Entertainment

The 1950s were a time when television was fast taking prominence – film studios were desperate to get people back in the cinema so they tried everything, including ‘smellovision’ and electrified seats to make horror films all that more jumpy.

'The House of Wax’ was the first major studio film to be made in 3D coupled with stereophonic sound, sparking a craze for more films like it. Ironically its director Andre De Toth could only see in 2D, having lost an eye.

‘The House of Wax’ was shown using two separate projectors to create one double image (much like the human eyes do). Thus, they had to be run on two separate rolls of film.

It sounds like a perfect and simple way around the problem, but unfortunately it was flawed. Audiences watching ‘The House of Wax’ were put off by the increasingly wobbly images which caused motion sickness and, in some unfortunate cases, vomiting in the cinema.