"The Wizard of Gore" isn't much more than a confusing gore opus.
**SPOILERS**
Dragged along to a magic act, sports columnist Jack, (Wayne Ratay) and his TV hostess fiancée Shelly Carson, (Judy Cler) go along to Montag the Magnificent, (Ray Sager) perform his show. For his final act, he does a variation on a standard illusion and looks to physically saw a woman in half without doing so in a box. Afterwards, the volunteer appears fine only to be found dead later on with a wound exactly as it appeared during the performance. Getting curious, she asks him to appear on her show and perform there, to which he agrees and asks them both to appear at future shows. When a series of murders begins taking place where the volunteers begin dying in the same fashion as the illusion they perform in the show. Getting suspicious, they finally lay a trap for him during his TV appearance and try to solve his mystery once and for all.
The Good News: While there wasn't a whole lot of good things, what was there wasn't bad. The film's biggest claim is the high amount of gore on display from the different illusions. These certainly are pretty graphic ones, with one chainsawed in half in full view of the audience, a metal spike shoved into the side of the head, swords shoved into the mouth and down the throat, one set on fire and another pressed into a whole with a metallic press, among others. These are all quite brutally done and manage to look possible as well. That's a fantastic trick to accomplish and this one does it nicely. The film's only other positive point is the really nice conclusion. This is where the film picks up it's pace and intensity slightly from before, allowing for a little more excitement and thus brings the film up slightly. The film's real power, though, lies in it's powerful illusions and extreme gore.
The Bad News: While this one wasn't that bad, there's still some pretty big flaws here. The fact that the extreme gore here terrible and completely unconvincing is something to get over. The pressing illusion is the big one to get over, as the fact that the blood comes out as thick, gloppy mess is just so wrong that the disbelief at it outweighs the graphicness of it. It's the wrong color, shape, form and even its action that it takes, as real blood doesn't behave in that manner. It's just way too noticeable to be shocking or convincing, and the act that's being taken to drive the blood is where it gets it's impact from. The near incoherent plot doesn't help matters. This bounces around from scene to scene quite frequently, rarely tying up any loose ends left from the previous scene before raising a new one from that sequence. This gives the film a really disjointed feel, moving around as much as it does and then it goes ahead and finally solves the mystery at the end, only for the film's real remaining questions to be brought up by one of the characters in conversation with another and the whole thing then dismissed. It's not that smart of a film to do such a maneuver, and this one is no exception. Otherwise, this wasn't that bad.
The Final Verdict: One of Lewis' more watchable films, this one though adds in the extra fact of a confusing story along with the traditional trademarks. Highly watchable for gore-hounds or Lewis fans, while those who aren't or find the flaws to be deal-breakers, seek other viewing.
Today's Rating-R: Graphic Violence
**SPOILERS**
Dragged along to a magic act, sports columnist Jack, (Wayne Ratay) and his TV hostess fiancée Shelly Carson, (Judy Cler) go along to Montag the Magnificent, (Ray Sager) perform his show. For his final act, he does a variation on a standard illusion and looks to physically saw a woman in half without doing so in a box. Afterwards, the volunteer appears fine only to be found dead later on with a wound exactly as it appeared during the performance. Getting curious, she asks him to appear on her show and perform there, to which he agrees and asks them both to appear at future shows. When a series of murders begins taking place where the volunteers begin dying in the same fashion as the illusion they perform in the show. Getting suspicious, they finally lay a trap for him during his TV appearance and try to solve his mystery once and for all.
The Good News: While there wasn't a whole lot of good things, what was there wasn't bad. The film's biggest claim is the high amount of gore on display from the different illusions. These certainly are pretty graphic ones, with one chainsawed in half in full view of the audience, a metal spike shoved into the side of the head, swords shoved into the mouth and down the throat, one set on fire and another pressed into a whole with a metallic press, among others. These are all quite brutally done and manage to look possible as well. That's a fantastic trick to accomplish and this one does it nicely. The film's only other positive point is the really nice conclusion. This is where the film picks up it's pace and intensity slightly from before, allowing for a little more excitement and thus brings the film up slightly. The film's real power, though, lies in it's powerful illusions and extreme gore.
The Bad News: While this one wasn't that bad, there's still some pretty big flaws here. The fact that the extreme gore here terrible and completely unconvincing is something to get over. The pressing illusion is the big one to get over, as the fact that the blood comes out as thick, gloppy mess is just so wrong that the disbelief at it outweighs the graphicness of it. It's the wrong color, shape, form and even its action that it takes, as real blood doesn't behave in that manner. It's just way too noticeable to be shocking or convincing, and the act that's being taken to drive the blood is where it gets it's impact from. The near incoherent plot doesn't help matters. This bounces around from scene to scene quite frequently, rarely tying up any loose ends left from the previous scene before raising a new one from that sequence. This gives the film a really disjointed feel, moving around as much as it does and then it goes ahead and finally solves the mystery at the end, only for the film's real remaining questions to be brought up by one of the characters in conversation with another and the whole thing then dismissed. It's not that smart of a film to do such a maneuver, and this one is no exception. Otherwise, this wasn't that bad.
The Final Verdict: One of Lewis' more watchable films, this one though adds in the extra fact of a confusing story along with the traditional trademarks. Highly watchable for gore-hounds or Lewis fans, while those who aren't or find the flaws to be deal-breakers, seek other viewing.
Today's Rating-R: Graphic Violence