Wishmaster 4 - La profezia maledetta

I didn't have too many expectations about this movie, having just recently seen Wishmaster 3. I just found out that the original Wishmaster was a Wes Craven flick, that was likely better this sequel, but I haven't seen it yet, nor have I seen Wishmaster 2. They probably would've ruined me for this one, but since I'm likely starting at the bottom of the barrel I can't complain. I loved this one, and Wishmaster 3. No, not really all that scary, either of them. But good fun, I found myself laughing thoughout much of it. Treat it as a comedy, you'll enjoy it more.

I loved some of the ideas they brought in to this sequel. The evil djinn is actually a bit of a good guy in some cases here. He has to actually win the heart of a girl in the old fashioned way: flowers, candy, and sex. And on top of it all, he must protect his love from being murdered by the equally evil agent of heaven. You can't tell who's a good guy and who's bad sometimes. Interesting twist on the good vs. evil plot -- I liked it.

This film essentially begins with an attractive woman by the name of "Lisa" (Tara Spencer-Nairn) voluntarily taking care of her boyfriend "Sam" (Jason Thompson) after he suffers from a motorcycle accident which has left him paralyzed from the waist down. To that effect, it's during this time that a mutual friend named "Steven Verdel" (Michael Trucco) agrees to lend his services as their attorney and files a civil lawsuit on their behalf. As time goes on, Steven gradually falls in love with her which ultimately leads to him giving her a gift that he had purchased a little while earlier. What he doesn't realize, however, is that the gift just happened to have the jewel which contains the essence of an evil "Djinn" (played by both John Novak and Michael Trucco) who is somehow brought back to life once Sam puts the jewel in his office safe. Quite frankly, I'm not sure how this action served as a catalyst, but once revived, the evil djinn quickly goes about seeking to fulfill three wishes from Lisa which will usher in Armageddon upon the entire world. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just that, unlike the first three movies in this series in which the Djinn desperately tries to obtain the third wish from his main victim, he actually accomplishes his primary objective in this one. An interesting step forward, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the special effects were clearly inadequate when other supernatural creatures were introduced, and things went downhill fast from that point. That being said, although this film wasn't quite as bad as its immediate predecessor, it still wasn't nearly as good as it could have been, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled (2002)

** (out of 4)

The fourth and (so far) final film in the series has Djinn (John Novak) taking over the body of a lawyer so that he can make his client Lisa (Tara Spencer-Nairn) ask for three wishes, which will fulfill the evil one's prophecy. It appears there are fans out there of the first WISHMASTER movie and it appears some of them are lukewarm when it comes to the first sequel. After that, it appears those same fans hate parts three and four with a real passion so perhaps my not liking the first film made these direct-to-video sequels seem not as bad. I'm not going to sit here and say that this film is a lost masterpiece or some sort of classic that people from all walks of life should seek out. This film is very far from being good but when you compare it to the majority of the direct-to-video films from this era I think this film offers quite a bit. For starters, those who hate fake looking CGI blood will be happy to know that this film offers real special effects and quite gory ones at that. The gore level here is quite high so blood fans should at least be entertained by this aspect of the film. We're given a couple really graphic death scenes including the highlight of the movie where a lawyer is forced to pretty much torture himself and this leads to all sort of gore. Another major plus going for the film is that the lead actress isn't afraid to take off her clothes. These type of horror films never deliver heart-warming stories or Oscar-winning performances so it's good that this delivers in other ways and that is the gore and nudity. I also didn't think the performances were all that bad with Spencer-Narin making for a good lead and at least she's watchable. The supporting players aren't too bad either with Novak once again doing a good job with the lead of the demon. The problems are what you'd expect to find in a film like this and that's the unoriginal story, too long of a running time and the fact that there's just really not much going on. Still, fans of gore and nudity should at least find enough of that here to keep the film entertaining.

There are so many things wrong with this film it's hard to even begin. The first two Wishmaster films were quite good, the third was sub-par, but still not terrible. I was thinking maybe there was hope that this one would be somewhere online with the first two films. Was i ever wrong, this one is truly pathetic even as far as sequels go. The first scene is a graphic sex scene, and then they play some MTV "Happy Song" ... first bad move for a horror movie, trendy pop songs ruin the whole atmosphere early. The "Demon" voices of the Djinn and the Guardian (or whatever the idiot angel with the sword was) makes it laughable. I mean, they sound like childish attempts at making normal vocals into demonic vocals. In closing, the first third hour of the movie is the worst, the second third of the movie is tolerable, and the last third of the movie is just plain moronic. I'll bet Wes Craven is glad he had nothing to do with this disaster.

This film is a far better example of a sequel than a lot of other straight to video sequels. Although this is not "Citizen Kane" by any means it is an entertaining and well acted movie, in most respects. Personally, i was impressed by the performance of Michael Trucco playing the human face of the Djinn. His voice in several scenes was an interesting tribute to Andrew Divoff. His performance far surpasses Chris Connery from the third installment. The female lead is sexy, and not untalented. And for the first time since the original, the story is different. What people fail to realize is this is an anthology film series, the others who reviewed this flick keep comparing John Novak's Djinn to Andrew Divoff's original performance. He is not the same Djinn, he is not meant to be the same Djinn. The Djinn both singular and plural are a race of beings created after the angels but before man. There are more than one of them out there. Another factor to consider is that this is the fourth installment of the series, as a writer, director and actor in this film, you inherit three films worth of storyline and baggage, and with the shrunken budget, you have very little to work with. The story has originality, the film is fast paced, it contains some humor and interesting wish fullfillment, and it has new characters and a new dimension to the Djinn mystique. It's a good flick, and i suggest it to all Wishmaster fans. Just keep an open mind.