THE STORY: Am I so jaded from watching horror movies that they simply don't scare me anymore? When I was a kid, Rod Serling's Night Gallery used to scare the [unwrite] out of me. (Especially the episode with Roddy McDowell and that painting! Oooh!) It came on TV where I lived at 11:00 PM. I'd be in the living room alone watching it and afterward I would go up the stairs to my room flicking on every light along the way. Then I'd go back downstairs, turn the TV off and run to my room flicking all of the lights off as I passed them at top speed. My grandfather would yell from his bedroom, "Damn it Boy, that the last time you get to watch scary [unwrite] at night!". Well, Jason only scared me in his first two movies. (Actually Jason's mother was the killer in the original Friday the 13th) Michael Myers was a little spooky. When I saw Carrie in the theater years ago, yeah it shocked me a little...but Freddy Krueger, Leprechaun, Pumpkinhead and the whole parade of other wannabe scary killers that came about in the 80's...nah. They didn't scare me as much as make me laugh at the crazy ways they killed really stupid people. Which is how it was with this movie. The Wishmaster didn't scare me.

In Persia in the year 1127 a sorcerer confines an evil djinn (genie) to a prison within a fire opal. the opal is recovered when a drunk crane operator, Mickey Torrelli dumps a crate containing a statue of some ancient god, onto the dock. (and onto a guy standing under it) As dock workers pick up the pieces of the broken statue on of them finds the opal imbedded in a chunk and pawns it. The pawnbroker goes to an appraiser. Alex Amberson, a beautiful young professional finds something strange about the opal. She unwittingly wakens the djinn. Alex gives the opal to her friend Josh, so he can study it. While Josh is scanning the opal with his fancy-dancy laser scanner the djinn breaks free and causes the computer to explode. Now, here's the catch...the djinn were created after the angels, but before mankind. They have unlimited power but can only use it when someone asks for a wish. When the person that freed the djinn asks for his or her third wish, the djinn will be allowed to come into our world. They hate humans and would cause hell on earth. So the one djinn on earth must find Alex and get her to make three wishes so he can free his brethren. Of course while searching for her he gets people to tell him "what they want" and since their wishes can be interpreted in a lot of ways the djinn uses his power to basically kill them. If you tell the djinn you like music so much you want a copy of every CD ever made, most likely a thousand ton crate full of CD's would fall on you. The djinn also needs souls to power the opal (which is, I guess, the key to freeing his brethren.) So all the poor shmucks he gives deadly wishes too are absorbed into the opal. When this happens Alex kind of sees the people suffering in her mind. In time she figures out what is going on. She confronts the djinn but won't ask for the final wish. The djinn then causes magical mayhem at the party of her friend, Beaumont's house and threatens to kill her sister. Alex makes the final wish...she wishes Mickey Torelli hadn't been drinking on the job at the docks. This reverses time and the statue doesn't get broken...thus the opal isn't found. So none of this really happened.

I'm certain the makers of the film wanted the Wishmaster to be the next Freddy or Leprechaun franchise. Theres a sequel to this movie that I've never seen. It could have been a lot better. as I said the djinn's tricky granting of wishes led to some interesting predicaments for the victims, but they never really grabbed me. The Djinn was played by Andrew Divoff. He played a biker with a big heart in Running Cool and a crazy navy dude in Xtro: watch the skies. Beaumont is acted by Robert Englund, a man who made his career as Freddy Krueger, the evil dream spirit from the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

Best Lines: "That which is eternal cannot die...but if its any consolation, sweet Alex, that hurt like HELL! "- The djinn after shooting himself in the head. Alex tried to kill him by wishing that he'd destroy himself.

1.) Wow! Josh must get his scientific equipment from the same guys that outfitted the Enterprise! When the computer goes whacky it explodes! Really explodes! It demolishes Josh's lab! Josh also has a lab with no fire alarms! I wonder why the sprinkler didn't go off.

2.) Alex mentally sees the victims of the djinn when he tricks them. I wonder why she doesn't go tell someone. Even if she doesn't believe its a djinn, I'd be worried if I suddenly started seeing weird ass murders in my mind and going into convulsions.

3.) Okay, this movie didn't scare me until the djinn made some statues come to life. That was kind of unnerving only because some statues are creepy...and I've always wondered how horrifying it would be if they could move.

NUDITY AND SEX: None

HUH?: The history of the djinn given in this movie is not what we hear in our culture. But then I didn't expect the djinn to look like Barbara Eden or Shaq. A folklore expert that Alex meets in this movie even tells her that our western version of Genies and magic lamps comes from the scary eastern stories of the djinn. I wonder if it was created just for this movie or if it has any bearing in truth. If anyone knows, email me!

How hard could it really be for the djinn to open the portal and come to earth? I mean any person that freed a djinn would actually have to know all about them to avoid the danger?think about it. Some schmoe finds a magic lamp and a djinn pops out. He gets three wishes. The djinn come to earth and it’s the end of the world. The djinn in this movie could have won if he didn't kill a bunch of people! Since Alex can psychically tell when he's committed the crimes she naturally goes to seek help on djinn-lore and discovers the djinn's evil nature. Now lets say the djinn went around granting these wishes (which gave him possession of the wisher's souls) but did so in a benign way. Wouldn't Alex then think he was a good guy and make her three wishes, blissfully ignorant of the danger? Hey, when it got to my turn I'd wish for a [unwrite]load of money, health for all of my friends and family and world peace....and then the djinn would destroy us.

THE TALLY: I can't say this was a bad movie...well, yes I can. It was kind of hohum. The only interesting parts were waiting to see what evil trick the djinn would play with his phony wishes. Unfortunately they were kind of boring. The only one that made me laugh a little was when the djinn tries to gain access to a building but is stopped by the security guard. He tries to get the guard to make a wish that will dispose of him, and the guard wishes he'd go away. Unable to defy the wish, the djinn robotically walks away muttering to himself. Too bad the guard dies anyway. As the djinn is leaving the guard tells him the only way into the building is through him and he wishes he'd try that. That wish sealed his fate, since the djinn turned him into glass and walked through him. Not the best special effect, and it’s a shame it was done twice! The djinn turns another person into glass at Beaumont's party. It wasn't that good of a trick and we only needed to see it once. I think if the kills were at least hilariously bad or gross I may have felt something from this film. But as it is, I almost fell asleep! I hope the sequel is better.