Admirable film.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

Never saw the original 1970 version and not sure if I want to after viewing this one. I am sure it is vastly different in terms of plot, but from what I have read about that one its performances are less than stellar. Here we have some fairly good names as Crispin Glover plays the strange magician Montag and we also have Jeffrey Combs and Brad Douriff. Actors known for their horror roles and they could not even save this one so I really do not want to see a version with less talent. It was not entirely bad, had a couple of good kills and some nice nudity. I was also wondering where the story was going. Unfortunately, it did not end up in a good place for me and so I must say I found for a lot of this movie I was just getting a headache from the way things kept flashing here and there. The story follows a man who sort of owns an underground newspaper or something. I am guessing he is looking for a story as he and his girlfriend are at this strange goth like carnival. Well they end up going to a show titled the Wizard of Gore featuring the magician Montag. The show features this man talking to his audience and disrobing usually a female and then dispatching her in a gruesome way and when the audience starts to flee the lights go out and come on and the girl is apparently fine. She does, however, turn up dead later. So we follow this guy as he goes to each of Montag's shows looking for a story or perhaps more. I will give it credit for trying to do some different things as from what I read about the original it really does not follow that movie's path, but in the end it tries to be to clever and fails a bit.

With a title like this, it was a little difficult to ramp down expectations in terms of the levels of sickness that would be on offer and, thankfully, this did not disappoint.The plot: A magician with a cult following takes female volunteers from the audience and then appears to execute them in one grisly fashion or another live on stage before, miraculously, at the end of the trick they re-appear, totally unharmed. Unharmed, that is, until a short while later, when they are found butchered in the manner proscribed on stage.We follow the investigation of a journalist on the case. But could it be the very journalist himself who is culpable for the slaughter? Crispen Glover plays the magician with obvious glee and, for low budget horror, the acting throughout is more than acceptable, as is the script writing.Clearly, the main point of interest here are the special effects, and they are good enough, a nice mix of spraying blood and melting faces, and there's certainly enough gristle on show to keep most Grandma's happy.A remake of a cult classic I am yet to see, this is one I would recommend to any horror-crazed lunatic out there.

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.