Hey all! I just wanted to give a review of the DVD "Above Top Secret" by John Sheets.

One word: AMAZING!!

I got this DVD a few days ago and all I gotta say is John Sheets is a genius. The money effects put together on this DVD as true miracle level effects. Here's the rundown:

-Atomic Bills
This is the true genius of the entire DVD...and one of the absolute BEST effects on the market. Looks just like your standard 5 and 1 transpo. But this effect BORROWS the bills, and is CLEAN! The effect is one of the most visual effects you can do, and the method is GENIUS! I'm not kidding, I started performing this and it is now one of the most requested and talked about effects in my restaurant act!! It hits the audience hard! With the included atomic bills 2.0, you can put even put the bills in two spectators' hands, taking the magicians hands completely out of play. I've gotten some of the best reactions I've ever gotten from this effect alone, and I've been performing professionally for over a decade! It's that good! It packs small and plays HUGE, and takes only minutes to create. You know those special effects you have that just look and feel like real magic...this is at the top of the list. Also, it's one of those effects that is just fun to do... the method is great! This effect alone is worth the entire price of the DVD!

-Cool Cash
Very much the same effect as atomic bills, but another way of doing it. John performed this on me a couple years ago, after my friends and I had already been performing atomic bills (I knew about the effect before it was put on this DVD), and we were completely fooled! This definitely is the "magician fooler" method. With this you are ultra clean beginning through end! Cool cash completely flips the method learned in atomic bills and brings the effect to another level. In my opinion, though I perform the atomic bills method, this is a very smart way of doing the effect that many people will prefer. In fact, there's nothing saying you can't perform both... picking a method depending on your situation.

-High Roller
The effect is very similar to Greed, except you change a 1 dollar bill to a 5, a 10, a 20, a 50, and finally a 100 dollar bill. Also, you start and end clean, so yes, that $100 at the end can be examined. This is a really cool effect, especially for those who may feel Greed to be a little limiting or don't want to change the final bill to a coin. A very nice inclusion to the DVD.

My only complaint about the DVD is that Black's Magic Group, in my opinion, did a very poor job of creating a DVD worthy of the material it contains. Though the effects and information contain in the DVD is stellar, the DVD could have been presented much better. I don't think Black's Magic is quite caught up with the other big magic retailers out there, like Penguin or even E, in creating a DVD that looks and feels as awesome (or even more awesome) then the material presented. These effects are some of the coolest effects on the market, but the DVD contains weird glitches, video issues and sound issues that simply don't do the material justice. Also, the performance section of the DVD was a little disappointing, not because of how the effects were performed, but simply because the cameraman didn't really do a good job of capturing the magic on tape.

However, the effects and information provided on this DVD is stellar, and are real reputation makers. For all those not familiar with John Sheets, he is the magician who created the awesome Quantum Bender, which was featured on David Blaine's latest special. The guy is a true innovator! If you can let go of Black's magic poor editing and presentation, you will find real gems in this DVD. I highly, highly recommend this DVD.

Get this. You won't regret it.