I’m going old school again with this review. This is a film that I still have on VHS tape, recorded from cable back when it was first released in 1997. It is clearly credited as The Erotic House of Wax. But when I look it up online, including IMDB it’s listed as The Exotic House of Wax, sometimes with the subtitle Legacy of Lust.

Well, whatever you call it, I like this film. And that’s why I’m reviewing it today.

Directed by Cybil Richards, who co-wrote it with Lucas Riley, this film stars Blake Pickett as a Josie, a woman who has just graduated college. As she’s packing up her dorm to leave, she gets a call that her grandfather has died. Meeting with the lawyer she finds out that he left her his wax museum he owned in Santa Monica. The museum is in debt and the lawyer suggests just selling off the assets. But along with her friends Star (Jacqueline Lovell), Pete (Everett Rodd), and Andy (Eric Acsell), who also just graduated, she flies out to Santa Monica to check out the place. They even consider fixing up the place and re-opening it together, at least in order to try to race the money needed to pay off the bills and back-taxes.

When they get there they notice that all of the various wax statues are of men and women, couples, and even trios, arranged in various sexual positions. They’re also dressed up as real or fictional historical figures. Over the course of the next few nights, one the group happens to catch some of the wax figurines coming to life and having sex. First Sandy sees two statues made up to look like Cleopatra and Mark Anthony (Yvette Lera and Rob Lee) have sex. But when she tries to tell Josie, she doesn’t believe her. The next night Andy sees statues of Casanova (Rick Phares) and two “courtesans” (Yvette Lara again, and Bobbie Marie) have a threesome. He tells Pete, who doesn’t believe him. So the next night they both check out the statues and watch as “Romeo and Juliet” (David Stone and Laura Palmer) have sex. Star, Andy, and Pete try to convince Josie, but she doesn’t believe any of them. What they don’t notice is that some mysterious hooded woman (Lisa Comshaw) has been sneaking around the place, each night putting a necklace with a special amulet around the necks of one of the statues, which is what is causing them to temporarily come to life. That night she slips the amulet around Josie’s neck while she’s sleeping, and Josie wakes up and goes to Pete’s room and has sex with him.

Pete is initially surprised but, of course, goes along with it, as we learned earlier in the film that he’s had a crush on Josie for the past 2 years but has been too afraid to tell her. The sex scene goes on for awhile, and it’s hot, but ends when Pate accidentally rips the amulet off of Josie’s neck, and she snaps out of her trance. The group manages to catch the woman,named Eve, who reveals to them the secret of the amulet and its powers, blah blah blah, I won’t get into all of that. But in the end they decide that they can use the amulet to re-brand the museum as The Erotic House of Wax, to charge customers to come and watch the statues perform live sex shows. As the spend the next couple of days getting the place ready for opening. Eve and Sandy take a break where they use the amulet on a pair of statues of “Aphrodite and Venus” (Nikko and Bobbie Marie) and watch them have sex. And then the two women join them and it becomes a foursome.

On opening night, it’s a packed house, and the crowd watches a dungeon scene where the Marquis De Sade (Bobby Young) makes three slaves (Taylor St. Clair, Leigh Matchett, and Billy Cardi have sex). It’s a huge success, which looks like the museum will be saved, and Josie and Pete are starting to begin a real relationship. THE END

Again, I’ve always liked this film. It’s because an excuse to show off different vignettes of sex scenes, but the gimmick they come up with to do that is pretty clever. All the scenes are shot slow and romantic, with soft music playing. The main cast are all attractive (especially Black Pickett) and are also decent actors. This film retains a Chacebook rating of 5 STARS

This film is hard to find the UNRATED version, which is what you want. Amazon current has the R-rated version for sale, but there’s also option for what’s listed the “director’s cut”, which I would take to me the unrated version, but I can’t vouch for that. But if you can find it, get it!