The Super Network

Be Careful What You Wish For

Plot

An evil, demonic entity known as a Djinn awakens from his prison in 1997 Los Angeles.  It goes about shop, granting wishes to anyone it comes in contact with.  Those wishes, however, come for the mere price of your soul.  With enough souls, all Hell will reign upon the Earth.

Review

This movie is one of those movies that I show to people who may not be a fan of the horror genre.  It’s fun, has an easy to follow plot and likes to slap you in the face with a ton of gore.  Sounds like a party to me!

Interestingly enough, the movie starts with a party in ancient Persia.  And in that opening scene it’s pretty apparent that Robert Kurtzman, from the famed makeup effects studio KNB, is directing this flick.  He wastes no time getting right into the good stuff.  In most movies, the gore in this scene alone would make for a horrific finale.  But it’s only a taste for what’s to come.

What I love about this movie is that it knows exactly what it is.  It’s not a dumb flick by any means but if you go into this movie expecting something as smart as, say, The Exorcist you will be sorely disappointed.  It’s simply a fun creature feature meant entirely for horror fans.  And in my opinion, that’s all it needs to be.

KNB’s work in this movie is highly under-rated compared to many of their more celebrated works.  This movie is as gory as anything they’ve ever done.  Hell, I’d say it’s more gory than some!  With the director being one of the founders of KNB, you can bet your ass that every bit of it possible makes it on the screen.  Trust me folks, this movie gets downright nasty.

The story is pretty original too, though it could be a bit better.  I love the way they twist the wishes from a traditional genie around on the audience.  What I wish they did more of was play with the idea that Alexandra was losing her mind.  It’s a road I think they should have explored further and considering Peter Atkins(Hellraiser 2) wrote this, it could have easily been done.  Despite this, the movie moves at a great pace so I can forgive it for that missed opportunity.

Now here comes the real fun of this movie.  The acting.  This is hands down Andrew Divoff’s show.  The man absolutely owns the role of the demonic Djinn.  Whether he’s in the makeup or out of it in a human guise, he brings a level of malevolence not often seen these days.  Honestly, sometimes he seems even creepier without the makeup!  You can tell the man is having a blast in the role.

As for the other actors, they all range from great(Robert Englund always owns it) to adequate.  There’s not a ton to say about it except that no one really is a train wreck here.  What I do want to mention though is that this movie is JAM PACKED full of fun horror cameos.  Here’s a list of the cameos in this movie.  See how many you can find.

Robert Englund(if you miss him, you just aren’t a fan.  Period).  Kane Hodder.  Tony Todd.  Ted Raimi.  Angus Scrimm.  Joseph Pilato.  Verne Troyer.  And even Kurtzman has a cameo as the piano wire guy.

In Conclusion

Like I said, Wishmaster is a horror movie for horror fans.  It never takes itself too seriously yet strays from sheer camp levels.  It’s directing is very competent.  The gore is off the charts.  And Andrew Divoff will make you want to make a wish.  Even if it’s not what you expected.  Fans of horror can do far worse than this 1997 gem.

Check it out!

4 out of 5 gruesome wishes