Title: Distorted Visions
Artist: Jack Curtis
Producers: The 1914
Link: Available From Your Favorite Murphy’s Magic Retailer.
Retail Price: $37.25
Learning Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Length of DVD: 2 Hours
Notes:

Features:
• Play Distorted Visions
• Scene Selection
• Bonus Section

Mentalist Jack Curtis takes you on a stroll through his mind to see six mentally devastating mentalism effects.

Jack Curtis isn’t a name you may recognize in the field of mentalism but mark my words within a few years time he will be. This kid has some amazing ideas and he’s a powerhouse of a performer. Having said that it shouldn’t shock you that I’m going to tell you his DVD “Distorted Visions” is a DVD you need to own if you’re at all interested in simple, hard hitting, instant resetting mentalism effects that you can do just about anywhere. Strap yourself in kids. We’re going to be discussing Distorted Visions.

This DVD is deceptively powerful given how little there is to it. Forget the white boards, dry erase markers, billets, and stooges Jack is going to give you some seriously brain numbing material you’re going to use. Some of this can be real reputation makers.

Amnesic Transpo: If a mentalist would perform a classic two card transposition this is how he’d do it. Forget boring old playing cards. Those things scream magician. No a mentalist would use something a little more classier, like his business card. As the name would suggest this plot sets itself within the lucid space that is the human mind. Did you REALLY get the card with your name on it? Or did you just think it happened?

Floral Destiny: A philosophical exploration of free will vs. freedom of choice all using flowers and cards.

Extra Subliminal Persuasion: A psychic test that even Dr. Rhine himself would have been shocked to see the results. Stuck to the back of the ESP symbol cards are post a notes which correctly reveal the only option the spectator could have picked… the right option- the option they chose!

Blank 2.0: Freely name a number and watch as a multi layered presentation of apparent subliminal influence unfolds before your eyes. It’s a nice take on the Card At Any Number plot with a twist ending.

Law of Attraction: Using nothing but a stack of business cards and a pen you correctly identify the name of a family member the spectator is thinking of and then end with the added kicker of an incredible demonstration of “synchronicity”.

Silver Lining: A beautiful revisit to the classic “which coin am I holding” effect. You correctly predict the spectators win loss ratio to what coin you have in your hand with a bonus surprise ending.

Jack is an amazing magician and a talented educator. Nothing in this DVD is really heavy on the sleight of hand. Nothing is going to bust your knuckles to learn how to do these tricks and with a mild amount of dedication you’ll be able to incorporate these effects into your everyday routines. I personally have fallen in love with both Amnesic Transpo and Silver Lining, having used them both in strolling every chance I get. Almost everything in this DVD is very organic, fits in your pocket, and is super clean. You’ll have to purchase a few things like a blank deck of cards or a sun and moon coin but if you don’t already own them, your local magic store will carry what you need and you won’t spend a fortune to acquire them. With over two hours of material and tutorial on this DVD the value of this product is highly understated.

The DVD comes with two bonus essays which is available in PDF form. Just stick the DVD into your computer and open it up from your file explorer menu. The first essay deals with approaching a table as a strolling magician, the second essay deals with the subject of predictions. As someone who spends a lot of his time doing strolling magic or street magic I enjoyed Jack’s thoughts on the approach. He has some unique ideas and certainly caused me to re-evaluate my own style after reading his essay. As for his other essay he really has some great ideas on predictions, how to word them and make them work for you in your performance. I especially liked his thoughts on whether or not you should be using playing cards in mentalism.

Overall what can I say that’s really negative about this product? I can’t. For $35 bucks you can’t beat the material you get in this DVD. You have excellent routines that are simple to do (I mean come on, if you can’t do a pinky break which is about as hard as it gets on this DVD then why are you still doing magic?) everything packs down into your pockets, and you’ve got some seriously good strolling mentalism effects. Add in the bonus essay’s and this just is a DVD you owe it to yourself to own. Don’t know the name Jack Curtis? Don’t worry, in a few years I promise you his name will be one you know well.

When I give my product scores below I am measuring them on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 Being absolute the worst score possible, and 10 being the absolute best, making a score of five average. The four points that I grade upon is Product Quality, Teaching Quality, Sound & Video Quality and Overall Quality.

Product Quality: 8
A great price for great material.

Teaching Quality: 8
Easy to master strolling mentalism.

Video & Sound Quality: 9
Great sound and video.

Overall Quality: 9
I loved it! Jack Curtis I’m a fan.


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Thanks for the Review. Ive been wanting to hear a in depth review