Poor Paris Hilton. Heiress to millions with her first major role in the thriller &House of Wax,& and how do the fans respond? With an explosion of cheers and applauds the moment her character is horrifically killed. Maybe they weren&t fans of &The Simple Life.&

Hilton aside, &House of Wax& exceeded expectations. A teen horror full of acting-wannabes didn&t bring high expectations, but it was scary, and already that was more than expected.

Add in a semi-interesting plot, occasional good acting, and some self-deprecating humor, and you&ve got a genuinely OK horror.

As a group of Louisiana teens embark on their doomed roadtrip, we&re given minimal characterization and plot development, most of which could have been discarded. We also get the reassurance that no, Paris Hilton can&t act.

The unique concept, despite being based off the 1953 film of the same name, gives audiences a chilling experience all the same. Deranged brothers Bo and Vincent, both played by Brian Van Holt (&Whipped,& &Black Hawk Down&), attack anyone who crosses their path and cast the living victims in hot wax.

The entire town that the brothers live in is populated by their victims, each left to die inside wax figures. The eerie presence of live people beneath many intricate wax figures, all of which reportedly took seven months to create, combined with the terrifying gore of characters& attacks and deaths make up most of the scare in the film.

Hilton&s death leaked to the public early on, but otherwise it was difficult to predict who would survive, what with all of them being so attractive and all. The suspense makes even skeptics jump to the edge of their seats.

Elisha Cuthbert (&24,& &Girl Next Door&) plays Carly, the film&s star, not for having the most lines, but simply for delivering them the most believably. Wax figure No. 6 comes in at a close second.

Flaws in the movie are not all because of underdeveloped actors. Some plot twists and character choices were just plain unbelievable, no matter who was involved. For example, why would Hilton strip tease for her boyfriend as a precursor to telling him she&s pregnant? Newbie director Jaume Serra thought he could tie together character development, plot progression and lingerie in a feasible, cohesive manner, but doesn&t succeed with any of them.

The major sub-plot involves sibling rivalry between Carly and her brother Nick, played by that guy from &One Tree Hill,& that vaguely parallels the stresses between the film&s deranged sibling killers & vaguely. This is the only characterization or underlying plot that could have been interestingly developed, but instead we saw far too much of Carly with her boyfriend, that other guy from Gilmore Girls.

Picking apart the flaws in &House of Wax& is a waste of time, but watching it is not. The selling point for this film is not that it&s an awe-inspiring piece of cinema, it&s that you don&t have anything better to do. Take a date, quiet your inner critic, get thoroughly creeped out & and wait for Paris Hilton to die.