Narrative Analysis
The Final Gril image
Both the remake and the original House of Wax are shot from the main female character’s viewpoint. This girl is the Final Girl in slasher film who will survive at the end. However, the Final Girl image in the original in 1953 hasn’t developed completely comparing with the remake in 2005. The Final Girl in House of Wax (1953) is Sue, a woman “who is not fully feminine-not in the ways of her friends” (Clover 204). When other men did not believe in her suspicion, unlike conventional women waiting for men to solve the mystery of her friend’s death, Sue starts the investigation and discovers Jarrod’s crime. Sue breaks the image of damsel in distress and actively devotes in the investigation.
Sue uncovers Jarrod's mask and reveals his monstrous face
Sue investigates one of the wax figure in the museum in order to confirm it is her dead friend
On the other hand, the remake in 2005 reinforces the Final Girl image in the slasher film. Clover states in her essay that Final Girl will undergo agonizing trials, and she will eventually be saved by someone else. As the story proceeds, the Final Girl will discover her potential power and active her investigating gaze. She “reverses the look, making a spectacle of the killer and a spectator of herself” (Clover 219). In House of Wax in 2005, Carly is captured by Bo, and then rescued by her brother, Nick. However, at the final scene, she stabs Vincent and escapes the burning museum with Nick. Carly highlights her Final Girl identity by showing her encountering danger at first, and saving herself with her own power at the end.
Carly gaze is fragil and scared at first, but she discovers her power and fight back the evil brothers while her gaze becomes stronger and more masculine.
Abjection
Furthermore, House of Wax in 2005 reveals more elements of abjection. The abjection is a process of blurring the binary and letting two original separated objects crossing the border. Creed suggests that the monstrous danger and fear is generated at the ambivalent border. Those who do not keep in their social order role will produce fear to the society. Paige and Blake are the interracial couple in the movie, and they appear to have strong sexual attraction and desire for each other. However, white and black are different races that were separated in the past. Their sexual desire for different race is a sign of crossing the boundary of race, and they are punished by death due to their desire of transgressing the border.
Paige and Blake are killed when they attempts to have sex.
The motivation of creating the authentic wax figures is to please the dead mother. It is a similar motif from Psycho that Norman is still affected by his dead mother, and he conducts the murder due to the mother jealousy which exists within his mind. According to Kristeva, “The corpse, seen without God and outside of science, is the utmost of abjection. It is death infecting life. Abject. It is something rejected from which one does not part” (Kristeva, 3). The dead should not influence the live since they no longer exist in the world. However, the killers possess the dead as if they are still alive and affecting their judgement. This notion violate the boundary between the dead and the live since the dead active their influence as a living. The evil brothers in House of Wax (2005) are motivated by their dead mother, and conduct the jouissance on the victims. They transform victims’ pain into their pleasure and perfection of their work.
The corpse of Norman's mother in Psycho
Norman dresses in his mother's clothes conducting murder.