Herschell Gordon Lewis was his own genre, so it's pointless to compare any of his work to anybody else's. It's even pointless to measure his movies against prevailing or once-prevailing standards. "The Wizard of Gore", which is half stage play in the grand guignol tradition and half melodrama, is very gory and very protracted. The bloodshed is amped up to just below that of "The Gore Gore Girls" and it's wonderful to behold, even if it still looks unconvincing. A woman gets her stomach ripped out, a spike is driven into another woman's head, and a mad magician, played with over-the-top glee by Ray Sager, gets to run his fingers through lots of female guts. A precursor to "Bloodsucking Freaks" and certainly the goriest film ever made at the time (1970). As is usual for Lewis's films, the acting is hammy, the sound recording is poor, and the cinematography is merely adequate. Nevertheless, we horror fans owe a great, scarlet debt to the Godfather of Gore.
Review of The Wizard of Gore
