Wishmaster (1997)

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).

This 1997 horror film stars Tammy Lauren, Andrew Divoff and Robert Englund. This focuses on gemologist, Alexandra (Lauren) who unwittingly unleashes an evil genie, a Djinn (Divoff) that's been imprisoned in a ruby who intends on becoming mortal, but needs her soul. As a way of getting to her, he starts granting wishes to people with deadly results and she can see visions of them. Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) plays Beaumont, an antique collector. This isn't that bad, except for some of the acting. Divoff is creepy in it, Harry Manfredini's score is chilling and there's some gruesome make-up effects. Kane Hodder (Jason Goes to Hell), Tony Todd (Candyman), Reggie Bannister (Phantasm), Ted Raimi (Army of Darkness), George 'Buck' Flower (The Fog) and Joe Pilato (Day of the Dead) make brief appearances as well as K.N.B. make-up artists, Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger and Robert Kurtzman. If you're into horror, give this a try at least once.

An opening narration explains, "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 upon the earth. Fear one thing only in all that is… Fear the Djinn." You should think of the Djinn as a wicked Genie. From here, we briefly visit 1127 A.D. Persia, where the Djinn wrecks some gory havoc. The main gore takes place in present day America...Due to a worker drinking alcohol on the job, ancient relic collector Robert Englund (as Raymond Beaumont) watches his arriving crate smash to pieces. The broken statue reveals a magical ruby, which houses the evil Djinn. The jewel changes hands until possessing blonde appraiser Tammy Lauren (as Alexandra "Alex" Amberson). She is our heroine. The visual effects team orchestrated by Robert Kurtzman and Thomas C. Rainone do a good job, making "Wishmaster" move well. Andrew Divoff plays the monster with wicked charm. 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

In ancient Persia, an evil creature called the Djinn wreaks havoc on a local kingdom before being sealed inside a fire opal.Centuries later, the stone, encased in a statue, is discovered when the statue is broken apart in a loading accident.A young gemologist, Alex, examines the jewel to appraise it. But she unwittingly awakes the Djinn inside.Soon the Djinn is loose on the streets, twisting people's wishes and and killing them so he can steal their souls.Eventually the Djinn disguises himself as an elegant man-about-town, Nathaniel Demarest.In both human & Djinn form, he pursues Alexandra to trick her into making three wishes, to enable his unholy legions to conquer the Earth...Even thought the film is as subtle as a sledgehammer, it's the nearest cinema has had to a new Jason/Freddy/Michael Myers in a very long time.Ignore the Presented by... moniker, it's for status,and get ready for some proper B-movie cheese. Divoff is excellent as the titular character, and chews his lines with glee. ##Kills are inventive, but beyond these two aspects, the film is just you average horror.The inclusion of (at the time) horrors greatest stars, is a little cringe worthy, and the effects are really bad, even for the limited budget.But if you can overlook, these little flaws, it's quite an good spin on the horror genre, with something original, which was lacking at the time of release (hello ironic horror).