"The Wizard of Gore" review

The Wizard of Gore (2007)

Director: Jeremy Kasten
Writer: Zach Chassler

Kip Pardue... Edmund Bigelow
Bijou Phillips... Maggie
Crispin Glover... Montag the Magnificent
Jeffrey Combs... The Geek
Brad Dourif... Dr. Chong
Joshua John Miller... Jinky (as Joshua Miller)
Garz Chan... Annie
Flux Suicide... Dell
Amina Munster... Cecelia
Cricket Suicide... Cayenne (as Cricket DeManuel)
Nixon Suicide... Rexina

Crispin Glover likes cutting up Suicide Girls. He is the Wizard of Gore. He works his magic at a nightly show of blood, guts and dead tattooed strippers. An intrepid reporter decides to do a piece on Crispin the magnificent. He begins to suspect that Glover may be up to no dang good when the girls he performs with turn up dead. The reporter starts to go insane as Hollywood starts losing a lot of fine strippers to the hands of a madman. But is the Wizard of Gore responsible or is there something more nefarious at work here? Is the reporters girlfriend secretly working for an escort agency that has a picture of a bunny rabbit as its carnal emblem? And why is the reporters bones cracking all the time? These and other questions will torment you as you wonder how a movie about cutting up Suicide Girls could go so wrong.You'd think watching Crispin Glover slice and dice some Suicide Girls would be a slam dunk. If anyone could bring pure homicidal joy to cutting the tattoos and pierced noses right off of the ladies, it would be Glover. But "The Wizard of Gore" is less interested in getting down to gory business than it is in trying to build some sort of mystery about the stripper dissections. The retro reporter keeps going back to the show every night to try to see if he can figure out how the Wizard does his magic. The movie makes the fatal mistake of following the reporter around instead of focusing on the Wicked Wizard of Hollywood. So instead of indulging in long scenes of a Suicide Girls violent demise, we get to see the reporter run around town trying to find answers. This movie is called "The Wizard of Gore". No one cares about the reporter and his problems. Get back to the Wizard.

But where is the Wizard and why is he not spilling blood like there's no tomorrow? And what about the gore? He is the Wizard of Gore right? Glover's stage shows are supposed to be the highlight of the movie yet they are way too light on blood and body parts. The audience keeps acting disgusted at his magic show but I was more disgusted at the audiences collective weak stomach. I was ready to be as shocked as they were but yawned through it all.

"The Wizard of Gore" is filmed mostly at night which is too bad because some scenes become near impossible to see. So even though the movie becomes tedious to sit through, you still have to work really hard just to get a good look at it. The only thing positive to say about "The Wizard of Gore" is that it manages to exploit the Suicide Girls. Their look fits well with a story of an underground magic show. They all manage to get naked and show the world their many tattoos.

But overall, "The Wizard of Gore" is a disappointment. Glover is a hundred times more interesting to watch than some neck cracking reporter with mental health issues. The movie should have stalked Glover around town and ditched the reporter. Actually, the movie should have ditched anything that didn't have something to do with cutting up Suicide Girls. There's only one way to film a story about a crazed magician. Gore, Glover and more gore. Don't hold back. Don't get squeamish. Just pour on the gore and and let Crispin be all the madman he can be.

SCORE: 2 out of 4 maniacal Crispins