This Penguin Magic release is ostensibly for the person who wants to create a seance using some of the standard tools of the magician (and, presumably, the fake spiritualist).

The effects themselves are common, off-the-shelf tricks such as the spirit cloth, the zombie, spirit slates, and the haunted deck.

The demonstrations of the effects are competent, but what this DVD makes very clear (by omission, alas) is the point often made by experienced seance workers; effects are not, per se, what creates the seance experience, but rather the mood, the theatricality, and the emotions evoked by the seance setting and by the medium.

This DVD provides very little in terms of those factors. Dooley provides advice along the lines of listening to horror film soundtracks to get an idea of how music can create scary moods. I had hoped for more.

Without the emphasis on those factors that go beyond mere tricks, the overall effect of the DVD is to reduce what can be a powerful form of theater to cheap Halloween gestures-- grand opera as it might be performed by teenagers to spook their friends out in the garage.

There is a potentailly useful guide to constructing spirit tables and spirit slates, though I did not really feel the need to watch Mr. Dooley stain the front of the table, then watch him stain the top of the table, then watch him stain the legs of the table (at least the camera was not left on during the entire drying process).

In terms of performance, there are excerpts from a comedy seance, which, though it may play well for the intended audience, left me cold (e.g. pretending to sneeze, then spraying a hooded volunteer with a squirt bottle full of water). There is a bonus section showing a seance in a restaurant that is meant to evoke the spirit of the entertainer who used to own the place. Perhaps the spirit was reluctant to manifest because of the competition from the spirits at the bar in the background.

It is hard to imagine who would find this DVD useful. The experienced seance worker has no need for it; he already knows these basic effects and understands what this DVD omits. The abecedarian can find much of the same material either in the instructions accompanying these magic store effects or, better yet, by consulting the standard references (Burger, Maue, Shadow, etc.) which delve into the elements that can transform amusement into thrill, horror, and awe, and trickery into mystery.

OMG that was painful to watch. Too painful, what were they thinking ? Obviously the guy does not do workworking for a living. I fast forwarded through the nonsense.
I bought the DVD because I was looking for ideas for my Halloween parties and wanted to start with the basics, even if historic ones. Which they were.
I didn't give much credence to his making of spirit slates from basic craft supplies either - like no one is going to notice that one side of one slate is practically flush with the frame ?? Because that's what you'd get.
All in all though, these points aside, it was not that bad a video - I don't regret buying it. Good, as I said, for historic basics.