The Wizard of Gore (1970)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

I love this movie so much

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Well, I just got through my first experience of film-maker Herschell Gordon Lewis; "The Wizard of Gore". The pioneer of gore. Quite a pleasant surprise. Still there are obvious flaws (wooden acting led by Judy Cler and drawn-out pacing could have seen certain sequences trimmed), but I was simply engaged by this seedy, crackpot, low-budget exploitation. There's a certain charm to the Grand Guignol shocks. Primitive style, but it's creatively staged and fairly unpredictable despite its outrageous, low-rent execution. Some moments had me snickering, especially that of the character's reactions to what's occurring and eye-boggling plot developments.Ray Sager's oddball turn as the subtly menacing small-time magician Montag the Magnificent is a delight. While his unconventional handy-work is a neat mix of raw blood and guts drenched with its strange sense of surrealism. Intentional or not with its strange turn of events(?)... It interestingly does blur the line, between reality and fantasy. The haphazard editing that pieces the scenes together, almost makes it feel like you're part of the illusion.

You know, if there ever was such a school as The College of Inept Film-Making, then I'd definitely say that the likes of Herschell Lewis (a real bargain-basement director) would certainly be its star pupil.With the exception of but a few priceless moments of unintentional hilarity, The Wizard of Gore was nothing but pure, cinematic ineptitude on all counts.From its laughably cheap gore, to a cast full of incompetent actors, to its completely throw-away story-line - This bottom-of-the-barrel horror movie (from 1970) was a real test of my patience.Like, Hello?... Was I really supposed to take this sh*t that director Lewis was dishing out to me seriously? Was I!?... 'Cause, believe me, with The Wizard of Gore, Lewis came across to me as being such a total buffoon-of-a-director that he made the likes of that bungling film-maker, Ed Wood, appear to be an absolute genius by comparison.

Magician Montag the Magnificent (Ray Sager) performs illusions of murder in front of audiences. In his show he cuts a woman in half with a chainsaw--but she's perfectly OK minutes later. However, soon after leaving the show, she drops dead cut in half. Another woman gets a spike driven into her head...but is OK. Still, after leaving the show, she dies when her head opens. TV host Sherry (Judy Cler) and newspaperman boyfriend Jack (Wayne Ratay) knows something is going on...but what? What a lousy picture! There's not one thing done right. For starters the plot makes little sense and REALLY derails at the end of the picture. The dialogue is ludicrous (the speeches Montag gives before his illusions are unbelievable), the gore is so laughably fake it's impossible to take seriously and the direction is (at best) uninspired. It also has a music score that appears and disappears with no rhyme or reason. Some people love this because it was done by Herschell Gordon Lewis (who did other "masterpieces" like "Blood Feast" and "2000 Maniacs"). He's been crowned the Godfather of Gore (he was making gore movies WAY before anyone else) but it doesn't mean his movies are any good! Boring, sick and makes no sense (especially at the end). Avoid.

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.