By Geno McGahee
Many times, the purpose of a horror film is to create an icon…something that can be repackaged and sold over and over again. FRIDAY THE 13TH had Jason Voorhees and it sprouted many sequels, making a boatload of money, and then there was Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger, but there has been a void since the big three have faded away. In 1997, a new horror hopeful was introduced in the movie: WISHMASTER.
A demon or Djinn (Andrew Divoff) is trapped inside of a stone, but can be released and does offer 3 wishes. Yes, he’s a genie in a bottle baby and you have to rub him the right way. You can just look at him and see that he wants to be rubbed. The problem is, if you rub him off, the world is in trouble!
Raymond (Robert Englund) is a collector of ancient statues and has found one of interest. As its being lowered from a boat, a drunken employee doesn’t operate the crane correctly and it crashes to the ground, and a worker finds a gem, quickly pocketing it and bringing it to a pawn shop. The shop owner brings it to an auction house and it gets into the hands of Alexandra (Tammy Lauren). Upon examination, she discovers that the gem has something inside and it is not normal. She unknowingly unleashes the Djinn.
The idea of three wishes sounds great, but Djinn is a prick and every wish you make, he will twist into something bad. One person asks for wealth and the Djinn crashes a plane with his mother aboard and he becomes rich through the insurance policy. A girl asks for everlasting beauty and he turns her into a mannequin. The guy gets off on misery!
He starts terrorizing everyone, killing and torturing, with the hope that Alexandra will make her third wish, which will allow him to rule the world, open the gates of hell, and all other sorts of bad stuff. Alexandra will have to figure a way to stop the Djinn.
This movie is loaded with some horror names. We had Tony Todd of CANDYMAN fame, Englund of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and Kane Hodder of FRIDAY THE 13TH. We also had Buck Flower, an actor that has played a homeless man in many horror films, and he plays one here as well. I am not sure if this was a passing of the torch movie, where the horror icons were moving out of the way to let the Djinn take over, but it just didn’t work.
As good of a character Djinn is, the movie has to live and die by the story and script, and it isn’t very good. The 1990s were a terrible time for film in general, but particularly for horror movies, and this movie certainly has the feel of the time. It isn’t as poor as the majority of 1990 films, but it isn’t great either. When Djinn is on the screen, it’s compelling, but other than that, it slowly moves forward.
WISHMASTER has sprouted 3 direct to video sequels, but never became what appears to be the original intention. It is a decent watch and it’s nice to see the Djinn coming face to face with Englund. I was hoping that he would morph into Krueger and kick the shit out of him, but this is the genie movie and that wouldn’t be fair.
We also see Kane Hodder in a speaking role…ouch. Put that mask back on Hodder and just walk around. His acting was atrocious!
In the end WISHMASTER is another mediocrity from the 1990s but at least it has a very interesting bad guy. The Djinn alone is worth it. I recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5/10. I wish it was better.
