The Wizard of Gore (1970)

The Wizard of Gore: Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis. With Ray Sager, Judy Cler, Wayne Ratay, Phil Laurenson. A TV talk-show hostess and her boyfriend investigate a shady magician who has the ability to hypnotize and control the thoughts of people in order to stage gory on-stage illusions using his powers of mind bending.

“u0026#39;The Wizard Of Goreu0026#39; is one of H.G.Lewisu0026#39; goriest movies but it is also one of his dullest. More explicit than any of the u0026quot;blood trilogyu0026quot; which his reputation rests on, but without a tenth of the entertainment value. In fact Iu0026#39;d say itu0026#39;s even worse than his non-gore turkey u0026#39;She-Devils On Wheelsu0026#39;. At least that one had one or two laughs. Ray Sager plays Montag The Magnificent and could be Lewisu0026#39; most wooden leading man (which is saying a lot!). He plays a magician who causes a sensation by dismembering female volunteers on stage then apparently making them whole again and none the worse for it. However afterwards the girls turn up dead, injured as they were in his u0026quot;illusionsu0026quot;. An ambitious TV talk show host (Judy Cler) and her sceptical sportswriting boyfriend (Wayne Ratay) try and solve the mysterious deaths and determine just what, if anything, Montag has to do with it. Some people seem to inexplicably rate this snoozefest very highly, but if it was the first H.G.Lewis movie Iu0026#39;d ever seen it would probably be my last. The acting is terrible as expected, and the gore is ridiculously unconvincing, but this time round the plot drags, and I found the whole thing terribly unamusing. For Lewis beginners Iu0026#39;d recommend you avoid this one and go straight to his hillbilly horror u0026#39;Two Thousand Maniacs!u0026#39;. It may not be as in-your-face as u0026#39;The Wizard Of Goreu0026#39; but it is a lot more fun.”