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Wishmaster/Wishmaster 2

Wishmaster/Wishmaster 2

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Key to Successful Wishing is in the Phrasing
Review: WISHMASTER 2 is one of the more successful sequels in the monster from beyond genre. In pictures of this sort, the dramatic focus is placed squarely on the creature. The other characters who relate to the creature, usually the [] lady and her boyfriend, are interesting only insofar as they can bounce off the menace from beyond. Andrew Divoff is the Djinn, an eternal godlike demon who had been imprisoned for 3,000 in a Persian stone until released by a beautiful thief (Holly Fields). The plot is your standard Djinn-who-seeks-souls retread that we have seen before. What invests W2 with more than a modicum of interest is the often underplayed goofy grin that Divoff uses for most of his screen time. There are several scenes in which he is in full Djinn regalia, looking like an armor-plated deep sea diver with horns. But for most of the picture, Divoff simply walks about with no makeup at all, and as he does so, he comes across as a cross between Norman Bates and a malevolent Gomer Pyle. Divoff takes the blame for a series of murders so that he can land in prison. There he slowly interacts with the inmates and builds a reputation as a man who can grant wishes. At first the inmates and guards (one of whom is Tiny Lister, who comes to regret his wish for a dance) try to intimidate him, but Divoff is the soul of politeness as he teaches both inmates and guards that the phrase 'Be careful what you wish for,' ought to be rephrased 'Choose your words with literal exactness.' Those wretches who wish using fuzzy phrases learn that exact phrasing is the true strong point of the Djinn.

WISHMASTER 2 is typical of monster-from-the-bottle genre in that special effects are frequent, disgusting, and gory. There is a scene in a casino in which the ten biblical plagues are unleashed with predictable results. Although Holly Fields spends much of the film showing off a fine pair of legs, Divoff is the true star, even if the material limits his ability to radiate menace with a smile that swings between Norman Bates and Norman Rockwell. I was pleasantly surprised that the number of gross out scenes was less than those scenes that showed Divoff in one on one encounters with greedy humans who learned that what they wished for was not what they wanted at all. Sometimes even modest fright pictures can teach a lesson even after the monster is pushed back into the bottle.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Key to Successful Wishing is in the Phrasing
Review: WISHMASTER 2 is one of the more successful sequels in the monster from beyond genre. In pictures of this sort, the dramatic focus is placed squarely on the creature. The other characters who relate to the creature, usually the [] lady and her boyfriend, are interesting only insofar as they can bounce off the menace from beyond. Andrew Divoff is the Djinn, an eternal godlike demon who had been imprisoned for 3,000 in a Persian stone until released by a beautiful thief (Holly Fields). The plot is your standard Djinn-who-seeks-souls retread that we have seen before. What invests W2 with more than a modicum of interest is the often underplayed goofy grin that Divoff uses for most of his screen time. There are several scenes in which he is in full Djinn regalia, looking like an armor-plated deep sea diver with horns. But for most of the picture, Divoff simply walks about with no makeup at all, and as he does so, he comes across as a cross between Norman Bates and a malevolent Gomer Pyle. Divoff takes the blame for a series of murders so that he can land in prison. There he slowly interacts with the inmates and builds a reputation as a man who can grant wishes. At first the inmates and guards (one of whom is Tiny Lister, who comes to regret his wish for a dance) try to intimidate him, but Divoff is the soul of politeness as he teaches both inmates and guards that the phrase 'Be careful what you wish for,' ought to be rephrased 'Choose your words with literal exactness.' Those wretches who wish using fuzzy phrases learn that exact phrasing is the true strong point of the Djinn.

WISHMASTER 2 is typical of monster-from-the-bottle genre in that special effects are frequent, disgusting, and gory. There is a scene in a casino in which the ten biblical plagues are unleashed with predictable results. Although Holly Fields spends much of the film showing off a fine pair of legs, Divoff is the true star, even if the material limits his ability to radiate menace with a smile that swings between Norman Bates and Norman Rockwell. I was pleasantly surprised that the number of gross out scenes was less than those scenes that showed Divoff in one on one encounters with greedy humans who learned that what they wished for was not what they wanted at all. Sometimes even modest fright pictures can teach a lesson even after the monster is pushed back into the bottle.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: NATHANIEL'S BACK
Review: WISHMASTER 2 picks up where its predecessor left off: a heist in the museum where the stone-encased djinn slumbers goes awry, causing the stone to be released from the statue, and of course, the young lady who releases it becomes the djinn's quarry. Andrew Divoff returns in the role of the wishmaster, and he's quite good in this role; he throws off his one liners with slick aplomb and obviously delights in his own wickedness. One scene in the prison where two Japanese kung fu guys beat up on their boss (aided by the WM) is hilarious. There are some implausibilities in the script, such as the heroine (although she's killed a security guard, she's still pure of heart..duh!) coming to the discovery of the djinn so quickly. Paul Johansson as the well proportioned priest is also effective, although his abandon of his celibate vows takes him down a notch. The Wishmaster is a sick, sick villain, but the ironies of his granting peoples wishes verbatim makes for unusual results. Bokeem Woodbine (direct to video's Denzel Washington) makes a brief appearance as a casino manager.
I like the Wishmaster series so far, haven't seen 3 and 4 yet; they're original and for shoestring budgets, I feel they do their effects quite well. Since there seems to be a dearth of good horror movies lately (don't tell me 28 Days later--what an overrated baggage), WISHMASTER fills our gap--at least for me!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: NATHANIEL'S BACK
Review: WISHMASTER 2 picks up where its predecessor left off: a heist in the museum where the stone-encased djinn slumbers goes awry, causing the stone to be released from the statue, and of course, the young lady who releases it becomes the djinn's quarry. Andrew Divoff returns in the role of the wishmaster, and he's quite good in this role; he throws off his one liners with slick aplomb and obviously delights in his own wickedness. One scene in the prison where two Japanese kung fu guys beat up on their boss (aided by the WM) is hilarious. There are some implausibilities in the script, such as the heroine (although she's killed a security guard, she's still pure of heart..duh!) coming to the discovery of the djinn so quickly. Paul Johansson as the well proportioned priest is also effective, although his abandon of his celibate vows takes him down a notch. The Wishmaster is a sick, sick villain, but the ironies of his granting peoples wishes verbatim makes for unusual results. Bokeem Woodbine (direct to video's Denzel Washington) makes a brief appearance as a casino manager.
I like the Wishmaster series so far, haven't seen 3 and 4 yet; they're original and for shoestring budgets, I feel they do their effects quite well. Since there seems to be a dearth of good horror movies lately (don't tell me 28 Days later--what an overrated baggage), WISHMASTER fills our gap--at least for me!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good enough sequel...
Review: wishmaster 2 was fairly good as sequels go but it lacked many things that the first had, like the famous actors etc. Only Andrew Divoff is the returning actor to once again play the Djin (Wihmaster) This is still a witty horror film and at least some of that grotesque humour returns.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Dismal compared to the original.
Review: Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies wasn't terrible for a direct-to-video effort, but it lacks everything that made the original so much fun. I bought the double-feature DVD that included both the original and the sequel, and as the end credits of this film were rolling up, I had an eerie feeling that they had just thrown this film together in a week or so just so Artisan could make a "double-feature DVD."

The story concerns Morgana, whom at the beginning of the film is stealing paintings from the museum in which the evil Djinn (or genie) is entombed inside of an opal resting inside of a statue, with her boyfriend and some guy who gets blown away before you can make heads-or-tails of him. Anyway, bullets are flying in a shootout that involves security guards and the two theives. One of the bullets breaks open the statue and (Guess what?!?) out pops the gem. Morgana takes it with her, and soon releases the Djinn.

After that, the Djinn transforms into his human form of Demerest, and turns himself in for the murders of two security guards who died in the shootout. After that, he enters a prison where he hopes to get plenty of wishes. The Djinn spends so much of his time in the prison, a more suitable title for this film would be "Wishmaster 2: Demerest Does Time." But that's just me.

Don't get me wrong. Wishmaster 2 is a decent film, especially when compared to the absolutely dreadful Wishmaster 3! Andrew Divoff is a terrific actor and is constantly threatening, hillarious, and convincing all at once. He alone saves this film from leading down the same path that W3 took.

Another problem with this movie is the gigantic loopholes in the script. For instance, one character wishes that he was never born. The Djinn grants this wish, but in the next scene, his girlfriend is still crying over his death. Uh... if he was never born... ah, nevermind.

In W2, the Djinn's makeup has been toned down. He has less armor, and looks much more human. I read that this was done to make the Djinn seem more personal and threatening, but I'm sure that was just BS and the real reason was that they didn't have the budget to restore the old makeup.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great horror
Review: Wishmaster and Wishmaster 2 are by far the best films in this horror series. Andrew Divoff plays and extraordinary job as being the Djinn/Wishmaster. I wish he had been in the other parts to the series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great horror
Review: Wishmaster and Wishmaster 2 are by far the best films in this horror series. Andrew Divoff plays and extraordinary job as being the Djinn/Wishmaster. I wish he had been in the other parts to the series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A new horror movie legend.
Review: Wishmaster doesn't necessarily go up there with all the bigger horror films like Darkness Falls or The Ring, but it was fairly terrifying in some scenes, and it was a great movie to see if you wanted to see some serious gore effects, but it doesn't come close to matching Jason Goes to Hell or Wishmaster 3. Then came Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies, and I particularly enjoyed that one better than the first, because for one thing, the Djinn's look was much better, and Andrew Divoff perfroms the part with greater ability than in the first. Also, there aren't too many scenes in Wishmaster 2 that will bore you out of your mind, unlike the first and third installments.

Wishmaster: Raymond Beaumont is a wealthy collector who has had a statue, the Ahura Mazda, imported from a foreign country. As it is being lifted off the ship, the drink operator spills his drink on the controls and it drops the statue, shattering it and one of the unlucky assistants of Mr. Beaumont. Out of the rubble, a construction worker finds a large fire opal, and takes it to an examiner, Alexandra, who unknowingly releases an evil wish-granting creature from the opal. This creature, known as the Djinn, is fairly human-like. He speaks, has the structural similarities of a man, and can take the form of humans in the most peculiar way. Throughout the first half of the movie, there is a growing fear in Alexandra's heart, she fears that something is after her, and guess what...she's right! She must now pit herself against an eternal demon, but with absolutely nothing to lean on but her remaining wish, which will free the Djinn race from the void between Heaven and Earth, she must make a choice that will either make her or break her...along with the Earth.

Wishmaster 2 - Evil Never Dies: During a failed museum robbery, one of the participants, Morgana, finds the ever famous opal after the statue containing it is accidentally shot, and awakens the Djinn. The Djinn once again takes the form of the same human from the first film, Nethaniel Demarest, and takes the fall for two dead security guards and six stolen paintings, and is off to prison, where he knows there is plenty of wishing going on. However, after he has all his souls, 1001, he must then find his waker and grant her three wishes. As death and destruction surrounds Morgana, and the Djinn faces her down, she must take it upon herself to return the Djinn to the void where he belongs...but to do that, she must be pure of heart and soul.

I'm getting sort of sick of women always releasing the Djinn, they have never explored what would happen if a man awakened him, it's always women, women, women, and women. I have nothing against them, but I think the good folks at Artisan, who now have seemed to develop a knack for producing very boring and pointless films (Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled and Legend of Sleepy Hollow are exceptions), can do better than always picking on a female who has enough problems, and 3 out of 4 times they've all been blond women. Is there some sort of moral thing that's going on here? Pick on blond women? Is there some sort of dumb blond pun here? They can do better than that.

However, Wishmaster/Wishmaster 2 is a great DVD to own, so I'd recommend it to fans of creature features, gore, or just plain jumps and jolts. Thanks for reading my review!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Wishmaster 2 is horrible
Review: Wishmaster wasn't that great. I'm surprised a sequel was even made! The fact that you can get both of them on a DVD for a low price should tell you something.

Don't waste your time. I'm a huge fan of horror, yet it was hard to get through Wishmaster 2. I really wanted to like both of these movies as I'm a big fan of Wes Craven. Alas, it was not meant to be. Skip this and watch Nightmare on Elm Street again.


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