Waxwork II: Lost in Time

The film opens with a reenactment of final scenes of Waxwork, with Mark and Sarah leaving the burning waxwork (the part of Sarah having been recast from the first film). The disembodied zombie hand from the first film follows Sarah to her run-down flat and kills her stepfather with a hammer, a murder for which Sarah is blamed. No one believes her story about the evil waxwork.

In the hope of gathering evidence, Mark and Sarah visit the late Sir Wilfred's home, where they find a filmreel of Sir Wilfred speaking of his and Mark's grandfather's adventures and of the artifacts they collected together. A secret switch in Sir Wilfred's chessboard opens a door to a room full of objects where Mark and Sarah find a small compass-like device. They learn this device was used in history by light and dark angels to travel through another dimension consisting of stories that have become realities (including homages to Frankenstein, The Haunting, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dr. Jekyll, Alien, Godzilla, Jack the Ripper, Nosferatu, and Dawn of the Dead). According to exposition later given by Sir Wilfred in the form of a raven, these worlds comprise "God's video game," where God and the devil battle over the fate of the world, each victory being reflected in events occurring in the real world. When Mark or Sarah appear in each reality they take on the persona of characters in those stories, sometimes having their personalities and memories taken over by those characters until they regain their senses.

Mark plans to gather evidence of the reanimated dead to bring back to the real world as proof of Sarah's story in court. After several failed attempts and being lost in one world after another, they battle with an evil sorcerer and Mark is able to send Sarah home with an animated zombie hand as proof of her story. Unable to return with her, Mark instead arranges to have another compass delivered to Sarah after her trial ends so she can rejoin him.[2]

The film was released in Philippine theaters by Jemah Films on March 26, 1992.[3] Originally intended as a theatrical release in the United States like its predecessor, Waxwork II instead went direct-to-video on June 16, 1992.

Although written by an English writer, the American actors were allowed to speak the dialogue in their own words. Many of the anachronism in the movie were on purpose as a type of Easter egg for the fans [4]

TV Guide liked this sequel more than the original, and gave it two out of 5 stars, but in the end found "ends up little more than a good idea that needed a steadier hand at the helm." [5] Creature Feature (book) found that the movie was worth 3.5 out of 5 stars, and said that it would especially appeal to horror fans.[6]

• Waxwork II: Lost in Time at IMDb
• Waxwork II: Lost in Time at AllMovie
• Waxwork II: Lost in Time at the TCM Movie Database