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Simply A Masterpiece

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"The Wizard of Gore," one of splatter pioneer Herschell Gordon Lewis's later films, follows a local TV reporter and her boyfriend who become fascinated by a local magician, Montag the Magnificent, who horrifically mutilates women onstage; the magic is that his subjects inexplicably survive their ordeals, restored and unfettered. But when the women begin dying offstage, things get even weirder.Herschell Gordon Lewis is an acquired taste—his films have the late '60s aesthetic of a "Brady Bunch" episode, except they are excessively and elaborately gory. They are classic B-movies of a bygone era, one that is impossible to be recapture, and that is why fans still flock around films like "The Wizard of Gore" or "Two-Thousand Maniacs"—they are relics of the genre."The Wizard of Gore" has been touted as one of Lewis's most bizarre offerings, and it's understandable why people have said so. While there is a plot strung between the moments of grand guignol of blood spillage (rooted in hypnosis and journalism), what really is on display here is the elaborate, gross-out special effects. This in and of itself makes the film a bizarre viewing experience, as an audience mediated through an audience—the characters look on at the victims, and we look on at the victims while looking on through the characters. It's a strange dynamic, and the film plays with our tendencies toward fascination when it comes to freakshows, and moreover, violence.The effects themselves? They're at times disgusting, at others bizarrely edited, but the truth about them after all these years is that, in spite of their being aged in some respects, they're still visceral. It's hard not to wince as a woman is impaled by a steel pipe, and then is playfully eviscerated on a wooden slab in front of spectators. It is these gross-out moments that punctuate the film, and are what give it its singlehanded punch.Overall, "The Wizard of Gore" is a gory, macabre effort, and one of Lewis's more memorable films; it's also one of his most surreal. Some will dismiss it as cheap exploitation, which is fair, but it's also worth taking into consideration the film's phantasmagorical thematics and the ways it presents explicit violence to its audience. What are we watching? And why do we watch? 7/10.

When I was a kid, I couldn't get enough of the Horror genre. Renting Horror flicks, on the weekend, from everywhere from Blockbuster to the smaller places like Video Warehouse. It wouldn't take too long to plow right through every Friday The 13th, every Elm Street, and yes, every watered-down Halloween disappointment, among countless others. Eventually, it would come to my attention that there is a whole other universe, an alternate universe, if you will, of Horror. I had discovered the wonderful world of vintage B-Horror. You know, stuff like Basket Case, Messiah Of Evil, and Burial Ground. Needless to say, it didn't take long to discover the ground-breakingly cheesy flicks of good ol' H.G. Lewis. Known mostly for his earlier stuff like Blood Feast and Two Thousand Maniacs, Herschell Lewis would later go on to make a movie that really stood out for me. One of the goriest, and might I add one of the least well-thought-out Exploitation flicks of the 70's. This is The Wizard Of Gore.I sure am glad I like gore, because magicians are kinda lame. And if nothing else, this 1970 gore-epic teaches us this. If you like 'em unrealistic and confusing, then I assure you, you will approve of this lame-brained story, which involves, you guessed it, a magician. Montag The Magnificent. Played by Ray Sager, a man 30 years younger than what the role calls for. No problem. Nothing a little white spray-paint and fake-looking, uneven white eyebrows can't fix. Ridiculous-looking eyebrows are the least of Montag's problems. Because this guy is rude, irritable, kinda loud, and just plain unpleasant. In other words, Montag is a real bummer. This old codger, who is clearly in a bad mood, spends the first 10 minutes of the movie explaining to everyone why his magic doesn't suck. None of that "saw a woman in half" stuff... Well, actually, that's exactly what's gonna happen. Except it's gonna be authentic, and gory as all hell. And basically, it's just gonna be real, except this chick just gets up and walks off unharmed. So, that's basically why Montag's magic doesn't suck. Montag, as a person, on the other hand does suck. because the "magic", or whatever takes hold later on in the evening, and said chick literally falls apart, in all her gory glory. No cgi here, gang. Just excessive, fake-looking gore, complemented by awkward, inept acting along with the usual stupid dialogue. It was beautiful, I tell you.And might I add, the old, grainy VHS that I had originally seen this on was much more suitable for a movie such as this. The cleaned up pristine look of the screen totally ruins it, in my opinion. However, owning a movie you love on DVD is kind of necessary, considering all the cool little extras involved. The commentary being a good example of that. In the audio commentary, Herschell makes mention of his disdain for this film, which is funny considering he's the guy who made How To make A Doll and Blast-off Girls. And now this should be the part where I warn you of the evils of the remake, from a couple years ago. I could present my own separate rant, dedicated to my hatred for this film. Instead, I'm just gonna let you know that I only made it about a half an hour through, and let you make up your own mind. what a shame that Herschell's next film, The Gore Gore Girls would turn out to be his last for 3 decades. Herschell's long-awaited next project, Blood Feast 2 would end up 10, or hell, even 11 times gorier than anything he'd done before. As if things couldn't get any better, I would imagine a DVD release for Herschell's next film is right around the corner. So, if you happen to dig lewis, you may want to keep an eye out for The Uh-Oh Show!, starring Lloyd Kaufman, and the legendary Joel D. Wynkoop. But first things first. If you've seen Blood Feast and/or Two Thousand Maniacs, and you got the Lewis fever, The Wizard would be the next logical step. Passionately recommended to Gorehounds, young and old. 10/10

Herschell Gordon Lewis' blood and guts opus concerns a master magician whose stage acts really feature the violent deaths of his assistants from the audience. Montag the Magnificent(Ray Sager, in a campy performance)uses hypnotism to blanket his audience's perception of what is really going on while performing his acts on stage. What the audience sees is different from what Montag actually does to those who are, in actuality, unwilling participants, put under his spell, destroyed in gruesome fashion. Whether it be a chainsaw act that splits a girl in half, a punch press which burrows a hole into the stomach of another victim, a spike to the skull through the left ear lobe, or sword swallowing resulting in tongues and teeth removed, Montag is able to trick his paying customers into believing it's all an act, even after those harmed walk off the stage seemingly okay, later discovered to be anything but. Sports columnist Jack(Wayne Ratay)and television personality Sherry(Judy Cler)feel like there's more to Montag's acts that meets the eye. Those "marked for death" have a sign of blood on their hands, perhaps an ominous warning of what could possibly come for them in the future.While I don't necessarily consider HGL's THE WIZARD OF GORE to be a good movie in the least, I do believe it's essential viewing for gore aficionados(the punch press and chainsaw murder scenes are epic in regards to bloody carnage). You get plenty of Montag fondling guts, organs, and innards as his victims squirm and scream while being disemboweled and torn apart. The spike to the skull is probably the worst gore sequence of the lot because of the editing miscues and fake mannequin head(which isn't very convincing). If anything, it's good for some laughs. The pacing to me was a major turn-off, particularly as Montag went on and on, setting up his murder acts by talking endlessly on his "art of illusion". The finale is rather funny where Montag attempts to hypnotize all the viewers of Sherry's television show with Jack coming to his fiancé's rescue. Sager fits the mold perfectly established in the grand tradition of HGL's gore classicks, a deranged, bug-eyed crazy lunatic who delights in torturing and maiming his victims. THE WIZARD OF GORE will be most suitable for HGL's devoted followers, who are tolerant of the lingering camera shots of damaged bodies and the non-actors often cast in only films directed by the celebrated independent shock schlock exploitation extraordinaire.

This movie was also released under the title, "The Mad Magician".The plot is that a cheesy magician named "Montag" performs tricks that seem to mutilate female volunteers who then mysteriously die of the very same injuries they suffered on stage. Then for no apparent reason, he steals the bodies and takes them to a mausoleum in the same cemetery...A group of reporters and cops attempt to solve the apparent mystery. Or maybe it's all a dream... In all probability, it is an opportunity to put gross special effects on the screen when the Hayes board went away and the MPAA was still trying to figure itself out.Of course, the special effects are so poor that they are laughable.