"Voracity" DVD by Corey Burke
Suggested Retail USD$35.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 5 Out of 10

"Voracity", a DVD by Corey Burke, features an excellent handling of the bill change but is weak on other material and downright sloppy in production.

Let's cover the best parts first.

"Voracity", the titled effect, is a multi-phase bill change, beginning with a borrowed dollar bill. This is folded into sixths and held at the finger tips. A magical wave over the bill and it changes to a $20. Another wave and it changes to a $50. A final wave and it become a $100, which is unfolded and shown cleanly and can be examined. This uses a gimmick, of course, but it's simple to make and use. If you're into bill changes, this one is probably worth the price of the disc to you.

"Terminal Voracity" is a $1/$5 transposition that is pretty nice. It begins with the spectator and the performer folding the necessary bills into sixths. Both of these are placed in the spectator's hand which is closed into a loose fist. The performer pulls one of the bills out, the $1, which is held at the finger tips. A magical rub and it quickly changes to the $5, which is opened and shown cleanly. The spectator opens their hand revealing the one, which the spectator opens and examines. This is a "performance only" piece, but the explanation supposedly could be downloaded from a special website... which is not operational. Still, it's easy to piece together once you see and play with the "Voracity" gimmick and a nice little routine.

"Vicissitude" is Burke's approach to the stack bill change. Suitable for use the more popular changes ("Hundy 500", "3D Cash", and "Slow Burn" are all mentioned by name), Burke's addition leaves the stack examinable after the change. A very nice, very simple idea here.

Now, if you're into bill changes -- singly or in stacks -- then those three piece put together make this disc a worthwhile buy. They are, really, worth the price of the disc. But if you're not into learning those, well, the rest of the material on the disc probably won't make "Voracity" worthwhile.

"Homer's Odyssey" is an open-handed coins-across routine based on Kenner's "Deep Recovery" move. It's extremely visual, that's for sure, but the structure is awkward and might be confusing to spectators. All in all, it's looks good but needs some help.

"Pennies from Down Under" is described as "...Tenkai Pennies for the brave" and that's an apt description. It's the basic Tenkai routine, done with silver dollars and some great visuals. This one could possibly look good, but it's so difficult to pull off that even the creator has problems with it; there are flashes galore on this one.

"Mercenaring" is a break from coins and bills, a routine using a set of miniature linking rings. The routine is fairly standard, with pieces from other ring routines evident, but the count at the beginning is interesting. If you do a mini-linking ring routine, then this is as good as any.

"Monocle Production" is a three-coin routine where the coins appear one at a time, then vanish the same way, then appear again. As with "Homer's Odyssey", there are moments of awkwardness here and there, and some flashing, but it's a pretty good routine overall.

I have to say that none of these routines are awful. Shoot, they're not even bad, come to that; they're average in the worst case and pretty good in the best. But they aren't up to a level of quality that would make them compelling reasons to purchase "Voracity" if you're not after Burke's exceptional work with bill changes.

Before we get to the end of this, I have to say this: Burke does a fantastic job of teaching his material, but his director and producer killed him on this one. The sound is awful during the explanations -- you'll be cranking up your speakers to hear Burke decently. The video is worse. The explanations are shot medium-long, meaning that Burke is teaching you to perform coin routines from what amounts to a distance of twelve or so feet away. Forget about seeing the action; you'll have to work hard just to see Burke's fingers. Also, Burke is dressed in solid black against a white background so that coins "blink out" because of the contrast. Sum total? You can barely hear Burke, you can't see the work he's teaching, and most of the time you can't see the objects in his hands. Oh, they did try to throw in a sliding screen with a close angle, but it's on the screen for only a second or two and causes more confusion and distraction than it does exposition.

Be prepared to work youself silly learning some of this.

Okay, having said all of that, is "Voracity" right for you? Well, that's an easy one. Forget about all the other material and concentrate on the meat of this one. Do those bill changes interest you? Do you do them and want something newer and arguably better than what you're probably doing now? Want to add some touches to it? Then "Voracity" is right up your alley. You'll find it worth every penny. But if you're not into bill changes and don't care about such things, then you're very likely to be disappointed.

Long story short, buy "Voracity" for "Voracity".

"Voracity" DVD by Corey Burke
In a Blink: 5 Out of 10

Material: 7
The titled routine and it's relatives are worth the price of the disc; the remaining material, not so much. Some of the coin work is so awkward that even Burke has problems pulling them off. This is one you want for the bill changes; watch the rest with passing curiousity.

Practicality: 10
Burke's material is very practical. Pack the gimmick with you, carry the coins and the rings, and you're very much ready to go.

Quality of Production: 1
Problems galore with this one and they will affect your learning the material. The sound is great during the performances but awful during the explanations. Further, those explanations are shot from a distance; long shots don't work when teaching material. You'll need a lot of patience with this one.

Quality of Instruction: 10
Burke, despite the technical problems, does a great job of teaching his material.

Presentation: 8
It's all about the visuals here, and Burke has them in spades. The problem is that some of the handlings tip things way too much, weakening the effects in places.

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.