The Wizard of Gore (1970) User Reviews

You'll like this; not a lot, but you'll like it.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 31 May 2009]

A dreadfully repetitive script, coupled with an abysmal central performance from Ray Sager as the titular character (who delivers every last syllable of his many boring monologues in a drawn out manner guaranteed to irritate) make Herschell Gordon Lewis's The Wizard of Gore a real chore to sit through at times; however, several delightfully outrageous moments of cheesy Grand Guignol splatter and a jaw-droppingly daft ending thankfully prevent it from being a complete waste of time.

Curvacious Judy Cler plays Sherry Carson, a TV talk show host who becomes intrigued by mysterious, mesmeric magician Montag the Magnificent (Sager), who uses his hypnotic powers to lure female volunteers to take part in incredible illusions in which they appear to be mutilated and killed on stage, but are finally revealed to be very much still alive.

When these same volunteers are found murdered not long after the show is over, with wounds that match those inflicted by Montag during his act, Sherry's boyfriend, a sports reporter, becomes suspicious and alerts the authorities. But the police are unable to tie the grisly murders to the magician, and so Montag is free to continue his act, with his latest and deadliest performance to be broadcast live on Sherry's TV show...

Montag's messy on stage antics—sawing a woman in half with a chainsaw, removing a girls brains after hammering a spike into her head, using a punch press to squish a lady, forcing swords into throats, and gouging out eyeballs—just about compensate for the terrible acting, poor editing, and a script that leaves so many unanswered questions that it even feels compelled to mention them all at the end. Unsurprisingly, Lewis is unable to deliver many satisfactory answers, and so opts instead for a WTF finalé that somehow transforms The Wizard of Gore from a gleeful slice of low-budget splatter into a totally whacked-out piece of existentialist horror cinema.

Now that's what I call a trick!

The Lewis Masterpiece

[Tromafreak · 6/10 · 20 November 2010]

When I was a kid, I couldn't get enough of the Horror genre. Renting Horror flicks, on the weekend, from everywhere from Blockbuster to the smaller places like Video Warehouse. It wouldn't take too long to plow right through every Friday The 13th, every Elm Street, and yes, every watered-down Halloween disappointment, among countless others. Eventually, it would come to my attention that there is a whole other universe, an alternate universe, if you will, of Horror. I had discovered the wonderful world of vintage B-Horror. You know, stuff like Basket Case, Messiah Of Evil, and Burial Ground. Needless to say, it didn't take long to discover the ground-breakingly cheesy flicks of good ol' H.G. Lewis. Known mostly for his earlier stuff like Blood Feast and Two Thousand Maniacs, Herschell Lewis would later go on to make a movie that really stood out for me. One of the goriest, and might I add one of the least well-thought-out Exploitation flicks of the 70's. This is The Wizard Of Gore.

I sure am glad I like gore, because magicians are kinda lame. And if nothing else, this 1970 gore-epic teaches us this. If you like 'em unrealistic and confusing, then I assure you, you will approve of this lame-brained story, which involves, you guessed it, a magician. Montag The Magnificent. Played by Ray Sager, a man 30 years younger than what the role calls for. No problem. Nothing a little white spray-paint and fake-looking, uneven white eyebrows can't fix. Ridiculous-looking eyebrows are the least of Montag's problems. Because this guy is rude, irritable, kinda loud, and just plain unpleasant. In other words, Montag is a real bummer. This old codger, who is clearly in a bad mood, spends the first 10 minutes of the movie explaining to everyone why his magic doesn't suck. None of that "saw a woman in half" stuff... Well, actually, that's exactly what's gonna happen. Except it's gonna be authentic, and gory as all hell. And basically, it's just gonna be real, except this chick just gets up and walks off unharmed. So, that's basically why Montag's magic doesn't suck. Montag, as a person, on the other hand does suck. because the "magic", or whatever takes hold later on in the evening, and said chick literally falls apart, in all her gory glory. No cgi here, gang. Just excessive, fake-looking gore, complemented by awkward, inept acting along with the usual stupid dialogue. It was beautiful, I tell you.

And might I add, the old, grainy VHS that I had originally seen this on was much more suitable for a movie such as this. The cleaned up pristine look of the screen totally ruins it, in my opinion. However, owning a movie you love on DVD is kind of necessary, considering all the cool little extras involved. The commentary being a good example of that. In the audio commentary, Herschell makes mention of his disdain for this film, which is funny considering he's the guy who made How To make A Doll and Blast-off Girls. And now this should be the part where I warn you of the evils of the remake, from a couple years ago. I could present my own separate rant, dedicated to my hatred for this film. Instead, I'm just gonna let you know that I only made it about a half an hour through, and let you make up your own mind. what a shame that Herschell's next film, The Gore Gore Girls would turn out to be his last for 3 decades. Herschell's long-awaited next project, Blood Feast 2 would end up 10, or hell, even 11 times gorier than anything he'd done before. As if things couldn't get any better, I would imagine a DVD release for Herschell's next film is right around the corner. So, if you happen to dig lewis, you may want to keep an eye out for The Uh-Oh Show!, starring Lloyd Kaufman, and the legendary Joel D. Wynkoop. But first things first. If you've seen Blood Feast and/or Two Thousand Maniacs, and you got the Lewis fever, The Wizard would be the next logical step. Passionately recommended to Gorehounds, young and old. 10/10

"Greg, our hands are bleeding! It's Montag, he's doing it!"

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 26 September 2016]

In a role for which the filmmakers were originally hoping to get Vincent Price, Ray Sager dominates the proceedings for "The Wizard of Gore". A stock company player for gore master Herschell Gordon Lewis, Sager was the last minute choice to play the title role. Montag the Magnificent is an illusionist who hypnotizes pretty female members of his audience into participating in elaborate gags. (Sword swallowing, being punch pressed, chain sawed in half, etc.) They seem to be fine after the performances, but hours later, they suffer horrible and fatal wounds. Inquiring journalist Jack (Wayne Ratay) and his TV host girlfriend Sherry (Judy Cler) decide to investigate the illusionist.

"The Wizard of Gore" has got to be one of HGLs' all time grisliest exercises in sadism. He really seems to take a perverse delight in having Montag run his hands through the pulpy innards of his volunteers. The gore is pretty tacky, but there's just so damn much of it that it's sure to amuse lovers of cinematic violence. As for the movie itself, there's not really that much going on, but at least HGL and his screenwriter, Allen Kahn, prevent this from being purely ordinary shenanigans by injecting a healthy dose of strangeness and surrealism. They definitely push the whole "what is reality and what is illusion" idea, which is brought home by the denouement.

The main drawing card is Sager, who exhibits a welcome theatricality. Judging by his work here, he could have easily had more leading roles, even if only in HGL movies. The rest of the acting is no more than passable, but it doesn't leave one rolling their eyes quite as much as the acting in some of HGLs' other works.

If one wants to see Lewis at his gory best, "Blood Feast" and "Two Thousand Maniacs!" are a safer bet. This one is dragged out much too long.

Six out of 10.

You will lose your mind, and possibly your lunch...

[jtk57 · 20 March 2001]

Some say the Wizard of Gore is one of HG Lewis' weaker flicks, but I must disagree. Blood Feast may have been more ground-breaking and unintentionally hilarious, but W.O.G. stands up fine against that movie and any of his other gore films. There is a certain cheesy charm to Lewis movies, no matter if they are skin flicks, gore flicks, or even kiddie flicks. In this movie, the wonderfully hammy Ray Sager plays the Wizard and his main occupation seems to be delivering quasi-fascistic prattle to audiences with mutton chop sideburns, interspersed with running his fingers through the tomato-sauce covered animal organs that erupt from his victims, all to the audience's delight. There is some weak storyline involving an independent woman reporter and her well-tanned boyfriend, who try to solve the mystery of the Wizard, the fools. However, this is pretty much just window dressing for the 5-6 gory scenes of the Wizard doing his thing. In particular, there is an eyeball poking and manipulating scene that would have done Lucio Fulci proud. And please don't forget the awesome furniture and late 60's bourgeois home furnishings and polyester pantsuits that make all of these late 60's films look like "Barbarella" by todays standards. If anything, you have to love the fact that there was actually a time in this country where you could make a movie like this and it would be distributed. Thinking about the time period when Lewis was doing his thing and the way he was doing it is enough to blow your mind even more than his movies. If you haven't checked them out, you are doing yourself a disservice!

So Bad It's Good...Um, Really?

[Ralphus2 · 2/10 · 8 May 2011]

This one is definitely in the "so bad it's good category" except, of course, for the fact that it's not at all good. Herschell Gordon Lewis is a cult figure in the world of horror and exploitation films. His 'Blood Feast' and 'Two Thousand Maniacs' are famous examples of his "craft". Both of those films, I have to say, are better than this one. At least Two Thousand Maniacs has that toe-tapping "And the South will Rise Again" opening song.

Wizard of Gore is of course a terrible TERRIBLE film. But it will raise more than a few smiles, which is why it fits nicely in the "so bad it's good" basket. But then again it's so deathly boring! Between each outrageously gory yet incredibly fake-looking murder scene are stretches of dialog and ham acting that beggar belief for sheer boredom. At least the Wizard himself (Montag the Magnificent, played by the illustrious Ray Sager) is entertaining for some of the WORST acting you've ever seen in your life. I wanted to slap him and scream 'spit your lines out man'. He lingers over every lame sentence; each and every word is delivered so painfully slowly and painfully badly. Seriously, your DAD could act better than this. And you've seen him try on those few rare embarrassing occasions after a few too many beers at a family barbecue. Well, that's how bad Ray Sager is here! The gore scenes are rightfully notorious. Well, if someone fingering entrails (the local butcher's finest) and grinning salaciously is what qualifies as gore. There's plenty of guts on display but it's hardly convincing. Actually, it probably couldn't be LESS convincing. Especially considering after each shot of the viscera being fondled we cut back to a full shot of the victim without a drop of blood on them, let alone guts hanging out. The sword swallowing scene is particularly badly done. The actresses almost seem to giggle at times. They know how ridiculous it all is.

Aside from Montag's on-stage gore fantasies, the highlights for me are: his Mesmer stare (with powdered eyebrows that don't match the ones he usually 'wears'), which supposedly represents him hypnotizing his audience or a hapless volunteer; the journalist with the crime scene photos who visibly glances at someone off camera several times, perhaps to read his lines; the way the victims suddenly fall down dead after the show in the most awkwardly edited ways...I could go on.

So, yes, it's a WOEFUL film, but it's so bad it's an entertaining watch. But, really, it's just awful AWFUL film-making in every department. Be prepared to fast-forward through all the dialog and everything in between Montag's eyebrow close-ups. The only thing Mr H. G. Lewis had in spades was gumption. And a big-a** pair of "cojones". I hope one day to see some of his nudist camp movies!!!

dull and ineptly executed

[Andy Sandfoss · 1/10 · 27 October 2007]

Anyone who knows my opinions knows exactly what I think of Herschell Lewis's films in general. I would have passed on writing any more reviews of them until I and a few friends spent (and I mean "spent" in the sense of "exhausted", "used up", "wasted") an evening watching "The Wizard of Gore". Naturally, I had seen it before, but my attention was always focused on the extremely inept (yet still revolting) gore effects. Then, one of my friends watching pointed out just how dull the bits in between the gore scene were. Quite true. Even the lead-ins to the supposed shock scenes crept along at a snail's pace, completely dissipating any tension there might have been. It is almost impossible for anyone to pay attention to this film because for most of the film, nothing happens. Then, when the gore scenes come, you haven't been engaged by the film in any way. You really just don't care about what happens next. The Lewis cult people should give it up. Lewis is incompetent as a director and his movies are not innovative - just dull, repulsive little cinematic abortions.

Not the worst thing Hershell Gordon Lewis ever made....though that certainly isn't saying much!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 21 November 2009]

Although I have read countless accolades for many of the gore films of Hershell Gordon Lewis, I found the "gore" in this film to be incredibly stupid. Sure, there was a lot of fake blood--but the gore?! It often consisted of obviously fake mannequin heads and cow guts that just looked nothing like people guts. Perhaps in 1970 people thought this was realistic, but today with improved technology and an increase in the level of gore in films, this and other gore films of Lewis just seem dumb (despite their receiving a plug in the recent film, JUNO). This isn't to say every one of his films was bad...just all but 2 or perhaps 3. 'Genius' is a word way too casually used for Hershell Gordon Lewis. I prefer to use words like 'schlock-meister' or 'wizard of crap'.

In this film, a stage magician specializes in gory tricks. He saws women in half or drives spikes in their heads--and yet they are just fine after the trick is complete. Oddly, hours later, they collapse--dead with injuries sustained from the tricks--as the injuries re-appear. The problem for me is that the guts are just stupid looking and the guy starring as the magician (Ray Sager) is a truly awful actor. Sager yells his lines and annunciates in a strange manner--and sports hair that looks like it was colored white using White-Out! This act comes to the attention of a local TV personality and her reporter boyfriend. She wants to book the magician on her show and later he wants to investigate him because all of his stage volunteers keep coming up dead hours later. It all culminates in a TV appearance where he tries to use his evil psychic powers on everyone in the studio AND at home! And, when it ends, the movie actually isn't quite complete.

There are lots of mistakes made due to the little-known fact that Lewis is a lemur--this would explain the sloppy direction. Here are a few examples: the woman who collapses dead at a restaurant is still clearly breathing, the newspaper that you see at the 43 minute mark looks nothing like a real paper (the font and style are all wrong) and you can see the different cut and pasted portions peeling off if you pay attention.

There is a tiny germ of a good story here but because the entire production is so sloppy and stupid, I can't recommend it to anyone except bad movie fans or those who actually believe that Lewis could direct. I could also see that many see this movie just as misogynistic as it's a film showing contempt for women as you see them hacked to pieces. But, considering how bad and stupid and poorly acted it all is, most who MIGHT be offended might just instead see the whole thing as a waste of time as opposed to something patently offensive.

HEADS off to see the wizard...the nauseating Wizard of Gore!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 20 April 2006]

Another sensationally over-the-top splatter party directed by everyone's favorite horror lunatic; THE Hershell Gordon Lewis! "The Wizard of Gore" might not be his 'best' film, but it's definitely a fun experience and actually one of Lewis' most ambitiously plotted films, since he toys with subjects like hypnotism and optical illusions. None of the magical tricks are properly explained, as Lewis' sneakily avoids that in the dumb finale, but at least he tried to do something extra and ingenious with this film. Ray Sager, some sort of crossover between Vincent Price and porn actor Harry Reems, plays Montag The Magnificent; a self-acclaimed illusionist genius who butchers girls from the audience live on stage but has them return to their seats again in one piece. A young reporter, who's always dragged along by his girlfriend to see Montag's shows, discovers that the girls turn up dead after all and their corpses are damaged exactly like they appeared to be on stage. It's rather curious how you never grow tired of the way Lewis displays the gore in his movies! The sequences here in which female bodies are disemboweled, impaled or even crushed with an industrial punch press are overlong, monotonous and completely implausible, yet you stare at the screen with a gigantic smile on your face. Of course, these are the only significant scenes in "The Wizard of Gore" as the rest of the film hangs together by lousy acting, embarrassing dialogues and a shortage of decors. By the year 1970 and after having unleashed a handful of similar horror movies already, Lewis still couldn't care less about building up tension or continuity and went straight for exploitative grossness. The least you can say is that his work is an acquired taste, but he shall be forever worshiped by drive-in fanatics and other sick puppies, like myself. Amen, Mr. Lewis

The Wizard Of Bore

[Karl Self · 4/10 · 2 November 2009]

This might have been an excellent short. And it works wonderfully as a fetish movie if seeing young women getting tied up and mutilated is your cup of tea. As a feature movie it's just dire.

Unusually for a horror movie, it features a young professional woman in one of the leading roles -- and she doesn't even get raped and mutilated in the first five minutes for being a harlot! She investigates a magician who performs gory tricks in his show, with the same girls he performed his tricks on later dieing accordingly. This repeats itself no less than four times (if I counted correctly), each scene lasting maybe ten minutes and being as linear as train tracks in a desert, until her boyfriend muses: "All those girls who went on stage in the show died in the same manner later in the evening. Maybe there's a connection?". His girlfriend is so impressed by his cleverness that she proceeds to fornicate him out of gratitude -- and rightly so. It was the most intelligent moment of the entire movie.

I'm not asking for too much, am I, here? I just want to be entertained. For that, I'm willing to forfeit good taste, intelligent plot, competent acting at the door. In the Wizard Of Gore, though, Herschell Gordon Lewis reveals himself as a gore fetishist. The premise of blurring reality and imagination may be interesting, but it's never developed into a story. Fail!

A really strange and disturbing masterpiece of hilarious nonsense

[dataclast · 7/10 · 1 February 2005]

Though this is one of my all time favorite movies, I would still have to give it 7 out of ten because it has too many flaws for me to rate it as a perfect film. For one, the plot does meander and great deal. Also, the characters for the most part are pointless and annoying. Still, this does not matter in the world of Herschell Gordon Lewis. This is easily one of the stupidest, most unbelievable, disturbing and hilarious movies that I have ever seen in my entire life. You'll find yourself laughing out loud as you vomit at the sight of people having swords shoved down their throats, being done in with punch presses, being chainsawed in half and every other disgusting thing you can possibly imagine. Only in the world of cinema can things this ridiculous happen. That's what I love about movies, they take you into a different world, and this movie does just that. Aside from the gore, what really makes this movie stand out is it's evil villain 'MONTAG THE MAGNIFICENT'. After watching this movie, my friend Jason and I decided to start worshipping him and revelling in his badassness. Also, what totally rules about this movie is just how terrible the acting is. Ray Sager is actually the worst actor of all time. It made me laugh the entire time I watched it, yet at the same time his presence has an unnatural creepiness to it. The ending has to be seen to be believed.

Truly a unique horror film that should be seen by fans of bad cinema or just anyone who wants to be totally grossed out and given nightmares.

(My personal rating is 10/10)

Simply awful

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 29 November 2013]

My third H. G. Lewis watch, following on from COLOR ME BLOOD RED and 2000 MANIACS. THE WIZARD OF GORE is easily the worst out of the three, a simply awful, interminable Z-grade movie that features non-existent plotting and a wearying running time. The "plot", although you can't really justify it as such, involves a sinister magician who carries out a series of gruesome illusion murders on women, only for them to die the same way the same night.

In reality this is just an excuse for a series of laboured gore effects in which graphic violence is meted out to distressed women. Thankfully the special effects are so poor that this isn't as sleazy or misogynistic as it sounds. Eyes are pulled from papier mache heads, hands are thrust through bright-red guts and swords are thrust down bleeding throats. In order to wring every drop of blood from the premise, Lewis disposes of continuity completely and repeats the same effects over and over, from different angles.

Aside from the gore, next to no effort has been made on the script and it really shows; between the effects shots, this is as deathly boring as they come. The actors have been evidently recruited from a local theatre troupe and there's no creativity present in any of the long-winded dialogue scenes. In its own way, THE WIZARD OF GORE is just as tiresome as the many Hollywood blockbusters which rely on CGI effects and CGI effects alone.

I am scared! A masterpiece!

[yediotm · 10/10 · 29 September 2003]

Hey People,

I can't believe this is what you had to write about this film. OK, the acting is bad - but it is also hilarious. The frames are not normal - but they have a very queer charm. The effects are very unreal, but this is part of the ideology. The crowd is not shot together with Montag. But really, why be picky. This is also part of the laugh (and this film is very funny). Ok, so Herschell, didn't have much money. So what?

Monatg had me panicking. No, this is not only about gore. This is about destroying the line between illusion-cinema-reality. About viewing and seeing. About the conscious and sub-conscious. We all take part in Montag's horrible show.

I watched the film with a few friends, and we all liked it a lot, but I guess I am the only one who really has nightmares ever since. I don't know why. This film touched some very deep point in my psyche probably, but I can't get over montag. Over the horror of the girl screaming her pain and the crowd not hearing cries.

Watch it (10 Points!)

Ido,

So-Bad-It's-Good Definitely Applies Here

[Scars_Remain · 7/10 · 7 March 2008]

This movie has been on my Netflix queue for quite a while so I can safely say that I've wanted to see it since before Juno was out. This is the fourth Herschell Gordon Lewis film I've seen so far and only the second I've liked, the other was Two Thousand Maniacs. This, much like Two Thousand Maniacs, is a good movie. Not because it actually has substance and is well thought out, but because it is a lot of fun to watch and has become a cult classic.

Let's be honest for a minute here, when Herschell Gordon Lewis was directing films, he had no idea what he was doing. As a friend of mine said "he is the Ed Wood of gore films." I have to agree completely. The editing is always choppy and horrible, the music is poorly placed, the acting seems to be straight out of a junior high play, and nothing seems believable. This brings me to the gore. If HGL only got one thing right in his career, it was gore. The gore in this film is awesome and cheesy. He may have made bad films, but they sure are entertaining.

Sorry for going off on so many tangents, I'll get back to this movie. The story follows a TV reporter and her boyfriend who attend a magician's show of blood and dismemberment. They become suspicious of several deaths being linked to the show. It's a simple story but it is a lot of fun. I really like the magician theme. The bad acting factor definitely applies in this movie. I often wonder where HGL found these people. But as always, the gore is magnificent(no pun intended) and almost saves the movie. I had a lot fun with it.

See this movie if you're a fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis and you won't find much of anything new but it is a very good time. Go! Now!

Extreme gore from horror's Godfather

[fertilecelluloid · 5/10 · 1 November 2006]

Herschell Gordon Lewis was his own genre, so it's pointless to compare any of his work to anybody else's. It's even pointless to measure his movies against prevailing or once-prevailing standards. "The Wizard of Gore", which is half stage play in the grand guignol tradition and half melodrama, is very gory and very protracted. The bloodshed is amped up to just below that of "The Gore Gore Girls" and it's wonderful to behold, even if it still looks unconvincing. A woman gets her stomach ripped out, a spike is driven into another woman's head, and a mad magician, played with over-the-top glee by Ray Sager, gets to run his fingers through lots of female guts. A precursor to "Bloodsucking Freaks" and certainly the goriest film ever made at the time (1970). As is usual for Lewis's films, the acting is hammy, the sound recording is poor, and the cinematography is merely adequate. Nevertheless, we horror fans owe a great, scarlet debt to the Godfather of Gore.

How quaint.

[lagriff05 · 28 October 2008]

While its strange, mystical sense of suspense aids it, this movie is pretty mediocre in all other aspects, and yet I still find myself enjoying it. It's got terrible acting, bad picture quality and shaky, flawed transitions between scenes (and even stranger ones when it tries to demonstrate the Wizard's "power"), but it's still enjoyable. I wouldn't call this a horror movie so much as a strange combination of fantasy and gore, but it fits my Halloween bill well enough. The Wizard of Gore doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then, like Phantasm, it isn't really supposed to.

There is a 2007 remake of this around, and I might just be inclined to check it out, to see what modern film-making could do for this little gem...

Stupid, boring and just bewildering

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 28 September 2013]

Magician Montag the Magnificent (Ray Sager) performs illusions of murder in front of audiences. In his show he cuts a woman in half with a chainsaw--but she's perfectly OK minutes later. However, soon after leaving the show, she drops dead cut in half. Another woman gets a spike driven into her head...but is OK. Still, after leaving the show, she dies when her head opens. TV host Sherry (Judy Cler) and newspaperman boyfriend Jack (Wayne Ratay) knows something is going on...but what?

What a lousy picture! There's not one thing done right. For starters the plot makes little sense and REALLY derails at the end of the picture. The dialogue is ludicrous (the speeches Montag gives before his illusions are unbelievable), the gore is so laughably fake it's impossible to take seriously and the direction is (at best) uninspired. It also has a music score that appears and disappears with no rhyme or reason. Some people love this because it was done by Herschell Gordon Lewis (who did other "masterpieces" like "Blood Feast" and "2000 Maniacs"). He's been crowned the Godfather of Gore (he was making gore movies WAY before anyone else) but it doesn't mean his movies are any good! Boring, sick and makes no sense (especially at the end). Avoid.

So-so splatter flick

[Steamcarrot · 3/10 · 23 November 2006]

So the basic premise is a stage illusionist gets girls on stage and basically mangles them, but hey presto there OK at the end. But then they die shortly afterwards with the same wounds that they got during the act. That's about it, oh and there's a 'twist' at the end. I cannot help but compare HGL with Ed Wood. The similarities are all too obvious for all to see. Question is are they trying to be badly made or are they just badly made? I've no idea but I get the feeling HGL knew what he was doing, and through that I feel cheated. It wouldn't have hurt to put a bit more effort in. The gore is there naturally (in fact the title probably refers to HGL rather than the illusionist), but most of it could be created in your own kitchen. There's a whole 'what is reality' thing going on which is never properly addressed, which it should have been if that was his point. I've seen an interview with HGL in which he came across very well, but I think it's more the case of him talking a good movie rather than delivering one. I love low budget movies but this one has no style and the narrative jars at every corner. Will I try another HGL movie? Yeah probably, I'm a sucker for pap and maybe one day I'll get it. A mildly diverting oddity.

The definitive "cheesy" horror film , featuring one of the most memorable goofs ever

[lemon_magic · 3/10 · 10 December 2005]

Unlike some members of IMDb, I don't reward craptastic movie making with high scores, even if the craptastic film in question turns out to be a masterpiece of pop kitsch. Which is the case here.

So Wizard of Gore only gets three stars, mostly for the stomach-churning stage sequences wherein the putative 'Wizard' disembowels, maims and punch-presses his victims to death in front of a live audience, only it's OK because it's all an 'illusion', only it's NOT really OK because the victims all die horribly soon after. It's a compelling concept - murdering women in full view of an audience and getting away with it because the REAL illusion is that they weren't harmed - but it's literally the only thing the movie has going for it.

Everything else about the movie is grade Z - from the stiffs who are trying to act to the 3rd grade metaphysics in the scripting to the technical sloppiness and low budget of the sets, costumes, and lighting.

In fact, this movie contains the single most memorable 'goof' I've ever seen in a movie: Montag is trying to put a subject (and the audience) into a trance, and he's looking into the camera doing his 'you are getting sleepy' spiel, and he's going along, and then he says (and I am NOT making this up):

"Concentrate.....*c-croncentrate* with every bit of your being....!"

"Croncentrate"?!?! Shouldn't the director have done a second take? (Or worse, he did several takes and this is the one they KEPT?!?). Or shouldn't someone have caught this in post production and dubbed a correction? (Of course, I am assuming the movie was actually "produced" which clearly was not the case.) Apparently no one (including Lewis) was actually paying attention while the camera was rolling. Or after wards. Geez, even "The Astounding She Monster" had better production values than that, and ASM only cost $11.98 to make.

I don't want to beat on Lewis too severely (although he WAS partially responsible for "Monster A Go-Go" as well). "2000 Maniacs" was much better than this (at least for the first half), and his "Blood" trilogy was somewhat better. I'd suggest someone who wants to investigate HG Lewis would be better off starting with those films.

Could Be Seen By Some As Lewis' Masterpiece

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 27 April 2008]

In Herschell Gordon Lewis' masterpiece (with possible competition from "Blood Feast") "The Wizard of Gore", we peer into the world of Montag the Magnificent (Ray Sager). Montag has incredibly powers, being able to convince his audience that they are watching actual scenes of brutal torture. But after the show ends, the artificial victims become all too real. Will a reporter and a talk show host get to the bottom of these nasty murders?

Those who love blood and guts (and that Is me!) are going to savor every last drop of this splatter fiesta. Spikes impaled in the brain, chainsaws across the stomach... eyes gouged out... swords in the throat. A drill press! There is a 60s or 70s feel to this (as there should be, given when it was made), so if you do not like camp or kitsch, you might think something is amiss. Lewis has used some odd footage. The audience always seems out of sync with what is going on on-stage, for example.

And the focus here is clearly gore and not plot. Not only is the plot incredibly thin, but we are never really explained what is going on behind the scenes. Are the victims killed? If so, how do they walk away? Are they illusions? If so, how do they die later? The answer really is not that important.

Ray Sager, who plays Montag, is excellent, and it is a surprise to see he was a last minute addition (though the melodramatic delivery of lines may be because of this). A frequent collaborator with Lewis, I do not know if a better actor could have been chosen. In the remake, Crispin Glover fills this role, and Glover is quite the strange one. But there is only one Sager and it is great that we have him here.

We also have Lewis using the odd shot of focusing on the eyes of Montag (a similar shot is used in "Blood Feast" for Fuad Ramses). It is a cheap and easy gimmick, but works to set a creepy mood effectively.

Side thought: In "Juno", two of the main characters debate Herschell Gordon Lewis versus Dario Argento while watching "Wizard of Gore". Let me weigh in: Argento is the better director, by far. However, there is something in Lewis' work that cannot be denied, and even the great Agento owes him a debt for cracking open the door to let out the new genre of splatter horror.

I have seen the film twice now, but am still not sure if I can write an adequate review. But for now, I have to stress how fast a strong impression was left on me. Films like this just do not come by often. Joe Lynch, bless his heart, made a good gore film with "Wrong Turn 2", but there is something about this time period that cannot be duplicated today. "Wizard of Gore" is a must-see.

Arrow Video's Blu-ray of "Wizard of Gore" is excellent. Beyond an already classic film, they have an in-depth interview with star Ray Sager, where he reveals some stories that probably could not be previously told. We also have author Stephen Thrower's reflections on the film, and he sees the film as growing out of the Blood Shed, Lewis' theater in Chicago. That may well be true. More interestingly, Thrower compares Sager's acting technique to the hammy Vincent Price. That had not occurred to me, but he is spot on, and this may be why the film has such a broad appeal.

Cheap, Sleazy, Inept, Boring Schlock

[strong-122-478885 · 3/10 · 31 May 2016]

You know, if there ever was such a school as The College of Inept Film-Making, then I'd definitely say that the likes of Herschell Lewis (a real bargain-basement director) would certainly be its star pupil.

With the exception of but a few priceless moments of unintentional hilarity, The Wizard of Gore was nothing but pure, cinematic ineptitude on all counts.

From its laughably cheap gore, to a cast full of incompetent actors, to its completely throw-away story-line - This bottom-of-the-barrel horror movie (from 1970) was a real test of my patience.

Like, Hello?... Was I really supposed to take this sh*t that director Lewis was dishing out to me seriously? Was I!?... 'Cause, believe me, with The Wizard of Gore, Lewis came across to me as being such a total buffoon-of-a-director that he made the likes of that bungling film-maker, Ed Wood, appear to be an absolute genius by comparison.

The Wizard of Gore

[ryan-10075 · 6/10 · 3 April 2019]

Hershell Gordon Lewis or the "Godfather of Gore" brings us a very early splatter film from 1970. Montag the Magnificent (Ray Sager) wows an audience with magical gore. One of the people in the audience Sherry Carson (Judy Cler) has her own talk show and wants Montag to be a guest on her show where he can show off his magical skills. Of course corpses are showing up after each show. They also just happen to be the people pulled out of the audience that Montag excites his audience in showing their violent deaths.

Where the film is somewhat thin in the plot department it is high in the gore department, especially for 1970. Old school gore hounds may enjoy this flick, even though in today's terms you can tell what are props and what are dummies. But, I give Lewis credit for trying something different and really splashing the gore onto the screen. The film really is just a set up for the kills during Montag's show and without them this movie probably would be the pits. Remember though this film is not for all tastes. Some real spotty acting from everybody, although I did seem to enjoy Sager as Montag. He played the role somewhat hammy and it seemed to work well. Also has some dramatically intense music from Larry Wellington (who worked on 7 other Lewis films). This is the only Lewis film I have seen to date, but will likely see more in the future as I see he cranked out it looks like 29 films back in the 60s.

I haven't laughed so hard...

[zerodegreesk · 5/10 · 4 June 2002]

I was all about gory, slasher movies in 5th and 6th grade. A friend got this movie and declared it the goriest movie he'd ever seen. I didn't get to see it then, but I just got it through a certain mail-order DVD club. This movie is hilarious! Everything about this movie is BAD, but in a GOOD way! The speeches Montag the Magnificent gives his audience about "being in a dream, but thinking you're awake and then waking up, but PERHAPS you just begin to dream instead!!!" WHOA!!! Montag's into some heavy sh@#!!! This movie really made me think! If you've seen Blood Feast and liked it, see this movie next. If you've seen this and haven't seen Blood Feast, then see that. Funny stuff...

A cheesy good time

[slayrrr666 · 7/10 · 26 October 2008]

"The Wizard of Gore" isn't much more than a confusing gore opus.

**SPOILERS**

Dragged along to a magic act, sports columnist Jack, (Wayne Ratay) and his TV hostess fiancée Shelly Carson, (Judy Cler) go along to Montag the Magnificent, (Ray Sager) perform his show. For his final act, he does a variation on a standard illusion and looks to physically saw a woman in half without doing so in a box. Afterwards, the volunteer appears fine only to be found dead later on with a wound exactly as it appeared during the performance. Getting curious, she asks him to appear on her show and perform there, to which he agrees and asks them both to appear at future shows. When a series of murders begins taking place where the volunteers begin dying in the same fashion as the illusion they perform in the show. Getting suspicious, they finally lay a trap for him during his TV appearance and try to solve his mystery once and for all.

The Good News: While there wasn't a whole lot of good things, what was there wasn't bad. The film's biggest claim is the high amount of gore on display from the different illusions. These certainly are pretty graphic ones, with one chainsawed in half in full view of the audience, a metal spike shoved into the side of the head, swords shoved into the mouth and down the throat, one set on fire and another pressed into a whole with a metallic press, among others. These are all quite brutally done and manage to look possible as well. That's a fantastic trick to accomplish and this one does it nicely. The film's only other positive point is the really nice conclusion. This is where the film picks up it's pace and intensity slightly from before, allowing for a little more excitement and thus brings the film up slightly. The film's real power, though, lies in it's powerful illusions and extreme gore.

The Bad News: While this one wasn't that bad, there's still some pretty big flaws here. The fact that the extreme gore here terrible and completely unconvincing is something to get over. The pressing illusion is the big one to get over, as the fact that the blood comes out as thick, gloppy mess is just so wrong that the disbelief at it outweighs the graphicness of it. It's the wrong color, shape, form and even its action that it takes, as real blood doesn't behave in that manner. It's just way too noticeable to be shocking or convincing, and the act that's being taken to drive the blood is where it gets it's impact from. The near incoherent plot doesn't help matters. This bounces around from scene to scene quite frequently, rarely tying up any loose ends left from the previous scene before raising a new one from that sequence. This gives the film a really disjointed feel, moving around as much as it does and then it goes ahead and finally solves the mystery at the end, only for the film's real remaining questions to be brought up by one of the characters in conversation with another and the whole thing then dismissed. It's not that smart of a film to do such a maneuver, and this one is no exception. Otherwise, this wasn't that bad.

The Final Verdict: One of Lewis' more watchable films, this one though adds in the extra fact of a confusing story along with the traditional trademarks. Highly watchable for gore-hounds or Lewis fans, while those who aren't or find the flaws to be deal-breakers, seek other viewing.

Today's Rating-R: Graphic Violence

Dull Grand-Guignol

[jamesrupert2014 · 4/10 · 28 February 2016]

Hammy magician "Montag the Magnificent" speechifies, then brutally kills and mutilates women on stage. The women magically recover but are later found dead bearing the same wounds as they did during the act. Magic, hypnotism, or copy-cat serial killer? The plot, such as it is, is simply a set up for gore-auteur Herschell Gordon Lewis to stage graphic splatter scenes using animal cadavers for the close-ups. The scenes where Montag rummages around entrails as though he's looking for pearls are more silly than shocking. Some of the sword swallowing scenes are cleverly done, but beyond that, this film doesn't have much to offer beyond a check mark in gore-fans' life lists. If you are looking to introduce yourself to HGL's canon of bloody schlock, watch "Two Thousand Maniacs!" instead.