#TBT #HorrorMovie Review – Wishmaster (franchise) #PromoteHorror

Wishmaster (1997) is the first and the best in the four movie franchise, probably because Wes Craven made this one, but not the others.

There’s some great cameos and supporting roles by actors from other horror movies, which was fun to see them in different roles, though it’s always strange to see Robert Englund in any role but Freddy Krueger.

I’m not going to say much about this one, because I did really like it. The story is pretty solid, the effects good, and acting better than some movies in this genre during the late 90s.

I give the first Wishmaster installment 4 out of 5 Stars; you’ll enjoy it.

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies (1999) continues the series, starting with an art gallery being robbed, and there’s a shoot out with the thieves, one of which gets shot and the other shoots and kills the guard. During the gunfight, a statue is hit by a stray bullet with the opal in it. Of course, the thief takes it, and escapes.

There are some strange inconsistencies like when the boyfriend wishes he’d never been born, and he gets what he asked for, somehow Morgana remembers him; eye-roll. The effects weren’t bad for a made for video movie, I wasn’t sure if they’d planned to release it in theaters then decided against it because of the bad pre-release reviews.

I liked this movie, yes, it’s not perfect, but it has some great comedic scenes, which gave it an extra bit of cheesy fun. Another, strange thing was the Djinn needed 1000 souls and Morgana’s three wishes. I guess, the creators didn’t really pay attention to the first one.

Oh well, I liked it, and give it 3 out of 5 Stars.

Here we go again, another damaged woman who survived something traumatic, at least they are consistent with this part, this time it’s Diana Collins. The beginning of Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (2001) shows flashbacks of a car accident that killed her parents. The only time a man was responsible for releasing the Djinn was the beginning of the first, but then we skip thousands of years and Alexandra is linked to it. It just seems redundant.

How is the opal in a box-shaped like the star of David, OK, it used to be in a statue, how’d it get in the box? I don’t know why for a third time, they are rewriting the lore. Well whatever. On to more exciting news, Professor Joel Barash wants to get into Diana’s pants. Wow, he’s not even being coy, he’s just going in for the kill, then when she says something about her boyfriend he’s all, I don’t know what you’re insinuating.

Too bad they couldn’t have gotten Andrew Divoff, but I guess he was over it, and they got John Novak. The Djinn doesn’t look right, he’s waxy. The voice is wrong, and obviously the face since it’s not Andrew; almost reminds me of some of the messes they made with Pinhead.

The camp level is about the same in this chapter, which is fine, too bad the acting wouldn’t have gone up, though it is a direct-to-video release, I shouldn’t expect anything. The gore isn’t bad, for a low-budget wannabe 80s horror franchise; then there’s the sound effects, dang that’s some funny stuff. After thirty minutes, I’m not sure why they did the next sixty, I guess, as always, I was expecting it to get better.

This installment only gets 2 out of 5 stars. Now on to the finale in the series.

Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled (2002) is just another regurgitation of the first three movies. The story is exactly the same, minus some details about the tragedy and the damsel in distress and how the Djinn manipulates is different. My understanding was that he could only do things if they were wished, but the attorney certainly didn’t wish what happened to him.

Lisa makes three wishes, but he doesn’t grant the third because of the wish. Then it gets weird. Um the Djinn is trying to get her to love him. She doesn’t have visions of the deaths or wishes granted. At least, they changed it up, I guess.

This is better than 3, but only by a margin, and I give it 2.5 out of 5 Stars.