Waxwork

Waxwork (1988) is a horror-comedy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Anthony Hickox and produced across the US, UK, and Germany. The premise is gloriously simple: a mysterious wax museum opens overnight in a quiet suburb, and its eighteen exhibits — each one a famous monster — turn out to be functional doorways into their own nightmares.

A group of college students accepts a midnight invitation from the museum's sinister owner, played with silky menace by David Warner. One by one they step too close to the displays and find themselves pulled in — Zach Galligan and Deborah Foreman among those trying to work out why their friends keep vanishing. John Rhys-Davies shows up as a werewolf, which is as good a reason as any to keep watching.

The structure plays like a horror anthology with a wraparound: each diorama is its own mini-genre piece, from gothic vampire to Marquis de Sade to undead warrior. Hickox keeps the tone knowing rather than earnest, which is exactly right for this kind of material. Stream Waxwork (1988) online on iFILM.