I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Simply A Masterpiece

Just what I expected

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

With excellent practical effects, smart writing, and an abundance of creativity, Wishmaster is one of those 90s horror flicks that didn't get the notice it deserved. While several horror mainstays made appearances and the great Wes Craven directed, this film rarely gets talked about these days.The djinn, the wish-granting antagonist, is handled without relying on many of the genie-clichés we so often see. The female lead was smart and strong in a year before that was the norm. The practical effects are a throwback to 80s horror classics like Hellraiser and The Thing.Admittedly, this movie comes from the early days of CGI and has some off- putting moments because of it. It can be jarring when they transition between a lovingly crafted practical effect to a weak, computer generated one. Thankfully, these moments are few and far between.Like many solid horror films of the era, this one spawned several awful sequels. Don't bother with them. Watch the original and enjoy it. It's a great throwback to the sort of scary flicks many of us horror fans have been missing for some time.

Wishmaster (1997): Dir: Robert Kurtzman / Cast: Tammy Lauren, Andrew Divoff, Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd: Lewd and pathetic piece of trash that should be flushed down a toilet. An exercise in special effects containing no artistic talent. A genie is accidentally unleashed to cause destruction. When a clerk wishes not to lose her physical appeal he turns her into a mannequin. When a security guard challenges him to walk through him upon a threat we know the crap that follows and it is about as suspenseful as diarrhea. Director Robert Kurtzman is a better effects person than a director. Tammy Lauren plays the heroine who will run and scream and then run and scream some more until she collects her paycheck for the hard work. Andrew Divoff is an embarrassment as the evil genie. He is about as menacing as the Easter Bunny. Also appearing is Robert Englund and Kane Hodder who are better known as Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees, and this is hardly a compliment to them or those franchises they represent. They can deem themselves fortunate if they are never remembered for this garbage. Rather than address the dangers of greed, it becomes nothing more than special effects and really lame one-liners from one of the worst concocted villains ever imagined. My wish is that every copy of this film be destroyed. Score: 1 / 10

This movie was definitely a gore fest, but it is surprisingly good considering I watched it for the first time 18 years after it came out. The times have definitely changed because you hardly ever see gore like that in the movies today. If you're into gory movies from the 90's, then this is definitely a movie to watch. It starts from the opening scene all the way to the end. It has a nice plot that is easy to follow, and the pace isn't slow. The part in the movie where she is going to Beaumont's (spelling?) party to get her sister is interesting. Why? Because the door guard is the same actor that played the namesake of the movie Candyman. Seeing that makes me want to watch Candyman. I think I will watch Wishmaster 2 and follow it up with Candyman 1 and 2 tomorrow night.

One of those B movies that simply doesn't know its place, that gets better with each successive viewing. I am not going to give the credit to Craven, a talented director whose track record shows that, to milk yet more sequel out of a successful franchise (in this case, Wishmaster #2 to #4) he conveniently forgets the meaning of restraint (along with another word he forgets in his sequels, "quality"). But this was the first in the series, the best and the brightest, and I believe in its own way it has become a quiet classic. The actors all do their jobs, but it is Andrew Divoff as the genie who steals entire scenes from even more seasoned names. The man's voice is, in its own way, as unique as James Earl Jones and moreover his wacky diction ("wishes" becomes WISH-SAYS, with accompanying malevolent grin) gives his character an entirely new order of menace. High recommended. Avoid the sequels. And, needless to add, avoid the Djinn.