Wishmaster (1997) starring Tammy Lauren, Andrew Divoff, Robert Englund, Chris Lemmon, Wendy Benson-Landes, Tony Crane, Jenny O'Hara, Tony Todd directed by Robert Kurtzman Movie Review

Wishmaster (1997)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Tammy Lauren in Wishmaster (1997)

Keep on Wishing

When God created the Universe he not only created angels but also Djinn, demons which live in the in-between who once released must grant 3 wishes to the person who released them. When a statue containing a red stone which holds a Djinn is accidentally smashed the stone ends up in the hands of Alexandra Amberson (Tammy Lauren) who works at an auction house and who unwittingly released the Djinn which sets about making Alexandra ask for three wishes in order to then create chaos.

So after an opening which takes us back to 1127 A.D. and what looks like Han Solo stuck in a wall we get to the main storyline. Although saying that "Wishmaster" has a storyline is really pushing the boundaries of what passes as a narrative as it seems like more a series of horror set pieces. Now that is all fine and well if you only watch horror movies for the horror scenes but does little for those who watch in the hope of finding a storyline for the horror to feed off of.

It is the lack of a decent narrative which lets "Wishmaster" down as it makes it nothing more than a procession of horror set pieces starting with that opening scene which relies heavily on the skills of the make up department to create some scary looking creatures. But the thing is that whilst all these horror scenes which include a man being flattened by a falling crate and another killed with piano wire are not really frightening just nasty. For fans of nasty it may work but for me nasty deaths are not always that effective as being frightening.

I suppose the one thing which "Wishmaster" has going for it is that several horror stars such as Tony Todd and Robert Englund show up in cameos. Their appearance are a welcome distraction as beyond that the acting is forgettable and frankly the characters are uninteresting.

What this all boils down to is that "Wishmaster" probably will entertain those who just want a series of nasty horror scenes but will leave those wanting storyline as well unimpressed.


LATEST REVIEWS