This has two components: a potentially spooky story and the magic that supercharges the spookiness.
Both aspects of the effect as presented are problematic. The props and the basic ideas are good,
though, and if you put in enough of your own work, it could be a very fun and spooky trick. It’s
just a shame that the creator didn’t do this himself.
As for the first, unfortunately,
Jamie Daws hardly tries to tell a story on the DVD, which is a discussion w/ Dave Loosely rather
than a full performance -- he essentially only indicates the kind of thing that should happen (the
written description of the effect is much better, but not detailed enough). If you're good at it,
you can fix this yourself (but at this price, a full, well-written script would be appropriate).
As for the magic, it has 3 problems. First, this is a variation on a do-as-I-do card
trick, but not as good because here the magician is clearly responsible for fulfilling half of the
two-part prediction. Second, the effect has a couple of other inconsistencies that attentive
spectators could notice. Finally, spectator management is critical, and even the best efforts might
fail occasionally.
That being said, the inconsistencies can be minimized with a
sufficiently spooky presentation and the spec management risk is likely worth the payoff. To solve
the first problem, you will have to find a way to “prove” the magician cannot “cheat.” There are
ways to do this (I’ve found one that I like), but, again, I thought I was paying for someone else to
do this.
In conclusion, if I had to do it over again, I would spend my money on a fully
finished effect.
Seeds of a neat effect only
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