Sunday and The Wizard of Gore

I know I have talked about remakes a couple times before but they are so abundant in the movie industry today its hard not to. So lets talk remakes of movies you never thought would actually be remade. No I am not talking about Friday the 13th, though that movie would classify as such, no I am referring to the cult classic Wizard of Gore. I watched them back to back today which really kinda surreal. Surreal is actually a good description of the original. It is truely out there in many respects. You have the Magician Montag who performs extreme magic acts on stage that you would think would kill the volunteers but it doesn't, they seem fine only to have them wind up dead in gruesome ways hours later. The original never really delves into the how these things occur , they let you try to put the pieces together. There are a number of very good monologues delivered by Montag. By the end of the movie your thrown a twist that well have you going ummm what? All in all a decent movie.
I was not sure how I was going to receive the remake and how exactly they were going to do it because nowadays that existential surreal movie making isn't really a hit.
People like explanations for the events that have happened. Enter Wizard of Gore the remake.
I will say up front it was a good horror movie. Better than expected. They took the same basic concepts but they gave it a little more grounding in the reason why things were the way they were and how exactly Montag was able to do what he did. It was a decent modern version of the cult classic. It was missing a bit more of the social commentary that was put into the original by Herschel but I think it was still entertaining horror.
They came up with very interesting magic tricks and Crispin Glover did pull off the creepy. Though that has never been real problem for him. I think the harder problem for him was trying to shake the McFly image.
I liked the fact that our main character had a flair for the nostalgia in everything he wore and his apartment. I am a huge fan of noir style though many would not have guessed it so the character appealed to me. Brad Dourif's presence also helped the movie be more acceptable just because he's Brad Dourif. He knows how to bring the creepy. Also the new version has much more nudity brought in the form of the Suicide girls for those goth fans out there.
Many remakes are hits or misses and in this case it was for me a hit. They kept the core concepts from the original and also had enough out there moments that those that love the original will see where omage is paid to it. It also kept it more grounded for the general view audience to walk a way with a feeling of "oh ok now I see how it fits," versus the original which did keep it more in the air.
Wizard of Gore remake is definitely worth a watch.