15 Underrated Movie Remakes That Deserve Another Look

9. House of Wax (2005)

Dismissed by many as another noughties retread that drafted in big names like Chad Michael Murray and (perplexingly) Paris Hilton, Jaume Collet-Serra’s House of Wax has more staying power than these bare facts suggest.

The film only just broke even (by Hollywood accounting standards) and critics gave it less than a fair hearing, but as a fun, no stakes slasher it has everything you could want.

House of Wax follows a group of college pals to a town with an old wax museum, watched over by a pair of insane twin brothers who have some dark secrets behind their waxwork collection. The premise is familiar, and the reveal - that they have permanently waxed a bunch of real people into their fake town - is similarly unsurprising, but the joy of the film is watching it all unfold.

It is fun, high concept and makes the most of its stars’ varying abilities by putting the focus on the creep factor and the many grim waxings and kills. The women are shrill, the guys macho, the villains chew the scenery, and every moment is guilt-free fun to watch, all the way from the “oh no, whoops, we are stranded in the middle of nowhere” through to seeing a still-alive, wax-encased Jared Padelecki get his face peeled off by his pal.