Three Wishes, Four Films: Revisiting the ‘Wishmaster’ Series

September 11, 2020

The 90’s were a weird time for horror. The early part of the decade had some bangers, capturing that true 80’s feel with films like Misery, People Under the Stairs, and Candyman. As the decade continued, and with an exception of a few films, horror seemed to majorly drop off in quality. The genre became increasingly riddled with bad sequels and butt-rock. In 1997, Robert Kurtzman (Evil Dead II, Phantasm II, Night of the Creeps), who had done amazing makeup work on some the most classic 80’s films ever, brought us back to the best decade of horror with Wishmaster, one of the most fun films from the 90’s. Join me as I reminisce in heaven about the first film, and plummet down to hell for the sequels.

The first film is crazy from jump street. You know that scene from Cabin in the Woods where all hell is breaking loose at compound? Well think that, but within the first two minutes. We get a great introduction of the Djinn character and his place in Persian history. Skeletons are popping out of bodies and running around screaming, crocodile-men are slithering around on the floor, and people’s heads are being turned into trees. It’s just chaos and gore. I love it, and it gets you hooked immediately. The Djinn is trapped in a gemstone, and we fast-forward to the future where stone is released to the world by one single drunken crane operator breaking the statue in which the stone was concealed.

As the film goes on, you can see why so much effort was put into it. There’s a lot of horror icon power attached to this film. Wes Craven presented it, Angus Scrimm narrated, and smaller roles are filled by Robert Englund, Tony Todd, Reggie Bannister, and Kane Hodder. Andrew Divoff steps in as the classy human version of the Djinn and gives us all the creepy and hilarious “myessss” moments we can handle. The makeup for the Djinn was scary and gave 11-year-old me the willies. The story is decent as well, basically presenting a walking version of the monkey’s paw legend. The film ends much like it began, with chaos, gore and awesome effects. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the solve-all solution of wishing things never happened, which seems to be a running theme throughout the series. It’s more of a preference than a complaint. No wishes used here. I like this film just the way it is.

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies (1999) still had some good things going for it. Although Robert Kurtzman bolted, Jack Sholder (Alone in the Dark, Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge) came aboard and the franchise was able to bring back Andrew Divoff, for even cheesier lines and wish granting as the Djinn. The stone is released, and the Djinn must collect 1001 souls to once again start the apocalypse. Like in a lot of direct horror sequels, the story and the dialogue suffered, and the effort was focused mostly into the visuals. There were still a lot of neat practical effects, like a weird slimy newborn version of the Djinn crawling around, and a dude getting his jaw ripped off. The story and acting were never highlighted moments of the first film, so I think it was the right move when creating the sequel. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, but it worked. I wish Andrew Divoff would have returned for the third film. In 2017, Divoff did say he had written a script for the third film that was rejected. He has also expressed interest in coming back if a fifth film is ever made.

Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (2001) was easily the worst of the series for me. Chris Angel (not that Chris Angel) took over the director’s chair, and Divoff was replaced by John Novak. The Djinn makeup looked completely different and seemed like it came straight off the set of a knock-off Power Rangers episode. Speaking of, there is an extremely Power Rangers-esque sword fight between the Djinn and the archangel Michael. Somehow the dialogue, acting, and effects all took a major tumble. In comparison to the first two films, it was like walking on a sandbar in the ocean and then unsuspectingly coming to a 25-foot drop-off. The film seriously felt like 90 minutes of switching back-and-forth between a soap opera and softcore porn. I wish this film was never made. Whoops. There’s two!

Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled (2002) was shot back-to-back two days after the third film and it shows. Same director, same actor, and same quality of dialogue, but surprisingly, this film bumped the bar slightly on the effects. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much consistency with them. For example, a guy’s nose is cut off brutally, but in the same scene you still see his nose on his face. The film still has all of the issues of the third one, including feeling like the softcore porn you didn’t even want to waste your time with as a teenager. Oh, and instead of a sword fight, we got a kung-fu fight in the woods between the Djinn and “The Hunter.” I wish they wouldn’t make anymore Wishmaster films.

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve made my three wishes and I know my time is coming to an end. Before I go, I do implore that if you haven’t seen the first Wishmaster film, you should check it out, especially if you’re a fan of films crafted with that true 80’s horror feeling. You know what? Go ahead and watch the second one too. It’s not great, but there’s some fun to be had. As far as the rest of the series goes, though? Wish them away as fast and hard as possible!