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.
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.