Wishmaster: el genio del mal

Despite being marketed heavily as a 'Wes Craven film,' the horror mastermind neither wrote nor directed this campy nineties splatter-fest. Also, if you were drooling at the thought of seeing Freddy, Candyman and Jason on the same billing (Robert Englund, Tony Todd and Kane Hodder are all in it) then you may be a little disappointed, as their input amounts to just a few cameos here and there. 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. No, not really. 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. Plus he's not half as sweet as Robin William's classic genie - this one has fangs, red eyes and all sorts of weird, slippery appendages sprouting out of him. 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. I felt this possibly works better here in 'Wishmaster' than the 'Elm Street' franchise because the Wishmaster himself - technically - can't kill anyone outright. He has to mess with them enough to get them to (inadvertently) kill themselves. Yes, that sounds a bit weird and you'll have to watch the film to see how.

The film has a real 'nineties' feel; it's not just the clothes, scenery and hairstyles, but it was part of the latter half of the decade where horror films really started to make a comeback (largely due to 'Scream' I seem to recall) and they were really having fun with the budget they were given. 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. Plus is spawned numerous sequels (although not as many as Freddy or Jason), but that's hardly a benchmark with which to judge a horror film, is it?

Geez, after reading all the thumbs-down reviews, I feel almost embarrassed. I _liked_ Wishmaster. No, the idea of wishes-gone-awry isn't particularly original, but there are still some interesting elements done with it: a guard says he'd like to see the Djinn go through him and...it does (heh). Tammy Lauren is adequate as the spunky heroine, and Andrew Divoff (mostly consigned to minor B-villain roles - check him out in the Highlander TV series) makes a chilling threat. Jenny O'Hara makes the most of her role as resident supernatural expert. Yes, the gore is excessive, but I'm not sure if that's a concession to the 90's audience, or a directorial conceit - I'm willing to assume its the former. For a supernatural thriller/horror (as opposed to a Scream-type slasher/thriller), Wishmaster strikes me as one of the better efforts to come along since the last Nightmare and the first Candyman.

Wishmaster marks a huge return for theatrical gore. What a splatterfest! That opening scene, are you kidding me? The KNB crew have blown me away again. From chest exploding skeletons to lizard men, it's well done and I applaud them. It's not just the prologue, it's the whole movie. There's one bit in particular where a guy gets his jaw ripped off. It's jaw-dropping (no pun intended). There is someone from nearly every important horror franchise, and some that aren't so important, in this flick. Cast and cameos include Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister, Ted Raimi and Dan Hicks, Tom Savini, Ricco Ross, Peter Liapis, Joseph Pilato, and Buck Flower. Not to mention KNB effects group, Harry Manfredini did the score, Peter Atkins wrote the screenplay, Robert (K of KNB) Kurtzman directed, and Wes Craven is producing. This is an unreal cast and crew, a who's who of horror. Let's not forget who's leading this cast: Andrew Divoff. He has the one of the scariest, harshest voices of all time. He is the Djinn and he's cool as hell. I just can't understand why this wasn't as well received by the horror community as it should have been. As for the sequels, what sequels? Stick to the original and you can't go wrong.

Let me begin by saying this film is not as bad as it's been made out to be sure it's a gore-fest at points and yes the dialogue is cheesy but surely that is what a B-movie is meant to be? The film has more substance than sequels that seem to spawn in the realm of horror movies. The film concerns a Djinn, Arabic for genie, who escapes from a statue to wreak havoc onto the world. He can sustain a human form if he can give someone 3 wishes. Andrew Divoff is delightfully malicious as the evil Djinn. The main cast give fair performances which can only be expected in a,remember, B-Movie. At times the film tries a bit to hard to please horror fans with various winks to other horror icons, Candyman and Freddy Kruger to name a few (Tony Todd and Robert Englund, respectively). But if you want a half decent horror movie to watch and don't care too much about substance then this film will not disappoint.

Conclusion.

A fun B-movie and a must for all horror fans. Though it does nothing to forward the genre.

"Wishmaster" is better than I expected. It's quite a bit more entertaining than I thought it might be. As a direct-to-video series of horror flicks from the '90s, it had been on my radar for a long time, but I had never heard it spoken of or recommended, which is a shame.

Of course, it raises a flag that the movie was "executive produced" by Wes Craven. A lot of people have been burnt by that; generally people who don't know what an executive producer does, ie. nothing.

I wonder if the presence of the great, forever underrated Robert Englund ("A Nightmare on Elm Street") is owing to Craven's brand, however. And let's not forget the movie also features Tony Todd ("Candyman") and Kane Hodder ("Friday the 13th") in cameos, as well as Sam Raimi's brother Ted, and is narrated by Angus Scrimm, known as The Tall Man in "Phantasm".

The problem with the movie is that is doesn't hold together very well from scene to scene. It has many entertaining moments and good lines, but the story is simplistic, yet told in a confusing way. One indispensable aspect of these mid-'90s horror flicks is that they were made right before CGI came and ruined everything, and the movie has a lot of cool, practical gore effects.