The Wizard of Gore (2007 film)

The Wizard of Gore is a 2007 splatter/noir horror film directed by Jeremy Kasten and starring Kip Pardue, Bijou Phillips, Crispin Glover, Joshua Miller, Brad Dourif, Jeffrey Combs, and the Suicide Girls. The film is a remake of the 1970 Herschell Gordon Lewis film of the same name.

Plot
A magician named Montag the Magnificent puts on elaborate magic shows in a dilapidated post-punk Los Angeles in which he seemingly kills, in brutal torturous fashions, beautiful young women who nevertheless appear alive and unharmed at the end of the trick. Later, however, the victims are found dead of the same wounds that Montag gave them. Ed Bigelow, a young journalist with a trust fund and vintage style, tries to solve the mystery, but ends up discovering that he may be more involved than he first thought.

Cast

 * Kip Pardue as Edmund "Ed" Bigelow
 * Bijou Phillips as Maggie
 * Crispin Glover as Montag the Magnificent
 * Joshua Miller as Jinky
 * Brad Dourif as Dr. Chong
 * Jeffrey Combs as The Geek
 * Garz Chan as Annie
 * Tim Chiou as Chinese Mickey
 * Evan Seinfeld as Frank
 * Suicide Girls as Dell, Cecelia, Cayenne, and Rexina
 * Kenneth Moskow as Det. Packard

Production
The Wizard of Gore was filmed in Los Angeles and director Kasten refers to it as "love letter" to Downtown L.A.

Reception
The Wizard of Gore has an 80% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Steve Barton of Dread Central rated the film 4 out of 5 and praised it saying "I applaud it for its overall insanity." Another review at Dread Central rated the film 2 1/2 out of 5 and while the reviewer found the film "highly atmospheric" it was ultimately "a little too long." Bloody Disgusting said "I’m partially (and sarcastically) impressed that someone could take The Wizard of Gore and make it worse."