Wishmaster

There are two distinct kinds of horror movies; the serious ones, and the not-so-serious ones. Occasionally, a horror film tries to be serious but winds up being... less than serious. Then there are the ones that set out to be cheesy from the start... this is one of those movies. From the very beginning you can tell that this movie was merely made to entertain horror movie fans who like their shocks with a side of humor. There's more gore and deaths in this in just the first five and last twenty minutes(and quite a few in-between, as well) than several other huge gore-fests of horror movies put together. Even better, you get to see no less than three major horror icons in the film. I'm honestly not a huge fan of this kind of movie, but I have to say I found it highly entertaining... if you're in the right mood for it, it may "work" for you(it definitely never strives to be something more or different than what it reveals that it is from the very beginning). The plot is pretty tame, but it allows for plenty of gore and death(and includes one well-known possible consequence of wishing for stuff from a genie). The acting is decidedly poor, either over- or underdone. The dialog ranges, but mostly it's very bad. That works to the film's advantage, so it's no big deal. The pacing really doesn't leave much room for complaining, the film doesn't really let up for a second(it is, of course, quite uneven... Kurtzman is clearly not a director). The film has a short running time and I found it to possess surprisingly high entertainment value, as well. The special effects are great. No way around it. The deaths and gore effects are original and interesting, not to mention amazingly pulled off. Fairly low budget, but it was spent right... mostly on effects, I'd wager. I recommend this to any fan of horror, particularly cheesy horror. If you're into it, you'll love this. Trust me. And be careful what you wish for. 6/10

Geez, after reading all the thumbs-down reviews, I feel almost embarrassed. I _liked_ Wishmaster. No, the idea of wishes-gone-awry isn't particularly original, but there are still some interesting elements done with it: a guard says he'd like to see the Djinn go through him and...it does (heh). Tammy Lauren is adequate as the spunky heroine, and Andrew Divoff (mostly consigned to minor B-villain roles - check him out in the Highlander TV series) makes a chilling threat. Jenny O'Hara makes the most of her role as resident supernatural expert. Yes, the gore is excessive, but I'm not sure if that's a concession to the 90's audience, or a directorial conceit - I'm willing to assume its the former. For a supernatural thriller/horror (as opposed to a Scream-type slasher/thriller), Wishmaster strikes me as one of the better efforts to come along since the last Nightmare and the first Candyman.

I first saw Wishmaster at a midnight screening at the London Trocadero in summer 1998. I had been awake for nearly 24 hours but needed to kill some time. I was only 17, not old enough to get into the 18-rated movie, and it scared the hell out of me.

As we get older, fewer and fewer movies have the ability to scare us as we all get more savvy and jaded to the formulaic nature of most horror films. I don't know what it was about Wishmaster that spooked me so bad, but I've been a fan of the film ever since.

On a technical level, Wishmaster suffers from shoddy production design and direction that is barely above that of a cheap daytime soap opera. The acting is mostly appalling (with the exception of Andrew Divoff, who ravages the role of the Djinn/Demerest), and some of the dialogue is clunky. But, as a whole, the movie excels on pure energy alone. I mean, not only do you have more in-jokes than you can possibly count but even Jack the Ripper himself turns up before Lemmy sings hard rock over the closing credits.

There's so much potential, imagination, and over-the-top carnage that the film just whizzes by. A lot of the potential isn't taken full advantage of (the 90 minute runtime keeps things to the bare minimum) but it sets up enough mythology to justify three sequels, the first sequel being the only decent one, however.

The plot focuses on the Djinn, that's Wishmaster to you, and his efforts to take over the world. As you can see...it's pure hokum but it's the gory bits in between and the Djinn's wisecracking that make this movie worth the money. The Djinn will never be as infamous or as iconic as Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers etc, but that's not to say that he's not an utterly brilliant character. Divoff is absolutely perfect in the role. Even if all he did was real aloud from phone book he'd be mesmerizing.

If you like gore, ghoulish make-up effects, and don't mind horror humor that feels like it was conjured up by a bunch of drunken frat boys, then you'll find plenty to like about Wishmaster.

Wishmaster marks a huge return for theatrical gore. What a splatterfest! That opening scene, are you kidding me? The KNB crew have blown me away again. From chest exploding skeletons to lizard men, it's well done and I applaud them. It's not just the prologue, it's the whole movie. There's one bit in particular where a guy gets his jaw ripped off. It's jaw-dropping (no pun intended). There is someone from nearly every important horror franchise, and some that aren't so important, in this flick. Cast and cameos include Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister, Ted Raimi and Dan Hicks, Tom Savini, Ricco Ross, Peter Liapis, Joseph Pilato, and Buck Flower. Not to mention KNB effects group, Harry Manfredini did the score, Peter Atkins wrote the screenplay, Robert (K of KNB) Kurtzman directed, and Wes Craven is producing. This is an unreal cast and crew, a who's who of horror. Let's not forget who's leading this cast: Andrew Divoff. He has the one of the scariest, harshest voices of all time. He is the Djinn and he's cool as hell. I just can't understand why this wasn't as well received by the horror community as it should have been. As for the sequels, what sequels? Stick to the original and you can't go wrong.

Despite being marketed heavily as a 'Wes Craven film,' the horror mastermind neither wrote nor directed this campy nineties splatter-fest. Also, if you were drooling at the thought of seeing Freddy, Candyman and Jason on the same billing (Robert Englund, Tony Todd and Kane Hodder are all in it) then you may be a little disappointed, as their input amounts to just a few cameos here and there. Anyway, minor gripes out of the way, 'Wishmaster' is actually pretty good fun - if you're into this sort of film.

While bringing an ancient statue to America, it accidentally breaks, releasing a big blue cartoon genie, voiced by Robin Williams, who happily makes various pop culture references and grants our plucky young hero the wishes he needs to win the princess' heart. No, not really. This is one genie you wouldn't find in a Walt Disney movie - he delights in making all the wishes he grants impact on the person who made them in the most negatively-bad way possible. Plus he's not half as sweet as Robin William's classic genie - this one has fangs, red eyes and all sorts of weird, slippery appendages sprouting out of him. Now, it's up to our leading lady, Alexandra Amberson (played by a Linda Hamilton-esque Tammy Lauren) to get this genie back in his bottle - so to speak.

I know a lot of hard-core fans objected to the 'change' in the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' films when Freddy started becoming less scary and more comedic, taking pleasure in his kills with a snappy one-liner here and there. Well, if you (like me!) didn't mind this, then you should also enjoy 'Wishmaster.' The titular evil character is certainly a villain of the latter Freddy films, taking his time to mess with his victims, rather than kill them outright. I felt this possibly works better here in 'Wishmaster' than the 'Elm Street' franchise because the Wishmaster himself - technically - can't kill anyone outright. He has to mess with them enough to get them to (inadvertently) kill themselves. Yes, that sounds a bit weird and you'll have to watch the film to see how.

The film has a real 'nineties' feel; it's not just the clothes, scenery and hairstyles, but it was part of the latter half of the decade where horror films really started to make a comeback (largely due to 'Scream' I seem to recall) and they were really having fun with the budget they were given. Yes, there are hardly any A-list actors involved and the script is a little clunky as times, but there are plenty of excellent practical effects, creepy sets and a genuine desire to try and do something (a little) different.

Wishmaster' isn't 'dark and brooding' like today's horror films, but if you're in a forgiving mood and don't expect too much, this one is certainly entertaining enough to keep you occupied for an hour and a half. Plus is spawned numerous sequels (although not as many as Freddy or Jason), but that's hardly a benchmark with which to judge a horror film, is it?