31 days of nite - WIZARD OF GORE (Lewis, 1970)

My first Lewis picture, believe it or not! I wanted something super gory for the first day of my favorite month of the year, and this was nothing if not gory. Lots of deep, red, goupy stuff that looks sort of sweet and edible. But the violence has a strange, detached vibe. The cuts from extreme violence to the deadpan audience were jarring, and the audience members' blank looks granted everything a sort of clinical distance. I think I looked a lot like the audience, staring straight into the screen, not really sure what to make of everything. If you haven't seen the film, I can't say I'd really recommend it. Lewis kicks around some vague ideas here, some of which are interesting, but everything is just sort of hokey. Maybe I'm just too old for this type of stuff anymore, you guys. I turned 26 last week. 26! What the fuck is going on. The old me would've loved WIZARD OF GORE. Or maybe even then I would've just found it sort of stupid. Fulci always seemed pretty silly to me; Argento, too. A lot of horror is goofy, and that's part of the appeal, I suppose. Lewis hints at some interesting ideas, including the possible non-existence of reality (or am I just writing that into it? Do I hear these questions in the film because these are the questions I ask in my head? But Montag's monologue in the opening sequence seems to ask questions about the way human beings interpret reality, and suggests that dreams are just as valid as reality, that illusion and truth are the same thing because there's nothing happening, at all.) Ray Sager as Montag the Magician is pretty much hysterical. OK, fuck it, this was awesome, actually. Loved it. Has anyone seen the remake with Crispin Glover? If so, is it terrible?