NateWatchesCoolMovies The Wizard Of Gore is an inspired little oddball of a flick, based on an obscure oldie that I've never seen, but the absurdity of Crispin Glover as a psychotically evil pseudo Vegas showman is worth the price of admission alone. I've not a clue what the original film's plot is, but here we find Kip Pardue as some private detective, trying to make heads or tails out of Montag The Magnificent (Glover), who uses a combination of dark magic and dodgy airborne pharmaceuticals to trick his audiences into thinking he's dismembered assistants body's onstage, for real. Tricks of the trade, right? Sure, only problem is there's girls turning up dead for real, and the trail leads right back to this spindly, well dressed agent of evil in magician's clothing. I thought it was pretty cool, especially the slick production design and actual effort put into a plot with more tricks up it's sleeve than Criss Angel. Not too mention some jarring gore, which of course the title more than suggests. Brad Dourif, who you may have guessed by now is a favourite of mine, appears as an Asian man named Dr. Chong, with creepy ties to whatever magic is being used in the murders. That's right. Brad Dourif. As an oriental man. I laughed hard, especially since nothing about his appearance or costume is remotely of the orient. Throw in appearances from various cutie pie pinup girls from the Suicide Girls troupe, and you've got something memorable indeed. Check er' out.

jadavix I've heard this remake of HGL's "Wizard of Gore" described as "a disgrace to the original", which is a bit harsh. The original sucked, too.This does preserve some aspects of the first one: a dream like atmosphere so overwhelming it becomes irritating, and, yes, gore.The plot is something about a boring stiff who takes his sexy girlfriend to a weird geek show where a magician gets people up on stage, gets them to strip, and then kills them while rambling garbage. Afterwards it appears that the people weren't really harmed, but then they turn up dead anyway.The original didn't use this moronic plot well, and neither does the remake. It's not scary. It's not interesting. It's not creepy. It's just a lazy excuse to show some gore. Surely they could have come up with a better way to do it. Something that actually worked. I mean, the people who are gutted by the magician weren't really harmed, and then later they show up dead anyway? I assume the filmmakers are trying to make us think "perhaps the magician is really killing the people he brings on stage", but this is obviously not true, because we see them survive. So what's the deal?The "Wizard of Gore" remake does have one other thing in common with the original: it also feels about an hour too long. Crispin Glover, Brad Dourif and Jeffrey Combs couldn't save it. Nor could a few Suicide Girls, who do what nude models are good at: get naked and keep still. The direction is so intrusive and irritating it's hardly watchable, and when you do watch, you get nothing out of it.

Mr_Censored Kip Pardue, Bijou Phillips, Crispin Glover, Brad Dourif and The Suicide Girls (!) star in the 2007 remake of "The Wizard Of Gore" as directed by Jeremy Kasten. While the box-art seems enticing – an intense Glover beckons you to join him amidst scantily clad females – the movie itself is rather flat and self-indulgent. Glover plays Motag The Magnificent, a bizarre magician who is fond of dismembering and torturing his volunteers to horrified audiences on a nightly basis. It's all fun and games in the crowd's eye, as each would-be victim emerges unharmed. However, when a young reporter by the name of Edmund Bigelow (Pardue) catches onto some crazy coincidences – namely, the participants turning up dead the next day in a fashion similar to their staged fate – the line between his reality and Montag's stage-show is blurred. Is Bigelow somehow responsible for their fates? Is Montag playing a game with him that he doesn't know about? Or is it all just a side-effect of some mind-expanding drugs?Kasten (whose previous credits are as thin as the movie's plot itself) tries to juice up a weak story with a bit of visual flare, but unfortunately wacky camera angles and color filters can't hide the lack of substance. The film is almost redeemed by its strong cast, though. Brad Dourif plays a creep well, and it serves his role appropriately. Following up "Hostel II," Bijou Phillips turns in one of her more likable roles, but it is Glover who truly steals the show. With his hilariously over-sized codpiece and Conan O'Brien-from-Hell hairstyle, it's hard to imagine he didn't know he was involved in a train-wreck, but he makes the best of things, hamming it up and his scenes are the best the film gets. Genre fans will appreciate some of the creative death scenes, although, the way they are presented (with some truly obvious and offensive CGI) kills any effectiveness whatsoever. The biggest problem, though, is the air of self-importance this film carries, especially considering how weak the story is. The bad attempt at mind-games – especially in the final act – kills any sense of enjoyment and strips the movie of at least earning the label of "enjoyable B-movie." Too pretentious for its own good and too nonsensical for what it attempts, "The Wizard Of Gore" is a messy failure, at best.At one point – somewhere in the final act – my wife turned to me and asked me if I "get this movie." The answer was "I think so," but the real question should have been "Are you enjoying it?" to which I would have answered a solid "no." "The Wizard Of Gore" doesn't have much to offer. It may confuse you into thinking it is actually a smart movie, but nothing could be further from the truth. The film is too amateurish to be convincing (think late-night HBO/Cinemax fare) and too pretentious to be enjoyed on the most basic level. I personally can't comment on how it compares to the original movie as I've never seen it, but that is irrelevant, since the movie – on its own merits – is one sorry piece of work.

brianskeet I just loved this film.It was an unexpected joy from beginning to end.Quirky, bizared, genuinely creepy and I would recommend it to everyone who enjoy the cinema of the perverse. And it doesn't come much quirkier than this.Kip Pardue and Crispin Glover are to "die for'! Funny, crazy, nightmarish and simply beautiful to look at.Very Argento is its use of colour.A min-masterpiece, maybe, but a masterpiece anyway.Jeremy Kasten is, probably, the U.S.'s greatest new Horror director's.The shades of colour leave the audience entranced and unnerved.It is a terrific film that I heartily recommend.