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Wes Craven Presents Wishmaster

Wes Craven Presents Wishmaster

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Enjoyable Film
Review: I love this film. Its great the way the Djinn goes about twisting wishes. An intersting idea and surprising that no one thought of it earlier. Andrew Divoff is superb as the Wishmaster. Tammy Lauren gives an acceptable performace as the heroine (although it is an exaggeration to describe her performace as 'fabulous' as some reviewers below have done). Andrew Divoff steals the show. Period. The special effects are surprisingly quite good for a low budget movie. My only criticism is the is that the film is not very long, an extra 10/15 minutes would have made much more enjoyable. Considering that the film was not exactly a blockbuster at the box office, the extras on the DVD are also very good (containing an interesting audio commentary). This is not a 'horror' movie as such, so don't expect any frights or sleepless nights. I would call it more a fantasy. Good fun. Enjoy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I couldnt have WISHED for more!!!
Review: This has to be one of the better horror movies of the 90's, It has style and a very original plot, and it really strays from the teeny bopper horror flicks of today, although it does seem to borrow from the Hellraiser series with some of the over the top gore effects. The story is as follows: A evil Djinn is set free form its prison, by a woman who ends up busting the Jewel in which the Djinn is trapped. After he is freed he begins a bloody Killing spree looking for the one who set him free. Not really a scary movie, but its a lot better than most of the other Horror Flicks of the 90's. Rated R for gruesome violence and Strong Language

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Blood, gore, suspence, what a great horror movie needs!
Review: When an evil genie, known as a djinn, is released, he turn people's wildest dreamsinto their darkest nightmares!

Wow. This movie is one of the best horror movies ever! Andrew Divoff was a great djinn and the special effects were awesome for it's time. The director did a good job! He made the movie feel creepy and dark like it's supposed to! See this movie! You will not be dissapointed!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: DJINN AND TONIC ANYONE?
Review: The horror genre has suffered in the past decade from derivative movies; sex sex sex movies; and generally unimaginative scripts. WISHMASTER is a refreshing, albeit gory, change, and thanks to the skills of an inventive director, and a tongue in cheek cast, succeeds in establishing a different kind of horror. As Jenny O'Hara, who is great as the folklore teacher, exlains to innocent Tammy Lauren, genies (or djinn) are not the Barbara Eden, happy little genies who come out and grant wonderful wishes. No, djinn are malevolent, evil and want only to rule our world. Andrew Divoff is frightfully good as the Djinn, and in assuming his human form, an antithesis of the handsome hunk. With his blazing blue eyes and potmarked skin, Divoff's handsomeness is swarthy and perfect for the part. The effects are good; the gore is plenty, but creatively filmed. I'm looking forward to the sequels, and even if they aren't as good, they tried something different. By the way, Tony Todd (Candyman) has a brief scene in which his desire to "escape" is granted micheivously.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A pleasant surprise
Review: As I nestled in for Halloween night with a couple of horror flicks, I really didn't expect anything more than the usual cookie cutter blood and slash fare that is to be expected in a watered down genre. What I found in Wes Craven's Wishmaster, was a smart and original film. It revolves around a population of "Djinn" (pronounced like gin) who are supernatural jeannies dwelling in the void between the worlds. The Djinn bide their time till they are able to find some poor smuck willing to make 3 wishes, at which time the door to our world will be opened up and allow the Djinn to rule. I found this to be an original idea for once. I can't remember seeing any other film quite like it. The effects and make up are done nicely and the acting was not too bad either. I didn't think the movie was particularly scary, but in today's time, not many new horror movies are. What it is, though, is an entertaining supernatural thriller. Can't bring myself to give it 5 stars just for the simple fact that I think the filmmakers confuse gore with scary. The gore/death scenes in this film are very reminiscent of the Hellraiser series, with some extraordinarily vivid images of torturous death. However, sometimes its the things we don't see that truly scare us most. All in all, I would recommend this film to most, just be sure you have a strong stomach.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Misplaced Wishes
Review: This isn't a great movie. Not even a fun romp in camp. I'll admit off the bat that Tammy Lauren (the lead) is a friend of mine, and that's why I watched it in the first place. I decided that the nice thing about this movie is that it shows the closeknit community of the horror genre. Wishmaster is a film made under a very tight schedule on a very specific budget. Yes, the plot is a little rushed. Yes, the story is a little hackneyed. So what. This is a horror film made in the style of Hammer classics, and has icons of the genre, like Robert Englund (as an annoying art dealer) hamming it up for fun. Talking about odd fun, I should point out that the actor who played Mini Me in the second Austin Powers movie plays the part of the Jinn fetus. You'll never recognize him. Many of the prop and make-up wizards play extras or parts in the film to keep it under budget(If you read lots of movie make-up and horror mags you'll love that, if you don't particularly care about these sorts of films you won't be impressed. Tammy Lauren, whom I adore as an actress(did I say I know her already?), does the best that can be done with the script, even if they do have her smoking an awful lot (Tammy, baby, quit already). Fans of this actress should also check out Desperate For Love with Christian Slater, and the tv series Homefront. Lots of homages to classic horror style storytelling, but none are really effective at the end of the day. Like watching people dance who know choreography from dancers who don't know technique. The commentary with the writer and director talking over the film is interesting stuff (only on the dvd). Not a bad flick, if you know how to appreciate it. Not a great one if you're looking for story or effects.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Unremarkable but not totally horrible
Review: Who knows what prompted me to see this movie in the first place? I certainly cannot answer that, but I guess it saying something that I didn't walk out midway through the movie. Of course that might be because the movie is relatively short.

It isn't dreadfully bad, but just thoroughly unremarkable in all respects. Cheesy dialogue, disengaged acting, and special effects that are competent though hardly inspiring is what distinguishes this movie. Some people with statue fetishes might find a few scenes noteworthy but otherwise this movie leaves no lasting impact. The fact that film, which performed tepidly at the box office, inspired 3 sequels (at least) serves as further testament to the utterly deplorable state of the US fiml industry.

That having been said, renting this film will not leave you feeling totally ripped off, so enjoy the limited entertainment value it provides.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Your wish is granted...
Review: Be careful what you wish for! Indeed, a slant on the olde genie mythos harking back to its primordial origins in the Djinn, demonic creatures who exist between the worlds; and if granted the opportunity, would possess the realm of men for their own. In this instance, an ancient Djinn is seen coalescing with arcane rulers from the Middle-East in a truly memorable scene of horror and mutilation, as he twists the wishes of mortals to is own morbid design.

A Sorcerer imprisons him within a ruby gem, concealed inside a statue of Ahura-Mazda, the Zoroastrian deity of light and darkness, but is damaged upon transport in modern times, as it was scheduled to be added to the acquisitions of a Collector {played by Robert Englund}, but ignorance and intoxication brought the blood ruby {equivalent to a genie's bottle, as subsequent legendry would water-down and dictate}, and comes into the hands of a deck worker, an ignoramus who sells it to a pawnshop for a pithy sum - its proprietor who then himself takes it to be priced, but his own ignorance is evident as well, as he is also offered a small sum for this treasure.

A Jr. High School teacher, a friend of the pricer, comes into possession of it, who forthwith has it tested with certain infrared equipment, where it subsequently explodes, releasing the Djinn within, who goes forth upon the earth to wreak havoc upon a world of vengeful, vein, and greedy mortals. The Djinn basically amplifies the desires of the wishers, unto literal scenarios, with a deadly twist in every instance. She meets with a folklorist to gain more information on this terrible foe, who explains some of the origins of these creatures, but she also meets with a morbid and poetic demise. Each wish is imaginatively manifested with plenty of symbolic blood and gore, with marvellous prosthetics portraying the results with a thorough fluorish.

Finally, the inevitable conflict between she and the Djinn face to face, so she cleverly utilizes the last wish to re-imprison him and save the earth from the Hell He wishes to bring forth.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I GUESS IT WAS ALRIGHT
Review: A WOMAN [TAMMY LAUREN] ACCIDENTALLY FREES AN EVIL GENIE [ANDREW DIVOFF] FROM SOME KINDA JEWEL. GRANTING WISHES THAT BACKFIRE, THE GIRL MUST NOW FIND A WAY TO PUT THE GENIE BACK IN HIS JEWEL. HAS SOME COOL MURDER SEQUENCES, BUT, IT'S JUST NOT AS GOOD AS IT COULD'VE BEEN. FILLED WITH GORE AND OVER-THE-TOP HORROR VIOLENCE. HORROR FANS SHOULD LIKE THIS, BUT, IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO SEE A REALLY GOOD HORROR MOVIE, THIS MIGHT NOT BE WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR. HAS A REALLY GOOD MOTORHEAD SONG AT THE END CREDITS. FOLLOWED BY THREE DIRECT-TO-VIDEO SEQUELS.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: My Wish List
Review: Andrew Divoff is the whole show here as the "Wishmaster". He seems to be having the time of his life here as Djinn, an evil genie from "A 1001 Arabian Tales". He is bound to Tammy Lauren, and manages to get powerful by manipulating people into making wishes, which he uses to kill them, kind of 'be careful what you wish for' style. The ingrediants are all here to make a great horror movie; good villian, good story, high concept kills, but it falls short. There is little suspense, and eventually you can figure out the end. If I had a wish, I would wish for Wes Craven to have directed it instead of producing it.


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