JLRVancouver 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.

Leofwine_draca 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.

JoeB131 This movie was also released under the title, "The Mad Magician".The plot is that a cheesy magician named "Montag" performs tricks that seem to mutilate female volunteers who then mysteriously die of the very same injuries they suffered on stage. Then for no apparent reason, he steals the bodies and takes them to a mausoleum in the same cemetery...A group of reporters and cops attempt to solve the apparent mystery. Or maybe it's all a dream... In all probability, it is an opportunity to put gross special effects on the screen when the Hayes board went away and the MPAA was still trying to figure itself out.Of course, the special effects are so poor that they are laughable.

Michael_Elliott Wizard of Gore, The (1970) * (out of 4) A news personality gets drawn to a magic show where Montag The Magnificent act out various forms of torture. The magician will make it appear that he is brutally slaughtering women on the stage but the women eventually walk off but hours later they are found really slaughtered. The newswoman's boyfriend starts to get suspicious so he starts to investigate. Clocking in at a torturous 96-minutes, this here is clearly the worst of Lewis' gore films. I normally enjoy all of his gore films but this one here was just torture to sit through and I found it deadly boring before the first murder had even taken place. Most of his gore films have very little plot but at least they have something in them. This film has absolutely nothing and it's no wonder this thing sat on a shelf for nearly two years before finally getting released. The first murder sequence is downright boring and sadly they don't get any better but in fact they continue to get worse. The explanation behind what the magician is doing and how he's doing it is just downright stupid and you can't help but roll your eyes throughout the film. Even worse are the gore effects, which have to be the worst of the director's career because of how fake they look. Countless times you see the women breathing even though they're suppose to be dead and there's one scene where the knife being used starts leaking blood before the actual murder. This movie is a complete disaster from start to finish and all the blame must go towards the director. Each scene is done is such a slow, drown out pace that I was just sitting there wondering what the heck Lewis was thinking by doing this. I'm certainly not trying to suggest that his other movies were masterpieces of cinema but at least they were entertaining. This one here just worthless.