Director: Robert Kurtzman
Writer: Peter Atkins (Screenplay)
Starring: Tammy Lauren, Andrew Divoff, Robert Englund, Chris Lemmon, Wendy Benson-Landes
Plot: A demonic djinn attempts to grant its owner three wishes, which will allow him to summon his brethren to earth.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Enjoyable Horror Fantasy
Story: Wishmaster starts when artefact collector Raymond Beaumont’s (Englund) latest piece arrives but is damaged with a gem finding itself way into the trade markets. When expert Alexandra Amberson (Lauren) learns that something isn’t right about the gem, she finds herself receiving whisper like messages about releasing something from the stone.
When the Djinn (Divoff) starts lurking in the shadows waiting for people to give them his wishes so he can grant them, anything including murder, but Alex feels all of these deaths as the power the Djinn has grows. Alex must learn the power of the stone while Djinn powers himself up as he searches for the one who freedom Alex.
Thoughts on Wishmaster
Characters – Alexandra is an expert in the analysing of gems but when she releases the Djinn and must gain the knowledge to prevent him from gaining the power to take over the world, we don’t learn too much about what he job is but it does give her connection that can help her along the way. The Djinn is the Wishmaster that once released listens for people’s wishes or desires and makes them happen but not in the way the people would imagine. He does like to play on the words people say to have creative ways of getting rid of the people. Raymond Beaumont is a collector that has been building a collection of all the ancient Gods, he is the one that brings the statue that contains the gem to America.
Performance – Tammy Lauren is a good lead but you do see stronger performance in the similar created characters. Andrew Divoff makes for a menacing villain through the film controlling when needed too. Robert Englund is good in what is a different role for him where he isn’t a villainous character in a horror film.
Story – The idea that an ancient God can come back granting wishes to release his own power of the Earth is a nice touch, on the three wishes idea how the Djinn can re-word what you say into the nightmare is very clever trying to teach people to be careful what they ask for. This does follow a formula but does disappoint as we only seem to meet a lot of characters just to be victims of the wishes showing the weakness the human spirit can have.
Fantasy/Horror – The idea of a mystical figure that can create wishes that only turn into nightmares is a very good use of the horror fantasy genres.
Settings – The settings are not the most important or noticeable part of this film, which disappoints in places.
Special Effects – The effects do look good for a film that is 20 plus years old, the film did become creative with some of the kills too.
Scene of the Movie – You would have to go through me.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many disposable characters we don’t learn enough about.
Final Thoughts – This is a good film that does seem to grow in quality as the film unfolds to being something you just want to watch until the end.
Overall: Good little horror fantasy
Rating
