* Just to get this out of the way: Just because I give this a low score does NOT mean it isn't an enjoyable movie. It simply means it's inferior to other movies.
1970s horror cinema seemed to be in conflict with itself. It's obvious that a lot of horror directors of the time wanted to make serious, mature, realistic, truly terrifying pieces Straw Dogs, Alien, The Exorcist. It's also obvious that a lot of horror directors of the time wanted to make immature, cheesy, ridicules piecesSuspiria, The Omen, The Wizard of Gore. It's almost impossible to believe the two polar opposites could come out of the same decade. But I guess every generation has filmmakers who grow up and those that don't. With all of that said, The Wizard of Gore is the only movie in the latter group that I can actually find pretty cool. It's no masterpiece. I'm not even sure it's even worth a watch, but if you do watch it, it's not that bad.
The plot is very creative for a 70s movie, and that threw me off guard. I was planning on typing this section of the review ranting about how unoriginal the movie was, but I can't do that, for which I'm grateful. The first 20 minutes are an absolute blast. However, sadly, after that point the plot takes a predictable average-man-turned-detective turn strait into a pit of boredom. The scenes that were initially pretty cool just turned repetitious and even a little annoying as they replayed over and over again throughout the movie. By the end of the movie, you'll easily start to see that you've just watched a predictable episode of The Twilight Zone, complete with cheesy reversal-of-expectations ending. The acting is laughable, as you probably expected. It's really saddening how such a great premise received such terrible execution.
Speaking of executionshow was the gore? Well, first and foremost, the gore effects are some of the worst I've ever personally seen in a 70s movie. People are replaced by obvious mannequins. The blood looks more like ultra-red clown paint than realistic plasma. Guts are represented by what appears to be red and black wads of paper and look about as much like real organs as jelly doughnuts do. The actually amount and intensity of the gore isn't even that special. This is an exploitation film, so, obviously there is going to be a decent amount, but it's nothing compared to today's standards whatsoever. The pretentious losers who call this the goriest movie of all time, or even one of them, really need to watch popular movies. Just because a movie is obscure like this one does not mean it's gory. Just because a movie is popular doesn't mean it's made by weak pansies. In this case, that generalization I just made proves true.
But regardless of all that, this is still a decently fun movie. It isn't going to make you throw up, but it will make you laugh, and there's nothing wrong with that. If you're a hardcore horror fan that must see any and all horror films, this isn't going to be the worst you see. If you're just a casual viewer, there is no reason for you to even waste your time here. Go watch a Takashi Miike movielike Gozuand you'll get the same experience, but with a much better story and much better production value. If you want over-the-top gore in similar style, check out Brain Dead. There is just no reason to watch this movie unless you absolutely are forcing yourself to do so.
Overall, The Wizard of Gore is fun, but not fun enough. It's gory, but not gory enough. The story is creative, but quickly falls into clichés. I give it credit for trying, and I'm glad I viewed it, but it's no classic. Then again, neither are most of the movies that are labeled such.
1/10
1970s horror cinema seemed to be in conflict with itself. It's obvious that a lot of horror directors of the time wanted to make serious, mature, realistic, truly terrifying pieces Straw Dogs, Alien, The Exorcist. It's also obvious that a lot of horror directors of the time wanted to make immature, cheesy, ridicules piecesSuspiria, The Omen, The Wizard of Gore. It's almost impossible to believe the two polar opposites could come out of the same decade. But I guess every generation has filmmakers who grow up and those that don't. With all of that said, The Wizard of Gore is the only movie in the latter group that I can actually find pretty cool. It's no masterpiece. I'm not even sure it's even worth a watch, but if you do watch it, it's not that bad.
The plot is very creative for a 70s movie, and that threw me off guard. I was planning on typing this section of the review ranting about how unoriginal the movie was, but I can't do that, for which I'm grateful. The first 20 minutes are an absolute blast. However, sadly, after that point the plot takes a predictable average-man-turned-detective turn strait into a pit of boredom. The scenes that were initially pretty cool just turned repetitious and even a little annoying as they replayed over and over again throughout the movie. By the end of the movie, you'll easily start to see that you've just watched a predictable episode of The Twilight Zone, complete with cheesy reversal-of-expectations ending. The acting is laughable, as you probably expected. It's really saddening how such a great premise received such terrible execution.
Speaking of executionshow was the gore? Well, first and foremost, the gore effects are some of the worst I've ever personally seen in a 70s movie. People are replaced by obvious mannequins. The blood looks more like ultra-red clown paint than realistic plasma. Guts are represented by what appears to be red and black wads of paper and look about as much like real organs as jelly doughnuts do. The actually amount and intensity of the gore isn't even that special. This is an exploitation film, so, obviously there is going to be a decent amount, but it's nothing compared to today's standards whatsoever. The pretentious losers who call this the goriest movie of all time, or even one of them, really need to watch popular movies. Just because a movie is obscure like this one does not mean it's gory. Just because a movie is popular doesn't mean it's made by weak pansies. In this case, that generalization I just made proves true.
But regardless of all that, this is still a decently fun movie. It isn't going to make you throw up, but it will make you laugh, and there's nothing wrong with that. If you're a hardcore horror fan that must see any and all horror films, this isn't going to be the worst you see. If you're just a casual viewer, there is no reason for you to even waste your time here. Go watch a Takashi Miike movielike Gozuand you'll get the same experience, but with a much better story and much better production value. If you want over-the-top gore in similar style, check out Brain Dead. There is just no reason to watch this movie unless you absolutely are forcing yourself to do so.
Overall, The Wizard of Gore is fun, but not fun enough. It's gory, but not gory enough. The story is creative, but quickly falls into clichés. I give it credit for trying, and I'm glad I viewed it, but it's no classic. Then again, neither are most of the movies that are labeled such.
1/10