Wishmaster- 1997
Be careful what you wish for....

DIRECTED BY- Robert Kurtzman~ STARRING- Andrew Divoff, Tammy Lauren, Reggie Bannister from Phantasm, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Angus Scrimm, Robert Englund, Robert Kurzman
Wishmaster: "Magically powerful. Supernaturally evil. The ancient entity known as the Djinn can grant a person's wildest dreams. And in the process, it unleashes your darkest nightmares. The moral of this explosively terifying, special-effects-powered, horror-fantasy spectacular. Be careful what you wish for!"

A relatively small team of very enthusiastic horror-fans and genre veterans got together for this motion picture to create what might turn out to be the most memorable character in years.

THE STORY-The movie opens in a red-tinted 12th century Persia. In the aftermath of an accident that shatters an age-old statue during its unloading from a ship, costing the life of a man, a dockworker steals a red gemstone from the disaster area. When he sells it to a pawnbroker, the precious fire-opal lands in the hands of Alex (Tammy Lauren), an evaluator for a local auction. What she doesn't know is that a genie has been captured inside the jewel for hundreds of years, waiting to be released. When she inspects the jewel and finds a flaw in the stone, she gently rubs it with a piece of cloth, leading to the Djinn's rebirth. As in traditional fairy tales, the obedient Djinn (Andrew Divoff) has to grant wishes, but in this movie he has his own interpretation of people's wishes, wreaking havoc on people, unleashing their nightmares, trying to release an evil army of genies to our world in the course of fulfilling their desires. His Djinn oozes a malicious menace while being somewhat sympathetic yet always intriguing and multi-faceted. Because he is not limited to the human domain, he is as interesting a character as Freddy Krueger originally was. He is able to take us to places and worlds we have never seen before

This movie including a spectacular performance from Andrew Divoff, who really brings the essence of the film to life. He embodies the evil comical and seductive powers of the Djinn. Wishmaster parades famous faces of fear such as Angus Scrimm (Phantasm’s Tall Man), Tony Todd (The Candyman), Robert Englund (Freddy), Kane Hodder (Jason) and "Reggie" (Phantasm) hamming it up in cameo appearances, which give the film it's undeniable charm.

The effects are of an above average standard, with the opening skeleton bursting out of the flesh scene being the prominent and famous one. Also the scene where the director has his head ripped off by some piano strings is also a key scene. The lost souls within the Djinn's gem were quite disturbing, also the scene where the souls are ripped out of the unwilling victims. The special effects really come into their own however, when we see the statues in the corridor in the party come to life.

This film, in my opinion was vastly underated and dismissed before the cinema audiences really got a chance to see it. Although Wes Craven had hardly anything to do with "Wishmaster", having merely lent his name to the movie mostly in order to give it better box-office exposure in the wake of his smashing success with "Scream", the movie displays a Cravenesque note throughout. This is a great - it ensures that more people will be watching this highly entertaining, fantasy and horror spectacular. The Djinn is brilliant with every syllable he utters having an "aah" on the end. "Wishmaster" presents us with a new villain in the best tradition of horror flicks, the deliciously evil and intelligent Djinn. Andrew Divoff will be the next big thing in horror. Lets hope that they decide to do a sequel in the near future.....

Final Verdict- 9 and a half/10