Wishmaster (1997)

reviewed by
James Brundage


Wes Craven's Wishmaster

Old theme, new psycho. That's what this movie can be summed up as.

Put simply, its about the Djinn (pronounced "jin"), the source of the genie legend. The Djinn, however, as put in the movie "is neither funny nor smiling". It is a creature that hates us and is bent on our destruction. Something horror fans are definitely familiar with, right.

Like most horror movies, the film's storyline is relatively predictable, letting you know what will happen if you stop to think about it. Unlike most horror films, however, there is a good element of surprise and a liking of the villain, the stark ugliness of the Djinn as he goes through Earth granting wishes in such ways that the person to whom the wish is granted never wins.

The Djinn itself has been trapped inside of a fire opal for nine hundred years and, after an accident on the docks of a port, which kills a man and breaks open a statue that contains the fire opal. A greedy worker takes it.

>From there the Djinn is freed and begins to wreck havoc in LA.

If you like horror movies than this one should end up on your list but isn't anything that you should really go out of your way to see. Besides a funny yet malevolent Djinn, and a few surprises there's nothing in this horror film that you won't find in the next.


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