On Nov 25, 2015, My Lovely Assistant wrote:
REVIEW: Red Pill by Chris Ramsay and Murphy's Magic

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars!

LINK: www.mylovelyassistant.com/reviews/view/5009

FULL REVIEW: Chris Ramsay and Murphy’s Magic present the DVD Red Pill. It is a sealed deck effect with a new twist that makes this trick powerfully strong. This trick solidly falls into “reputation maker” territory.

Ramsay teaches two main effects; Secret and the title trick, Red Pill. In Secret the spectator feels that they select a card by orally picking and eliminating certain cards. The selected card then appears under the cellophane of a sealed deck of cards which the spectator is holding. Ramsay suggest gifting the deck for the spectator to decide if they will keep it sealed or open it to investigate how the trick was done.

In Red Pill, the spectator is apparently shown both sides of a sealed blue-backed deck of cards. The two seals are pointed out and then the deck is placed in the palm of a spectator and covered by the spectator’s other hand. Then, another spectator picks a card from a red-backed deck, which is already open. The second spectator then holds the red-backed deck. After explaining a Matrix story line patter, the chosen red-backed card is found to be missing from the red deck. The spectator holding the blue deck opens his hands and the chosen card is face up, staring you in the face, under the cellophane of the sealed deck on top of the box. Once the deck is opened, the chosen card that was under the cellophane and outside of the box, is revealed to have a blue back. That means that it is not actually the chosen red-backed card. However, it is explained that the chosen red-backed card took the place of the similar blue-backed card thereby pushing the blue-backed card outside the box. The box is opened and the red-backed chosen card is in the correct spot in the deck, which is in new deck order. Awe inspiring is an understatement.

This trick is also taught by Ramsay with an instant visual change in the magician’s hands, using a sleight that will require some practice.

The DVD is narrated and taught by Ramsay is an hour and a half long. The camera work, angles, explanation and quality of the video is top notch. The DVD comes with gimmick material which will need a few minutes of arts-and-crafts and some tape and a razor. Nothing too difficult. Once this is done, you will likely have this gimmick for a very, very long time without needing to make another one. This first gimmick is used during every performance. There is a second gimmick that will need to be made as well. For every time you perform Red Pill or Secret, you will need to make a new second gimmick. This second gimmick will take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to make. It is not hard, to make but will require, some patience, good vision or bifocals (and also a razor and glue). Ramsay builds the gimmick on video in real time, which is adds to his excellent tutorial.

Ramsay’s presentation is very detailed and easy to understand. He is entertaining and funny and if you don’t watch his (somewhat) weekly magic review show, The Shift on YouTube, I recommend checking it out.

The tricks will require some basic sleights and misdirection and the Secret trick uses a very strong equivoque, which is taught. Ramsey borrows from other magicians and credits and thanks them all during the DVD.

Ramsay also suggest doing this trick only once a night and that is sound advice. It is such a strong routine that you don't want to dilute its impact by repetition.

The biggest negative to this DVD is that there are no performances of the routines whatsoever. Since the promotional video shows Ramsay performing the tricks, I don’t understand why this was so conspicuously missing. It would have been worthwhile to see Ramsay perform his own trick to live spectators, or even in a studio performance. Since this DVD was filmed a year before it was released, there is no excuse for not providing full performances of both tricks. It is a shame because Ramsay is a very compelling performer and the inclusion would have made the project even stronger than it is…and it is kick-ass strong. The ad-copy inaccurately says that there are full length performances included on the DVD. Someone is gonna catch some heat for that as the omission of the performances is clearly an error.

This is a great sealed deck trick and well worth the purchase price. Go and get it!