Review of Flightcase by Peter Eggink

Reviewed by J C Sum.

I have two minor peeves that I should just rant out fo the way first. First, the menu was too small and hard to read. Secondly, the opening intro was not filmed with a clip-on mike with a direct feed into the camera or a digital recorder. If it was, the levels were way too low. As a result, a lot of background ambient noise was picked up and it was difficult to hear what was Peter was saying.

During the first performance of the routine to the camera

Performance video, the camera was moving way too much and out of frame and did not give an accurate/ or clear view of the performance. However, the instructions and subsequent demonstrations are more than enough to give you a clear idea of the presentation and handling of the illusion.

You receive the special card box that comes flat with the DVD (for shipping purposes). The gimmick is very discrete and I actually played around with the card box for a full couple of minutes before I found the gimmick. One reason is I had no idea what I was looking for but I knew what the plot was, yet could not see anything amiss. At first, I thought it was just a regular card box.

The choreography of actions needed to load and reveal the card in box is excellent and I think it is the cleanest signed card in box that I know of. Everything can be examined at the end and if performed correctly, the effect will look exactly like what is touted.

In addition to the basic routine, Peter gives two additional bonus routines. One that I really like was the card under case routine. It is very clean and is done with the card case on the spectator’s open hand. It is very strong! If you do a card under case type routine or card on case (ala Steve Bedwell), this would work perfectly.

Production values of the DVD are not top notch but instruction is very clear and the idea/ method is brilliant. As mentioned in my review of Consignment, a signed card to envelope, I received both these items for review at the same time so naturally made comparisons. While both basic plot premises are the same, the methods and choreography of actions are completely different.

I like this and think it is very practical and usable for any type of close-up work, professional or casual. It is slightly more expensive than “Consignment” but I think the actions of loading are much more natural and the time of the loading puts you way ahead of the reveal.

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