's three lovely ladies right over here.

Would you like to see Little Egypt?

Here she is, ladies and gentlemen,

Little Egypt, Queen of the Harem...

who danced at the Colombian Exposition

in Chicago in 1893.

Is she wax, or is she flesh and blood?

See the world in wax, the Hall of Fame.

The Chamber Of Horrors.

A cultural exhibition

that'll enlighten you, amaze you...

- I think I could do that.

- No, you couldn't.

I could, too, if I took my stays off.

Don't do that. Don't talk that way.

Watch it, young lady.

Careful, sir. Keep your head down

or I'll tap you on the chin.

Look out.

That's a becoming hat you're wearing.

I wonder if I could clip a flower off it.

Hold steady, now. Don't move your head.

Or you'll lose the powder off your nose.

There is someone with a bag of popcorn.

Close your mouth,

it's the bag I'm aiming at.

Not your tonsil. Here she comes.

Look at that, it's in the bag.

See the lovely centers of ancient times,

ladies and gentlemen.

Beauties who died and tortured

out on the block.

Visit our Chamber of Horrors.

And pass the time of day

with notorious murderers...

who killed with the rope,

the knife, and the axe.

Thrills, chills, a lot of dirt

for a price within the reach of all.

I hope you don't think I've gone too far

hiring this fellow to bring people in.

- He makes it sound like a sideshow.

- Try him for a week or two.

Once we're established,

we won't need that sort of thing.

He looks like a real man.

You'd be surprised.

It's a real man. Sorry.

The historic figures I'm about to show you

will be more interesting...

when I tell you that their faces were

molded from the original death masks...

now in the possession

of certain European governments.

First, we have Anne Boleyn...

second wife of Henry the Vlll,

and the mother of Queen Elizabeth.

With the executioner

Henry borrowed from the French king...

so that Anne's head would be cleaved

from her body without too much pain.

He was a thoughtful husband, Henry.

It was he who invented

the short cut to divorce.

A very bad pun, I'm afraid.

Here is another scene of historic violence.

Charlotte Corday and Marat...

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