and it's just no comparison. Special effects and quick pacing may make it possible for audiences to swallow anything - but we get an aftertaste and know there was something bad. With an old movie, there's something in the presentation which transcends the audience/reality barrier. We know it's not real, and it's not really pretending to be real either, and somehow that works better than fifty million dollars of special effects. By its own rules, the original house of wax was scary and sympathetic at the same time. Playing by its simulated reality, this new version just doesn't really work. It's just a mishmash of death and pumping up the stakes.