"Punishment" DVD by Patrick McCullagh
Suggested Retail USD$30.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 7 Out of 10

"Punishment", a DVD by Patrick McCullagh is a collection of neat magic that suffers only because the majority of it has been around so long in one flavor or the other, particularly the handlings and methods.

That doesn't make "Punishment" bad, just not worth it for those of us who have been around the block or had the block go around us once or twice. Unfortunately, in this day and age, that's a lot of folks.

If you're not in that group, though, you could do worse than to learn McCullagh's material. It's practical, solid work that can be quite memorable and completely entertaining. You'll learn from it and run with it and enjoy it as you do.

Luckily, deciding if "Punishment" is for you is as simple as looking at the material a little closer. In summary, there are five routines here: two card tricks, a coin routine, a cup and ball piece, and a packet trick.

The video begins with "Card Watch". A card is thought of from a packet of cards. The performer has the spectator hold out their hand as each card is shown slowly and placed face down on their extended palm with the instructions to slap their other hand down on the cards when their card is put in their hand. They see their card, they slap their other hand on top of it, but the card is shown to not be their card at all. Their card, they find, is folded under their own wristwatch.

"Sweet Dreams of You" is next. In this one, the performer brings out a paper clip with a folded card in it, face down so its identity is unknown. A spectator picks a card, signs it, and, after a bit of by-play, the card in the clip is removed to show that it's the spectator's signed card with a different colored back.

"Wild Frame" follows and, as the ads admit, this is the toughest routine on the disc. In it, a large purse frame is shown and three copper coins produced from it. When they are dropped through, one at a time, they turn to silver coins. This is repeated with the coins changing back to copper. For the climax, all the coins disappear.

"Single Cup and Balls" is a single cup routine using steel ball bearings and ending with the production of two larger bearings from the cup.

"2 Wrongs Don't Make a Right" is a packet trick with a cute patter line. Three cards are shown, two with the words "wrong" on them and one with the word "right". The spectator tries to find the "right" card but misses. In the end, the three cards are shown to read "left", "right", and "wrong".

Okay, that's the material. Now here's how to decide if "Punishment" is a worthwhile investment. If you read those descriptions and immediately thought of Paul Harris' "Whack Your Pack"/"Reflex", the mercury fold, a billet switch, "Red Hot Momma", any "Wild Coin" variant out there, Paul Gertner's "Steel and Silver", and "Color Monte", then pass up "Punishment" because you already know the methods McCullagh is employing here with his work.

If you're not familiar with all of that -- and I stress "all" there for a reason -- then "Punishment" is worth every penny and more.

That's really what it breaks down to here. The presentations you won't be able to do much with -- they are either completely narrative or completely McCullagh's -- so it's the methods that you're looking at here and they are a bit too common for most of us to be of much use; a description of the effect leads to the obvious method.

Now, I did say "if you're not familiar with all that" because, to be honest, if there's anything you're not familiar with, McCullagh fills the gaps nicely. After all, it's inspired that he took an old Paul Harris idea and gave it a kicker ending. And his work with Paul Gertner's idea of using metal balls within a cup and ball plot results in something a bit more practical for more folks than Gertner's masterpiece. I could go on with each effect, but you get the idea: if you don't know it, get it.

Translation: if you're not familiar with these effects, if you're in the dark on the methods, then "Punishment" is a very good collection of neat effects that you'll enjoy learning and doing.

"Punishment" by Patrick McCullagh
In a Blink: 7 Out of 10

Material: 5
If you've been around for a bit, the feeling of deja vú is unmistakable; there's little here that's new or original or enough to make you think twice about playing with them. If you're newer to magic (though certainly not a strict beginner), or looking for a specific routine, then the material here is certainly worth a look.

Practicality: 10
The material here will hold up in the real world and purportedly does. Resets are minor, set-ups are simple, and it's easy enough to see these working in most performing situations.

Quality of Production: 9
Excellent, excellent production here. Beautifully shot, great sound work, even great navigation. The only hit comes courtesy of the camera work during the performance sections, but that's a minor thing all in all.

Quality of Instruction: 8
McCullagh does a laudable job teaching the material. He covers all the bases and comes off as confident and masterful as you could ask for -- I found myself actually enjoying the instruction just for the sake of enjoying his screen presence. The only problem is that on a few occasions he seemed rushed and hurried, hurting the explanations a bit. Again, nothing major, but worth mentioning.

Presentation: 5
The presentations are strictly McCullagh's; wise-cracking at once, rapid-fire deliveries next, then slower paces and corny bits to follow. All in all, good work although you get the idea he's holding back. It would have been nice to see performances in his more native surroundings (read that as "pub").

Shane

Available direct from your favorite dealer. Dealers, please contact Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc. toll-free at 1-800-853-7403 or visit Murphy's Magic Supplies website.