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Spontaneous Combustion Review

One DVD, one special deck, one sheet of instructions, $40 bucks and one Spontaneous Combustion Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Spontaneous Combustion Review: Effect

In the simplest terms, a signed selection is found as you burn the cards with your bare fingers. Your fingers seem to melt through the cards as they apparently burn about half of the cards.

Spontaneous Combustion Review: Method

Some basic card handling and specially cut cards make this effect possible. The method itself is pretty simple and straight forward. Half of the cards are pre cut to the shape of fingers. There is some basic handling needed to keep this fact hidden. It's pretty easy stuff. However, the cut cards take a little bit of fiddling with to get them to stay in place, but it's definitely doable.

The only other issue is that the cut cards and the regular cards seem to be from two complete different decks. The edges and sides seems a little bit different. This is best seen, so make sure you watch the video review. Overall, the method is quite doable and will work for any skill level. Also, I think that most hands will fit the gimmick as well. Maybe young children might have an issue, but any average sized teenager and bigger should be fine.

Spontaneous Combustion Review: Ad Copy Integrity

The ad copy actually has two problems with it. One is minor; one is major. The minor one is in the written ad copy. They claim that this comes with a booklet. Nope. It's one sheet of paper. One side is Spanish, and the other side is English. Minor, but slightly annoying. Next we have the ad trailer. Putting aside the humorous fact that they misspelled the name of the product on the opening screen, at about 27 seconds in they lie to us.

There's a shot of a full (i.e., not gimmicked, cut or prepared) 4 of Clubs on the face of the deck. Granell places his fingers over the 4. Then they cut to him with his fingers hiding the gimmicked 4 of Clubs. Thus giving the impression that you place your fingers on a full card that is not "burned" right before your fingers melt/burn through the deck. This is simply not true. The method does not work that way, and nothing like this is taught on the DVD.

They create the same lie at about 40 seconds in with the 8 of Diamonds. During the 8 of Diamonds performance he also blows smoke out of his mouth at the cards. I'm not sure if they were being dishonest here or not, but to be clear, this effect and product does not include any smoke product of any type. I don't know if he was using cigarette smoke or some sort of smoke gimmick for that effect. He does not discuss it in the less than 5 minute tutorial.

Spontaneous Combustion Review: Product Quality

The cards are pretty well made. The only exception being the aforementioned edge and side problem. Again, take a look at the review video for clarity on this. The DVD is in Spanish with English subtitles. Though the training is only about 5 minutes, it actually does cover the needed info for proper handling. In addition to the 5 minute tutorial you are also shown two full performance clips with English subtitles. It's not the best production quality, but it has a DVD menu, and you'll learn everything you need to know pretty easily.

Spontaneous Combustion Review: Final Thoughts

Watch the video review for a more accurate representation of the illusion. If you don't mind the misleading moments in the ad trailer and you like this effect, you'll be happy with your purchase. If it weren't for the lies in the ad trailer, this would have been 4.5 stars or better.

Final Verdict:
3.5 Star with a Stone Status of gem.

Available at your Favorite Magic Dealer. Dealer's see Murphy's Magic for details.