Original Soundtrack - House Of Wax / O.S.T. (Enh) (CD)

All Music Guide

House of Wax's soundtrack is pretty adequate for a quickie summer horror picture about the stalking, killing, and eventual waxing of handsome young people. It begins with the stinging beats and mild nihilism of "Spitfire" from the Prodigy's overlooked 2004 effort Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. My Chemical Romance seem obsessed with death anyway, so their spiky posthardcore workout "I Never Told You What I Do for a Living" is a perfect fit. And where would a modernday chiller be without a cut from that lovable ghoul Marilyn Manson? The monger of all that is sinister contributes 1996's NINish "Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World." House of Wax throws some curveballs alongside standard alt metal fare like Disturbed ("Prayer") and Bloodsimple ("Path to Prevail"). It includes all seven minutes of the Stooges' silty, slowburn 1970 classic "Dirt," and the punkified new wave of the Von Bondies' "Not That Social" is a great leadin to Har Mar Superstar and Karen O's crasshop romp "Cut Me Up." The set also taps Joy Division's dour, intense "New Dawn Fades," but it seems really out of place. Still, House of Wax includes pretty much what you'd expect from the soundtrack to a movie so scary, it stars Paris Hilton.

- Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide