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Til Death Do Us Part

Jim Critchlow

Alakazam

(Based on 1 review)
Jim Critchlow has seamlessly blended magic, mentalism and storytelling to create a unique moment of astonishment that leaves spectators truly stunned. When performed at the right time, there is absolutely nothing that can follow this effect.

Using some old wedding photographs of married couples from the last 80 years and a presentation that simply has to be true (doesn't it?) Jim has devised one of the most extraordinarily powerful prediction effects that you will ever perform.

The memory of witnessing 'Til Death Do Us Part resonates with spectators long after the performance is over and most who watch it don't perceive it as any kind of 'trick' at all. It is simply an incredible story with an absolutely inexplicable ending.

Complete with all the necessary photos, full DVD instruction and discussion and PDF files to print more photos as required.

Reviews

Brian Reaves

Oct 29, 2009

I have a policy of never purchasing an effect in which the creator refuses to show any part of in the demo video. While they may tout the effect as "The most powerful effect you'll ever perform" or "The closer you've been waiting for", if they don't show it in the video that usually means it's so easy to figure out you can't even watch it once and be amazed. When I saw "Til Death Do Us Part", the demo video showed nothing more than glowing praise for how powerful it was. I went against my policy and bought it anyway.

I should have stuck with policy.

Even the back of the box doesn't tell you anything about the effect other than how incredibly powerful it is. Inside you find 10 old photographs of married couples, an envelope, the teaching DVD and the "gimmick". The routine takes about 5 minutes to perform from start to finish, and if you amaze anyone with it you've found the perfect audience who will be astounded with a D'Lite performance as a closer.

Hand the spectator a black envelope to keep for later. Then you show the spectator the photographs while letting them decide which one "gives off strong negative emotions". If they can't pick the right one, then do what they do on the video and magician's force them into it (it's so painfully obvious too). Tell this spooky tale about how the wife killed the husband and ask them to tear the photograph in half. She ripped out his throat, so tell them to tear the husband's photo in half again. Have them arrange the pieces on the table and then tell them to open the envelope.

The pieces match! Kind of.

Even in the demo video, the pieces do not match perfectly. They're close, but it's not like "Holy cow! It's the same!" It's more like "Yep, that's pretty much how you'd tear a photograph twice". This isn't amazing to anyone, and the storyline isn't compelling enough to make it seem remotely spooky. They call this a mentalism routine, but there's nothing mental about it. I think even Derren Brown would flop with this one.

If you're doing this at a Halloween party with the right ambiance you might get a "Huh, that was weird" kind of reaction, but it's not "an effect that will stay with the spectator long after it's over" or anything.

I will give Alakazam points for including the PDF files here so you can make as many "gimmicks" as you need later on, but it's a minor thing for an effect of this price. I can pretty much guarantee you've already figured out how to do this and create this effect on your own just from reading my description. And now you know why they wouldn't show any of the performance online. If you're going to perform the effect, buy it instead of making your own (that's only fair). Otherwise, save your money and skip this one.
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