"Sudden Impact" by Cameron Francis
Suggested Retail USD$29.95
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

"Sudden Impact", an effect by Cameron Francis, is a wonderful little utility device for some striking, visual changes which can leave your audience dazed while at the same time opening up a small world of possibilities for your own routines.

I'll cut to the chase: I love this sucker so be prepared for a lot of lauding to be going on.

The simplest effect is a Joker is taken from a deck and put into a card case. The back flap of the card case is pulled down so the card is in plain view inside the case (and yes, Virginia, it really is inside the case). Now, with either a very slow shake or just a split second of time, the Joker visibly changes into a previously signed card. This card is dumped out of the box and immediately handed over for inspection.

Okay, that's cool. But it's also the weakest routine of the lot Francis gives up on the DVD. Yeah, think about that: an examinable, visible, hands-off kinda thing is still the weakest of the effects.

Get why I like this so much yet? Anyway, back to the routines.

There are several taught here other than the titled routine we just described. There are also routines where the back of a card visibly changes color, a selected card changes to a business card, a random card changes to a thought-of card, two cards visibly fuse together into a single card, and -- my personal favorite -- a selected card visibly passes through another card.

All of which can be done to leave you just as clean as a whistle and completely examinable at the end.

By the time that part hit me, I was a fan of "Sudden Impact". It's a utility device I can get into. It's a change device, sure, but it's a good one, and easy one, and it's so flexible it makes my mouth water. But even if I didn't feel like using it to using it as a weird little climax to my "card warp" routine, there's enough real commercial meat in Francis' offering that just using the supplied routines makes this one worth the price.

Just a couple of things to look out for here. You'll want to have your audience management skills up to speed -- can't have grabby spectators getting all touchy-feely at the wrong time -- and there's a bit of an angle issue but not much of one (just one that I can't go into detail about except to say you'll need to work with this one for a very little while to get around it). There is a reset but it's reasonably quick and painless (depending on what you are doing with it). Also, after time, you'll need to re-do the gimmicks. Not a big deal at all but you should know that this will need a little maintenance from time to time.

In the end, though, none of that detracts from "Sudden Impact". This is one you'll end up carrying with you time and time again. It's just that slick.

"Sudden Impact" by Cameron Francis
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Practicality: 9
Other than sweating a very tiny bit of an angle issue and dealing with a reset (which is quick and painless), this is a wonderfully practical effect. You can end up dirty if you feel you can get away with it, or use Francis' clean-up to leave everything examinable. As for pocket space, this is pretty much just a card box, with the "added somethings" small and easily added to the box sometime during an act, so you lose a minimum of real estate. All in all, this is a very practical device.

Workmanship: 9
I had to do a bit of touch up on my set of gimmicks, but nothing major and certainly not enough to put me off the effect. A drop of glue here, a quick snip there, and I was back in business. Still, it is indicative of the work you'll need to do with this after a good bit of time.

Documentation: 10
Cameron Francis always does an excellent job of teaching his material; he does so again here.

Effect: 10
It all depends on what you do with it. "Sudden Impact" is very much a utility device so some things are going to leave you wondering why anyone would bother and other things will leave you staggering with possibilities. Overall, though, as a change device, this gets some powerful reactions.

Presentation: 10
Once again, this is a utility device so it all depends and what you do. However, some of the presentations Francis has cooked up are simply marvelous. In the end, though, he's left the door open here for you to do your own presentational masterpieces.


Shane

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