Wishmaster (1997)

A demonic djinn attempts to grant its owner three wishes, which will allow him to summon his brethren to Earth.

Director:

Robert Kurtzman

Writer:

Peter Atkins

Stars:

Tammy Lauren, Andrew Divoff, Robert Englund

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tammy Lauren	...	Alexandra Amberson
Andrew Divoff	...	The Djinn / Nathaniel Demerest
Robert Englund	...	Raymond Beaumont
Chris Lemmon	...	Nick Merritt
Wendy Benson-Landes	...	Shannon Amberson (as Wendy Benson)
Tony Crane	...	Josh Aickman
Jenny O'Hara	...	Wendy Derleth
Kane Hodder	...	Merritt's Guard
Tony Todd	...	Johnny Valentine
Ricco Ross	...	Lt. Nathanson
John Byner	...	Doug Clegg
George 'Buck' Flower	...	Homeless Man (as Buck Flower)
Gretchen Palmer	...	Ariella
Ted Raimi	...	Ed Finney
Angus Scrimm	...	Narrator (voice)

Storyline

In the beginning of the times, God created life into universe: light gave birth to angels, earth to men and fire to djin, creatures condemned to dwell in the void between the worlds. One who wakes a djin shall be given three wishes. Upon granting the third, an unholy legion of djins are freed through a doorway between the worlds upon the Earth. In 1127 A.D., in Persia, a sorcerer lures and traps a powerful Djinn in the stone of secret fire. In the present days, a drunken crane operator drops the valuable statue of Ahura Mazda over the assistant of Raymond Beaumont on the harbor, and one worker finds the huge and priceless opal red stone where Djin is seized. Alexandra Amberson, who works in an auction house, receives the stone for evaluation and accidentally awakes Djin. The evil creature is released later, charges the stone with people souls and feeds with their fears, while chasing Alexandra to force to make three wishes and unleash the demoniac fiends upon Earth.

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Plot Keywords:

djinn | wishmaster | demon | reference to houdini | first of series | 

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Taglines:

Be careful what you wish for.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence and gore, and for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 September 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wes Craven's Wishmaster

Filming Locations:

Wilmington, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,038,516, 21 September 1997, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$15,719,109, 30 November 1997

Company Credits

Production Co:

Image Organization,Pierre David

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Angus Scrimm: Narrator at the beginning, (voice only).

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Goofs

When Josh and Alex sit down after their tennis match, Josh's tennis racket vanishes from his hands between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[first title card]
Narrator: Once, in a time before time, God breathed life into the universe. And the light gave birth to Angels. And the earth gave birth to Man. And the fire gave birth to the Djinn, creatures condemned to dwell in the void between the worlds. One who wakes a Djinn will be given three wishes. Upon the granting of the third, the unholy legions of the Djinn will be freed to rule the earth. Fear one thing in all there is... FEAR THE DJINN.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits, the Djinn says "Careful what you wish for."

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Alternate Versions

German TV version and some DVDs (rated "Not under 16") are heavily cut for violence, obtaining most of the gore shown in the party-scene near the end of the movie. VHS and DVD releases (rated "Not under 18") are uncut.

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Connections

References Aladdin (1992)

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Soundtracks

All Day Afternoon
Written by Mike Smiters, Rodney Cash and Michael Knott
Performed by 30 Amp. Fuse
Courtesy of Dedicated Records US Inc.

User Reviews

Entertaining...

This was one of my first horror movies (one of many). I first saw it when I was eleven. Back then it was extremely scary, but now, nine years later, it still had those "peekaboo"-moments.

If you want a scary and well made horror movie with a thrilling plot, this is not something for you. But if you want a gory, humorers and easygoing b-movie, this is just what you are looking for.

Although I usually like extremely complex plots, I also like watching movies with plots a three-year old could come up with - like Wishmaster and most action movies. The heroine is cliché - traumatizing past, strong and willful, protective older sister to an impulsive younger. The djinn is also quite cliché, with his cunning and evil ways. He has "I am not going to succeed in my evil quest to enslave mankind" written all over his face.

The movie is all about gruesome and gory things happening to people. Most things that happen are funny and gory. It's not like those movies that look away when the blade meets the neck - here we see everything, the camera even stays to show us what it looks like afterward.

Entertaining - but not much more.