Wishcraft (2002)

I watched this movie late at night. The concept sounded promising, you get your wishes, but there will be a price to pay. The price to pay, was paid by the victims of the killer, me, and everyone who saw it from start to finish and considered it garbage.SPOILERS: I should have heeded the first alarm when the "skull mask" was shown during the very first kill. I'd have preferred the faceless killer as long as possible.And it wasn't even a mythical force, just a psychopath teacher. I did sit through the movie, wondering why the "Grim Reaper" went after this person or that person with such.. 'mortal' means. Bowling balls? Samurai swords? (very subtle, the sword). And the movie lied to me. It claimed the popular people was being picked off one by one. Desiree was one the popular, I take it.As for the price the whining kid (already forgot his name, the main character) had to pay? Seemed he could care less about those who died, and probably wouldn't have cared until the killer made it clear he would go after main char's beloved Sam. Which brings me to the end of the movie.Couldn't Whiner have wished himself back in time, or that the totem never was found in the first place? Would have stopped the teacher, would it not? And as for Samantha.. seriously? Horror/comedy movie or not, I will not root for a guy that has sex with a girl when she's under a love spell of his (no matter how big jerks the rest of the ensemble turns out to be), and then gets her in the end. Apparently main char getting the girl on his own would be boring. Instead, we have a nice little love spell, sex (or a mental rape, if one could call it that, would she have done it without the spell at that moment?), the confession, all "bad" kids dealt with and forgotten, everything is forgiven once **** hits the fan. Killer dealt with, love spell revoked, new wishes to manipulate people being made. I wonder what the heck those two will do when they can't wish their way through life anymore. "No promotion? Aww, and I used my last with for a good present in the cereal packet yesterday.."I hoped and prayed that the killer (despite the evidence to the contrary) would be a true Grim Reaper, and that Main Char would pay the final prize in return for all those killed to return. But alas, my wish wasn't granted.If you like horror movies, save yourself the trouble, and wish for a better movie to enjoy. But if you can handle bad "horror" movies, go ahead and watch it. You've been warned.

I found this film sitting in a $3 bin at a Big Lots nearly a year ago. Bored a few nights back, I put it in the DVD player and watched it. I thought it was going to be a bad film that had to do with Satan worshiping. Boy, was I ever wrong! The story is set around a magic "bull dick", which resembles the monkey's paw of yesteryear films. It is the magic of that item and the intelligence of the films cast that make this film spectacular. It turns out that this is a great film to feature Austin Pendleton (Sgt Bilko's Major Ebersole) in a starring role as the teacher, Mr. Turner. Pendleton is best known for playing character roles in most films he appears (Greedy, Distinguished Gentlemen) but this film, he was front and center. The ending was very shocking, I never would have suspected who the killer was. Wishcraft is a fun film that should be enjoyed by adults and children with extreme supervision. Therefore, I gave this film a 9/10 rating. It deserves every bit of it.

Wishcraft is funny, enjoyable and at times quite tense. It's a slick well made movie that will appeal greatly to anyone in to teen Horrors. The dialogue is snappy, the characters are funny without being too cheesy or caricatured, and the plot is well written.However, some of the movie didn't sit right. For one someone obviously took offence at one or other of the incredibly tame death sequences (most in fact cut away ages before anyone dies anyhow) or the fact that someone gets called a 'mother****er' at one point because it got an 18 certificate despite a sum total of about only 10 or 15 seconds of on screen violence and one swear word. I've seen harder 12s. I feel a lot of people will avoid it imagining it to be more hardcore than it is, or buy it expecting a horror-show and be disappointed.That's part of what happened to me. I saw 30 seconds of this on Sci-Fi one night, which was enough to make me check it out, and as a movie I enjoyed it greatly, but I felt the horror element was way too light to really think of it as much more than a teen comedy with horror elements. Most of the movies I normally watch are a lot more intense than this, and I was under the impression from the part I saw that this would at least sit next to Scream in terms of scariness and horror, if not going the full Halloween/Fri 13th slasher hog, but it really is much more comedy thriller than slasher movie.As such it's really entertaining, but I can't help feeling that it'll disappoint those seeking anything more. I don't think it helped I watched The Convent the night before which is just as funny but delivers hardcore gore, less asinine teens and real scares to boot. Wishcraft's a cool film, and firmly recommended to the more relaxed horror fan, but those who crave insanity will probably find it slow-paced and too user-friendly.

A teen horror movie with a limited budget and a lot of over-the-hill TV and movie stars, this movie should be unbearable. Oddly, it is quite enjoyable. It will never win any awards and it does not have the rich mythos of many other B-movies, yet it manages to tie many well-worn clichés from "Halloween", "Scream", "I Know What You Did Last Summer", and a long string of other teen scream movies into a coherent whole.Some of the scenes are done extremely well and provide real shocks, usually without resorting to blood. The film is smart enough to turn to camp when it wants to show a little blood, saving it from being one of the frequent bloodfests we are so often assaulted with.Here a few comments that are spoilers, but which can be enjoyed before or after the movie: SPOILERS AHEAD****************************** First, you just HAVE to see Michael Weston's makeup in the first half of the movie. It looks like it was done by his mother in order to conceal some acne for the prom. The base starts at his hairline and then stops quite abruptly at his beardline. Quite mesmerizing, it gives the impression of someone who was wearing a surgical mask while he was getting a tan.Second, as usual, people who receive three wishes are SO unimaginative in using them, and the main character is equally clueless in this movie. When I was a kid (and completely clueless about the real world,) I often thought about what I would wish for, if given the chance. (I also thought about what I would do if I were the last survivor of a war or plague. Perhaps this explains my personality.) In "Wishcraft" the wishes are for the main character's secret love to "go the Spring Blast with me"; for this secret love to "be madly in love with me"; and for the main character, when confronted with a life-threatening situation, to be "stronger, faster, and tougher" than the villain. Come on!! Get imaginative kid! I'll forgive the first wish, since you were just testing the waters, but you could have wished to "be irresistible to all women," or to have "a magic wallet that is always filled with money," or "to be able to turn invisible anytime I wish"; or to "have the powers of Superman." (In the final showdown, the main character turns out NOT to be "stronger, faster, and tougher" than the villain, who basically cleans the floor with him. I have not figured this part out yet...it is quite inconsistent.) Third, Meat Loaf is just great as the scenery-chewing, comedic relief. He's over the top, but thoroughly enjoyable.Finally, Zelda Rubinstein is just hilarious as the coroner. If I were the detective, I would have been investigating HER for the murders in about two minutes. I really hope that Ms. Rubinstein does not talk this way in the real world.END OF SPOILERS******************************** So, check this out if you have a free rental. Surprisingly, there is no nudity in this movie and the lead actress never shows her you-know-whats. In fact, nobody ever shows any, including her female sidekicks.I give this *** out of *****