The Wizard of Gore

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Something Weird

Siren Entertainment

R4 DVD Australia

Herschell Gordon Lewis was the first director to realize the potential of horror and gore. Working in cinema way before the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, he produced a range of highly eccentric splatter and gore movies during the sixties and early seventies. His most famous films were "Blood Feast I and II", while his more extreme was The Gore Gore Girls, still banned in Australia. These films never reached a wide audience being primarily aimed at the shock cinema of the drive-in market of the US, but slowly developed a cult following.

The Wizard Of Gore made in 1968 is one of Lewis’ more eccentric films, he has tried to explore some different territory and indeed even get a bit philosophical (!) about the relationship between reality and illusion. It has a very surrealistic feel and is far more experimental than his other more linear gore spectaculars.

The film focuses upon Montag The Magnificent, a second rate stage magician who specialises in what seem to be especially violent illusions, somewhat akin to the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol of France. Montag’s stage act is based on manipulating how the audience sees reality by undertaking acts of great brutality and then returning the women to what seems to be a normal state. These acts are shown in all their graphic glory and range from cutting someone in half to driving a sword down someone’s throat, they are accompanied with much blood and guts and Lewis excels in making them are repugnant as possible. Even in 2005 they have the ability to shock.

It is after the show that things get weird; it seems that when the spell is broken what was shown in illusion becomes reality and the volunteers all die in the same way they were killed in the show. So the film develops into a gore spectacular with a detective sub plot and strange meandering discussions of reality and illusion.

There are lots of strange and unexplained elements to this schlock horror - why does Montag steal the bodies and put them in his morgue and what is the meaning of the extremely weird last ten minutes of the film?

The Wizard of Gore is a strange film indeed and while the acting is extremely wooden, the special effects are obvious and the storyline is surreal to say the least, there is still something fascinating about the experience. It is certainly entertainment and regardless of the obvious nature of the gore it will still entertain and shock in equal doses.

The DVD is completely uncut and the picture and sound quality is impressive. It also includes a trailer, a schlock film poster gallery and a commentary by Lewis himself.