I return now with a little something from the old school. I'm talking about Herschell Gordon Lewis, granddaddy gorehound himself. I've seen a few flicks this last month, nothing that I've even had the energy to muster up a review for. Mama(2013) was one, and while it was a decently put together little film I'm a little tired of PG-13 horror crapfests. Not to say all PG-13 horror is bad, but you know what I mean. I was highly considering putting up a review for the Evil Dead 2 Blu-Ray, because it looked so damn amazing on Blu Ray, but those who know me know that I can't write a non-biased review about Evil Dead anything. Oh, Django Unchained was pretty good too, though not really a film I would focus on for this blog.
Anyway, back to HGL. I've seen quite a few HGL flicks over the years, thanks mostly to Something Weird Video, a company focusing on early exploitation flicks who have released a ton of HGL stuff. The Wizard of Gore is one of the more interesting ones in my opinion. There is a 2007 remake featuring Crispin Glover which I have not seen, and also there was apparently a clip of this shown in the movie Juno, that teenage pregnancy comedy that made a bunch of money a few years back. At the end of the day, HGL will always be most remembered for inventing the whole splatter genre to begin with, as well as making a ton of exploitation/sexploitation flicks that really helped pave the way for a lot of more modern day gore flicks.
The Wizard Of Gore focuses on a magician named Montag, who performs magic tricks on stage with female "volunteers" that are just unbelievable for the audience. First, he saws a woman in half using an electric chainsaw, with no cover on her. The woman walks away unscathed, but later that evening is found dead in a restaurant from the same type of injury that would have been inflicted on her during the magic show. In the audience that evening are young Sherry and Jack, whom loved the show. Sherry was so impressed that she wants to have Montag appear on her TV show. She hunts him down only to be told that he does not grant interviews, but he would reconsider her offer if she comes to his next show. Sherry agrees, much to the disgust of her fiance who has no interest in sitting through another Montag show. However, when his next female volunteer winds up dead later that evening with a spike through her head and Jack makes the connection, they get thrown into this murder mystery with an ending that is so totally bizarre it will have you questioning whether you're living in a dream or reality.
Anyway, back to HGL. I've seen quite a few HGL flicks over the years, thanks mostly to Something Weird Video, a company focusing on early exploitation flicks who have released a ton of HGL stuff. The Wizard of Gore is one of the more interesting ones in my opinion. There is a 2007 remake featuring Crispin Glover which I have not seen, and also there was apparently a clip of this shown in the movie Juno, that teenage pregnancy comedy that made a bunch of money a few years back. At the end of the day, HGL will always be most remembered for inventing the whole splatter genre to begin with, as well as making a ton of exploitation/sexploitation flicks that really helped pave the way for a lot of more modern day gore flicks.
The Wizard Of Gore focuses on a magician named Montag, who performs magic tricks on stage with female "volunteers" that are just unbelievable for the audience. First, he saws a woman in half using an electric chainsaw, with no cover on her. The woman walks away unscathed, but later that evening is found dead in a restaurant from the same type of injury that would have been inflicted on her during the magic show. In the audience that evening are young Sherry and Jack, whom loved the show. Sherry was so impressed that she wants to have Montag appear on her TV show. She hunts him down only to be told that he does not grant interviews, but he would reconsider her offer if she comes to his next show. Sherry agrees, much to the disgust of her fiance who has no interest in sitting through another Montag show. However, when his next female volunteer winds up dead later that evening with a spike through her head and Jack makes the connection, they get thrown into this murder mystery with an ending that is so totally bizarre it will have you questioning whether you're living in a dream or reality.
The gore is typical HGL style. Lots and lots of blood, whose special effects I would consider impressive even by todays standards. I've seen B-movies of modern day with shittier gore effects than these for sure. Filmmakers, take note of how its done. The gore is most certainly the central point here. While the plot is interesting and fresh, you can't take away this films low budget quirks. Some of the acting and the close ups of Montags hypnotic eyebrows were really funny. But it's all part of the charm. If you're a fan of exploitation you probably won't be bothered too much by the low budget nature of The Wizard Of Gore. Though the great grind houses of past are a little before my time, I can only imagine that this is exactly the type of film you'd be seeing if you went to one back in the day. Overall, this movie was a bunch of fun. Between the mountains of gore and the overall quirkiness of the actors, plus a weird twist ending, I had a great time with this film. Check it out, especially if you are unfamiliar with HGL and want to start getting into some of his films.