Friday Magic Showcase: Blood

This Friday Magic Showcase is devoted to magicians who aren't afraid to push the envelope, who willingly present their audiences with discomforting, disturbing situations. If you're not comfortable with a little gore, then this may not be the blog entry for you. I'll begin with a relatively benign, dark effect performed by the Scottish magic team, Barry & Stuart. Here is their "Suicide in C-Sharp."

Turning away from the light-hearted presentation of gory magic, we must not ignore the most notable purveyor of "horror magic," the Peruvian magician, Richiardi. He took audience discomfort to a new level by rarely providing any closure on the gruesome acts he performed. The audience was often left wondering about the reality of what they had just witnessed. Here is his contribution to the sawing illusion, with commentary by Teller.


Another great Richiardi video can be found here, in a clip from his TV show, "Chamber of Horrors." Finally, Penn & Teller rarely shy away from gore in their magic. Here is their homage to Richiardi.