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List Price: $14.95 | | Label: Genius Products (TVN)
Salesrank: 16948
Released: August 19, 2008 |
| Our Price: $2.99 |
| Used Price: $3.89 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Magic, madness and mayhem join in this diabolical remake of the 1970 horror cult classic. Crispin Glover (Willard) stars as a master illusionist whose female audience participants (The Suicide Girls) are hideously murdered onstage, only to miraculously reappear untouched. But when a smart reporter (Kip Pardue, Remember the Titans) finds they re later turning up dead with the same wounds as those inflicted during the performance, his investigation leads to unimaginable terror. Featuring Bijou Phillips (Hostel: Part II) and Brad Dourif (Rob Zombie s Halloween), Wizard of Gore takes you on a terrifying journey deep into the heart of evil.
Description of The Wizard of Gore:
Remade as a tribute to the original Wizard of Gore, directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis of Blood Feast and The Gore Gore Girls fame, this "post punk" version of Wizard of Gore is actually better as a concept than as a filmic success. Director Jeremy Kasten’s hopes and visions for the movie, revealed during ample making-of and interview footage, eclipse what unfolds on screen, which is a convoluted bloodbath somehow held together by Crispin Glover’s bizarre portrayal of Montag the Magnificent, the alleged perpetrator of violence. Plot-wise, Edmund Bigelow (Kip Pardue) drags his girlfriend, Maggie (Bijou Phillips) along to underground magic shows where Montag hypnotizes the audience into believing they are witnessing the dismemberment of his victims. Opening the first performance with maggot eating, the beheading of a rat, and Montag’s swallowing of a neon lightbulb which explodes in his stomach, one senses ample gore to come. Kasten does manage to make the goriest scenes the sexiest, mainly because he cast the tattooed strip-tease troupe, the Suicide Girls, to take Montag’s heat. Montag’s first victim, Cayenne (Cricket Suicide) is sliced like a holiday ham while others like Cecelia (Amina Munster) utilize prosthetic legs and more to beef up the already carnivalesque element throughout the film. But Wizard of Gore gets confusing as Edmund develops an obsession for discovering Montag’s magic, only to face his ultimate horror. As the entire film takes place in dark alleys, dingy nightclubs, and in secluded rooms owned by perverts and criminals, the tone is so secretive that it is hard for the viewer to figure out who is actually dying, and who is doing the killing. Though the idea of aesthetically updating Lewis’s version to reflect the Los Angeles post-punk scene sounds potentially interesting, this version unfortunately has nothing on the original, which at least retains shock value when reminding oneself that it came out in 1970. Indeed, the best aspects of this Wizard of Gore DVD are the extras elucidating how the blood was made, how it was shed, and how the victims felt about getting slaughtered on set. The short documentary, "From Volunteer To Victim," for example, splices interviews with Kasten between clips of the Suicide Girls being cast in roles then braving the weaponry, which is great entertainment in itself. --Trinie Dalton
The Wizard of Gore Reviews:
Disappointing 
2009-10-17 - I was excited to see Crispin Glover in a remake of the HGL classic The Wizard of Gore. Unfortunately, this movie bored the heck out of me and was not the least bit interesting. Take a pass on this one.
Looking good 
2009-08-20 - I was at the premier of this film at the LAFF. Video here: [...]
Premier party and interviews after the trailer. This film rocks. Watch it.
Not Much of an Homage 
2009-07-28 - The updated Wizard of Gore has the look of an episode of Tales from the Darkside or one of those movies that I used to watch on cinemax at midnight on a Sunday night in the late 80's because I wanted to somehow prolong the weekend. Rather than pay homage to H.G. Lewis, this film sets a dark mood, with low lighting and looming shadows, and attempts to put the plot first, over the gore. The gore is actually very well done, but is not nearly as prevalent or gratuitous as portrayed in Lewis's films. While the acting is much, much better than anything in a Lewis film, lead actor Kip Pardue gets way too much screen time, while Crispin Glover is somewhat wasted. Glover comes off suitably demented as Montag, but the bulk of his performance is on stage performing his act. I would have liked to have more verbal interaction with other characters. Ultimately, I became bored with the various plot twists and especially Pardue's character. This isn't a horrible film, and seems fairly ambitious in gore fx and casting (Brad Dourif & Jeffrey Combs both perform admirably as usual) given the obvious budget limitations. The problem is linking it with H.G. Lewis. This Wizard of Gore looks nothing to me like anything Lewis would ever come up with, which makes it fairly misleading as far as I'm concerned. It's too bad, because there are some things to appreciate here, just not enough for me to recommend.
Glover of Gore 
2009-04-10 - Mr. Glover made it so! I really liked this one, especially cause I thought I'd hate it. The original film was cheesy and awesome and fun in its own right. But these old films have something of an advantage over the remakes. Time. In my humble opinion, remakes usually suck. Especially with the crutch of technology. Somehow this one worked for me - not crazy about the all the cgi in the more recent movies, but Mr. Glover brought it home! Good for the collection.
cult craplick
2009-03-05 - if your a big suicide girls fan you might like this movie but I say might cause they are only in it for such a short stead the "magic" that is performed is was kinda interesting but at best I'd say rent this or rip it cause it is really weakly acted and I don't know I just get the feeling with the video/"film" quality it should have been way better like the director spent his royalties on blow and hookers while he "directed" the film... and I'm sorry be crispin glover just couldn't carry this film alone
