Wishmaster

Plot synopsis:
The narrator, Angus Scrimm, in his only words in the film, introduces the audience to the creatures called "djinn***" ***(which are actually mohammedian efreets; correction should concern every following mistake)." with the following statement: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 shall be given three wishes. Upon the granting of the third, the unholy legions of the Djinn shall be freed to rule the earth. Fear one thing in all there is...fear the Djinn.
The next scene is set in Persia during the year 1127 A.D. with the Djinn asking a Persian emperor to make his second wish. The emperor asks the Djinn to show him wonders. The Djinn uses his powers to torture and mutilate people in the palace. Before the emperor can make his third wish, Zoroaster, a sorcerer (Ari Barak), interrupts and states that upon the third wish granted to the one who woke the Djinn, a gateway will open between the worlds and the evil race of Djinn can live on earth. The sorcerer then reveals a fire opal. The Djinn is sucked into the jewel, where he remains captured.In present day America Raymond Beaumont (Robert Englund) is supervising workers as they lower a box containing an antique statue of Ahura Mazda onto a ship's deck. The worker who is lowering the crate is drinking on the job and accidentally drops it from his crane, killing Beaumont's assistant (Ted Raimi) and destroying the statue. It breaks open and a dockworker finds the fire opal inside which he steals and pawns. The jewel ends up at Regal Auctioneers, where boss Nick Merritt (Chris Lemmon) gives it to appraiser Alexandra Amberson to examine. Her examinations of the jewel wake the Djinn.Thinking she saw something inside the jewel, Alexandra takes it to her labworker best friend and potential love interest, Josh Aickman (Tony Crane) to analyze. Later, as he is collecting data, light reflections cause the gem to explode and the Djinn is released. The lab is destroyed and Josh is killed, upon his wish for relief from his physical pain.Alex, thinking the gem has something to do with the explosion and subsequent death of Josh, tracks down Beaumont, to whom the statue belonged. Beaumont tells Alex to visit a folklore professor named Wendy Derleth (Jenny O'Hara) to find out more about Ahura Mazda and the gem. He also invites Alex and her sister, Shannon (Wendy Benson) to a party he is hosting.The folklore professor tells Alex about the jewel, the Djinn, and its evil history. Later, Alex learns that the Djinn needs to power the gem with the soul of humans, and then grant her three wishes before he can unleash the Djinn on Earth. During this time, the Djinn, who had been in demonic form removes the face of a corpse in the morgue, taking on the dead man's form and the name Nathaniel Demerest. The Djinn, now as Nathaniel, goes about granting people wishes in return for their souls while he searches for Alex. He finally tracks down Alex's boss and grants him a greed-inflicted wish so that he can get Alex's address.Alex is haunted by visions whenever the Djinn grants a wish. She goes to Wendy's house to consult with her again, but Nathaniel has already killed her and taken her form. During their conversation, Alex realizes she is really talking to the Djinn. He confronts her and asks her to make three wishes. He even gives her a "test" wish. She uses this wish and orders the Djinn to kill itself. He complies by blowing his head off with a gun, yet the wound heals instantly; as the Djinn is immortal, he cannot be killed. Alex then uses the first of the "official" three wishes: Her first being to know her opponent, the Djinn. He teleports her to his terrifying world within the gem, thus demonstrating his true nature to her. Next, she wishes herself back to her apartment, alone. The Djinn had been threatening Alex's sister, so Alex sets about finding Shannon. She races to Beaumont's party and Nathaniel follows. While talking to Nathaniel at the party, Beaumont makes the mistake of wishing his party would be unforgettable, and Nathaniel begins wreaking havoc by causing the art pieces to kill the guests.The Djinn finally corners Alex and traps Shannon, trying to scare Alex into making the ultimate third wish. Alex wishes that the dockworker had not been drinking on the job two days ago undoing the events that followed (and presumably reviving the Djinn's victims back to life) and trapping the Djinn in the opal. The dock scene is shown again and the now sober operator has no trouble lowering the crate containing Ahura Mazda. Alex goes to see Josh at the lab. He notices that Alex is strangely pleased with herself, but she will not say why.Back on the statue of Ahura Mazda, which is now in Beaumont's private collection, the camera zooms inside the jewel and shows us the Djinn on a throne, waiting to be released.

Tags: cult, horror, violence

Review:
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.
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.The gore and funny "Wishmaster" is good horror movie, with original deaths, great special effects (1997) and a refreshing story.
Andrew Divoff, presently working in "Lost", is great in the role of the evil, witty and cynical Djin; the blonde Tammy Lauren performs a smart and clever character, following the Djin's advice ("- Make a wish, but think first") and luring and tricking the demon with her intelligence; and there is homage to horrors movie, with the participation of Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund and Tony "Candyman" Todd.
WISHMASTER Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTS / SDDSAimed directly at the 'Fangoria' crowd, though not much fun for anyone else, WISHMASTER is 'presented' by executive producer Wes Craven and directed by makeup maestro Robert Kurtzman, so it's no surprise the movie emphasizes makeup and visual effects at the expense of plot and characterization.
The story revolves around an ancient djinn (Andrew Divoff), trapped in an emerald for centuries and accidentally released in modern day America, whereupon it takes human form and grants various characters a series of 'wishes', all of which backfire in gruesome fashion (and I *do* mean gruesome!).
Naturally, she resists...Stuffed full of 'Fangoria'-friendly cameos (Robert Englund, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Ted Raimi, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm, etc.) and visual references to earlier, better pictures (HELLRAISER, THE THING, countless others), the movie has the same kind of bland, homogenized script and production design which afflicts many similar movies from the same period, and the results couldn't be less appealing.
A reasonable watch, entertaining with a pretty cool ending.A thing that did bother me was the actor who played the 'human-suit' Djinn: he acted a little over the top...the evil smiles (and evil they were :) got somewhat irritating after a while.One of the best parts in the movie is where the Djinn is sitting in the office of the manager of that jewellery company and the manager says he wants a million bucks.
"Wishmaster" brings forward a new type of bogeyman; the evil genie in the lamp (only he's stuck in a piece of jewelry here) who makes every wish come true in an atrocious and ambiguous way.
We have Tony Todd ("Candyman"), Kane Hodder ("Jason Vorhees"), Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm (both "Phantasm") all making cameo-appearances, which makes this film slightly more interesting for hardcore-horror fans.
In order to gain world domination however, the Djinn must grant three wishes of the person who rubbed the ruby (Tammy Lauren).The special effects are terrific (especially the Djinn) considering the budget and the murder scenes are graphic and creative.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The whole thing is meant to be a wink to the audience, but as a universe with a set of rules it doesn't make sense and the whole enterprise feels curiously like there's no way the Djinn haven't already taken over the world.The central plot is that whomever awakens the Djinni gets 3 wishes and after those are cast all the Djinn take over the earth.
While several horror mainstays made appearances and the great Wes Craven directed, this film rarely gets talked about these days.The djinn, the wish-granting antagonist, is handled without relying on many of the genie-clichés we so often see.
The practical effects are a throwback to 80s horror classics like Hellraiser and The Thing.Admittedly, this movie comes from the early days of CGI and has some off- putting moments because of it.
Never mind my rating: it's not a good movie, it's a fun movie, same goes with quality chocolate vs a Nestlé chocolate bar or filet Mignon vs a hamburger, one will make you feel complete, the other will satisfy a craving.Let me first start off by saying, this is why I love SOME B-Series horror movies: The acting is poor, the story is seldom believable, the make-up and special effects are acceptable, but the lore is interesting and the story is original, if a lot of moments and events in the movie are obvious rip-offs of other famous horror titles, not to mention a villain with a great sense of humour, literally "killing" his audience and at least it wasn't shot with an "in-story" cameraman afflicted with Parkinson or a week-day afternoon soap shooting.From today's perspective, considering what's on the market, aside from a few jump scares, I would put this more in the odd and frequent genre (in B-series) known as horror-comedy rather then literal horror.What do I mean: a good villain, powerful, a trickster, a master deceiver with witty come-backs and jokes at every kill with killer o-p dialogue (no pun intended), mixed with the bad acting, it's hard to take this movie seriously, which is a good thing.With movies such as the Hellraiser series (never mind the one about that video game based on the Lament Configuration or that last one with the two teenagers on a trip to Mexico (that was awful, to say the least)), the Leprechaun series (one of my personal favorites: so bad it's hilarious, and therefor, good), this movie adds nicely to my collection, where gore is turned into comedy, where horror laughs at itself.For you people out there who have a sick sense of humour and are kind of tired of today's more serious take on life in general medias, this movie will bring enough mixed emotions caught between general amusement and visceral disgust to make you over-look the B-ness and dull plot of the movie.If on the other hand you're looking for something either believable or of decent quality and aren't into cheap jokes, step away from the movie, walk on by and don't look back.With this said, for those of you who *wish (ha-ha) to stick around, enjoy the show and Be careful what you for (duh)..
It starts off nicely here with the opening massacre of the old-time court of the different grisly actions befalling the troupe as people get their limbs and bodily features morphed into various monstrosities, a person's skeleton rips itself free of its body, demonic hallucinations and other rather fun encounters here that makes this such a fantastic opening display of his powers which is continued throughout here with a rather nice amount of wish-granting.
New horror actor Andrew Divoff gives a great performance as the Djinn, the evil genie.
When i see the plot of this movie, a really bad genie, that grants wishes in "another" way, i think it will be really good.
This idea with a good plot could make a great movie, like Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (My personal favorite).
Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund, Tony "Candyman" Todd, and Kane "Jason Voorhees" Hodder are just a few of them.There's a certain sadistic fun in watching people wish for things only for their wishes to backfire on them.
Oddly, the story ends with a character inexplicably losing the ability to reinterpret wishes.***** Wishmaster (9/19/97) Robert Kurtzman ~ Tammy Lauren, Andrew Divoff, Robert Englund, Chris Lemmon.
I found plot really well done, I found Wishmaster not too scary, I found him a little too funny to be scary.However I found him more creepy when he had the humans face, he got one hell of a evil face.I was shocked with some of the gore in this movie , wow, I didn't not see that come, Spoiler: (He makes a prisoner, rip a cop Jaw right of his face, Ouch!) that had to hurt!
For example, in Wishmaster 2 it is said that the Djinn can only grant 1 wish to people for their soul though the security guard in the first movie (played by Jason Voorhees' Kane Hodder) gets 2 wishes.
I think Novak took the correct approach in his roles by making the Djinn sound more like a genie (he actually reminded me of a genie when he spoke) instead of imitating Divoff's evil voice.The music in Wishmaster is your usual horror suspense score, nothing too different in this but it sets the tone well enough.
That also brings up the fact that the movie is not directed by Wes Craven though is advertised to make people think that he did without actually saying it.Wishmaster is a treat for most horror fans.
The movie follows the Djinn trying to find Alexandra to grant her the three wishes that will free him.Robert Kurtzman background in make-up and SFX are a synonymous of quality in this departments, the movie features surprisingly good SFX and very gory considering that this movie was shown in theaters at a time when the gore in movies was very low.
This is one of those movies that gives you the feeling that the whole cast & crew had a great time when filming.The whole movie would be better than your average horror flick, but the poor development of the script(specially in the ending, although the SFX were superb) really hurts this movie and leaves it as an average effort.
In the first Wishmaster Andrew Divoff plays the Djinn excellently!The film starts off with a bang and it is gory but its not that bad.The film is really a good horror fest!If you like Michael Myers,Freddy,and Jason,then you'll love the Djinn,the Wishmaster!.
Amazing how easy it is to wish for something without first thinking through the unintended meaning of certain words!With cameos brief and lengthy for such luminaries as Robert Englund, (Freddy Krueger), Angus Scrimm (The Tall Man/Phantasm), Tom Savini (Horror make-up artist extraordinaire), Tony Todd (Candyman)....love his bit!, Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees), Ted Raimi (brother of EVIL DEAD's director Sam Raimi) and exec-produced by none other than Wes Craven, you have to be majorly impaired if you don't like this one.
You know the story at once you've seen the cover of the film, and it wasn't too different from what I expected.The best part of the movie was that it didn't last too long, so I never got bored watching it.
"Wishmaster" isn't a masterpiece,but it is quite entertaining and simply fun to watch horror flick.Overrated director Wes Craven produced this one and I can safely say that this is his best film of the 90's(his "Scream" series,"Mind Ripper","New Nightmare" are pathetic crap,though).Of course the main heroine Tammy Lauren is annoying as hell,but there are some funny cameos to be seen here-Kane Hodder,Robert Englund,Tony Todd,Angus Scrimm(the Tall Man from "Phantasm" series)and Tom Savini.I like also wickedly funny Andrew Divoff's performance as a Djinn.There's plenty of gore(people are ripped open etc.)to keep gore-hounds happy.6 out of 10.Check it out,if you're bored.Avoid its awful sequel "Wishmaster 2:Evil Never Dies" like the plague..
I'd have been about thirteen at the time, and hadn't seen a great deal of horror movies, so I was pretty much this film's primary target.
Impressed by the gore and special effects, I actually quite liked this film and took my good memories of it into my later years of horror fandom, i.e. now.
Well, shortly before I caught this flick again anyway, as now that I've seen much more of the genre; Wishmaster is no longer the film I thought it was, and my good memories of it have now been replaced by the correct idea that this is, in fact, a rather tedious, cliché ridden, shameless attempt to cash in on younger horror audiences that haven't seen much beyond the endless waive of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street sequels.
because the stuff that makes this movie really awesome is, the nice gore effects and the voiceacting of Andrew Divoff playing the wishmaster.
Tammy Lauren the main character sucked in both versions and is the main flaw in this movie.i recommend this movie to anybody who likes horror films with a charismatic and funny to watch bad guy.
it is really enjoyable!5 stars : average horror film+ 1 star for Andrew Divoff's awesome performance+ 1 star for the fresh idea of having a Djinn granting wishes as bad guyand if you liked this one because of the gore, Andrew Divoff's performance and the stupid "good" main characters, GO AND WATCH "wishmaster 2 - evil never dies", it's a good sequel, just don't continue with wishmaster 3 and 4, leave the series after wishmaster 2, since Andrew Divoff is only in 1 & 2 and he is the one who makes these movies so iconic..
It's good in a horror movie buff type way and I think the story could have been better.
The special effects were great and I really liked the Djinn's make-up, but why did he have to talk the way he does in the finished film.
But, But, If you are a horror fan, who loves fun movies, this is one for you, believe me, I don't think you'll be let down.Just great!!A 10!!
Another great thing is the acting of Andrew Divoff as the Djinn; he really has the 'evil look' and is actually quite funny some times.
Inside of it is a Djinn (Andrew Divoff) who will do whatever he can to make her say three wishes so that he evil ways can fully come out.WISHMASTER is a film I saw when it was first released to theaters and I honestly hated it.
Wishmaster is a movie that's unique in it's own way, who else would have a film about an evil genie?
The film is slightly cheesy but great fun to watch, the acting is good especially from Andrew Divoff who does a great job portraying the Djinn.
The special effects are pretty cool and the gore is great especially the party scene also the Djinn make-up is neat, the costume is different in the first movie compared to how the Djinn looks like in the sequels.
and the djinn once again tries to continue his evil ways.The basic idea of this film is really cool: a genie grants wishes and the wishes go very, very badly.
This is one of my most favourite movies of all time.I gave it a 9 to counter-balance the negative reviews,as the film (& its actors) deserved far more credit than what's been written.What the film lacked in high-grade special effects & budget,it was compensated for by Andrew Divoff's undeniably memorable performance(even the critics credited him),the witty Djinn remarks (they sound kinda Shakespearean,don't you think?) & the clever twists on the granted wishes.Sure,the story was simple & people can speculate forever on what the final wish should've been,but it went straight into the story without pointless,boring scenes & it satisfied many horror fans.If it was as terrible as some have claimed,a franchise wouldn't spawn from it.Nor would it have earned 2 nominations:1 for Best Home video & 1 for Best film (both in the Science fiction/horror category of course).The sequels are of another matter,although #2 wasn't bad.Divoff apparently turned down the role for the #3 & 4,which I'm told were flops.Although Divoff stole the show,I thought the other characters were convincing enough too: Tammy Lauren,who was a lot tougher & more practical than the same-old bimbos in other horrors & Chris Lemmon,who did a rather amusing scene with Divoff.The film's a nice change from the typical killer-on-the-loose horrors,with interesting ways in which the victims meet their end.
I guess, as a horror film fan, that is a good thing for effect, but the movie itself, despite a pretty original idea, has the same theme spawn over and over again throughout the film (a dimwitted person makes a wish, sometimes in the context of harmlessness towards a complete stranger -The Wishmaster- and totally regrets it afterwards).
Forget I know what you did last summer and Scream 2, this was the horror film of 1997.A female scientist awakens an ancient genie (Djinn) and if she takes 3 wishes the prophecy will be fulfilled and he will rule the Earth.Andrew Divoff shines as the evil genie, and excellent cameos from Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, and a supporting role from Robert Englund, as well as cool special effects, make this a treat to watch..