Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a horror movie from 1997. That movie is "Wishmaster".
Now, I've been wanting to check out this franchise for quite some time. And similar to what I'm doing with the "Digimon Adventure tri." films, I'm gonna be covering all four of the "Wishmaster" movies for the next couple of months. So, you're gonna notice a bit of a rotation between those two film series for quite a while.
Now for those of you who have never heard of the "Wishmaster" series, from what I could gather, the movies involve an evil djinn that can grant any kind of wish that anyone so desires. But at the same time, it also unleashes their darkest nightmares. At least, according to the back of the case for the first movie. Which sounds really cool. So I'm curious to see if this franchise is even worth checking out. I heard about this franchise from one of Emer Prevost's live streams, where he and a friend of his were talking about the "Wishmaster" movies, and that's what ultimately got me interested in checking these movies out for myself.
I'm certainly hoping that this franchise is gonna be worth checking out. I've heard mostly good things about the "Wishmaster" movies, but I have no idea if they're gonna end up being any good. The only way I'm gonna know if this series is even worth watching at all, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Wishmaster".
9 minutes later
Well, guys...the movie's just started, and we already have our first death. It was quite gruesome. But then again, the dumbass had coffee around the crane controls. So obviously, it was bound to lead to something disastrous. Still though, this movie does not fuck around. I'm hoping this is a good sign of things to come.
9 minutes later
Well, folks, I think I learned something new today. Never run a laser scan on a jewel that may or may not contain the essence of an evil djinn. Otherwise, it will blow up your lab equipment. That is a good lesson to fucking learn, guys.
8 minutes later
Wow....never thought I would see someone die that violently to cancer. That was pretty fucked up. Really cool. But totally fucked up, dude.
19 minutes later
Guys, I will say that was a pretty creative way to distract someone, while granting their wish. Granted, this guy only killed about 2 or 3 people, and ripped one guy's jaw off with his bare hands. But still, it was sort of a creative way to distract someone, while trying to gain someone's address. So, good on the Djinn for thinking that far ahead.
3 minutes later
I have no fucking clue what just happened to that security officer. It was certainly really cool, but I have no idea what the fuck just happened to that guy. It was certainly creative, I'll say that much.
15 minutes later
Well, guys, I know now that when you wish for an evil djinn to blow it's brains out, it can totally do that. But it won't kill them, anyways. I'm kinda curious as to how Alex is gonna be able to kill this thing, but hopefully, I'l be able to find out eventually.
7 minutes later
OK, guys, that was probably one of the funniest things this djinn has said all movie. Granted, I understand this djinn isn't known for this one liners, but that one was fucking funny as shit. I really kinda dug that.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Wishmaster". That was...rather interesting. Let me shut the movie off...OK. Well, if this movie's anything to go by, I think I may be in for a fun couple of months. I guess this shows my hand kinda early, but I think I should get into the movie itself.
I'm gonna start with writing. And I want to start with something that I need to discuss, without going into too much spoilers. You see, this movie pulls off something that I didn't think would be possible. Again, without going into too much details as to how, this movie basically pulls a twist where it undoes the entire movie. And, in most cases, I would have a massive problem with that. Because when movies do this sort of bullshit where they would undo the entire movie, it usually involves something stupid. Such as if the entire movie was a dream, and that everything that happened in it did not fucking happen at all. Or something similar to this, where it tries to fuck with your mind on whether or not the entire movie was a dream. A real good example of this would be in my review of "Tamara". In it, there was one scene where it happened to have one of our female main characters wake up from a dream after they supposedly buried Tamara. Only for her to come back from the dead, kill a couple of high school bullies, and act like it was a dream from this one girl's mind. And that scene ruined an entire movie for me, because it was never established on whether the entire movie or not was just a dream. And the movie was, as I just stated, trying to fuck with your mind, because the writer for that movie thinks that adding in tons of bullshit twists was gonna make his film work. But considering it was from the creator of the "Final Destination" films, all it did for him was just make that entire movie a waste of time. So, you can kinda see where I'm going with this. When it comes to this movie, the whole twist of undoing the movie...actually makes sense. Because it doesn't try to fuck with your mind at anytime. Most of everything in this movie makes some level of sense. Nothing here is gonna make you question scenes where it might not make a ton of sense. And even during the final climax of the movie, where a bunch of shit is going on, it still makes enough sense as to help you understand what's going on. And I have to give the writing a ton of praise here, because it managed to take a twist, where most of the time it would result in a cop-out ending, and make it totally work. So, I can say that the writing here is actually pretty good.
There were two things I was curious about though. One of them did get answered, and it does make some level of sense. That question was how exactly was the Djinn gaining his powers, even though when certain people were asking for wishes from this Djinn, they weren't exactly 3 wishes. Well, that actually does get explained. You see, the Djinn was released from this red gem. And the Djinn needs to power this gem from human souls, so he grants random people their darkest wishes, and that's how he's able to get his power back. And in order for him to release his fellow djinn on Earth, he needs to grant our main character, Alex, 3 wishes, so that he can open that gateway and, basically, unleash Hell on Earth. Which again, sounds like a really awesome premise. And this movie was able to handle this story really well. What helps it more is our characters. Now admittedly, most of them don't have a ton of depth. Most of that goes to two of our main characters, which are Alex and the Djinn. I've already talked about the Djinn's motivations and powers, but the Djinn is the best character in this entire movie. Part of that has to go to the acting, but I'll get to that in a moment. But as for Alex, she doesn't fall into the idiot trope of stupid horror characters. She's actually a smart woman who tries to figure out a way to stop the Djinn from regaining his full power, because she's the one who was responsible for waking the Djinn. And that's something I kinda liked out of her here. And that's really all I could ask for when it comes to characters in horror movies. As I've talked about before time and again, you don't need mountains of depth from characters in horror movies, but at the very least, give me a reason to care about them. And this movie does enough to where it made me care about what's going to happen to her. So, good on this movie for making me care about a main protagonist in a horror movie. Now, the other question I had about this movie doesn't get answered, and it's one I'm kinda curious about. Because of the twist ending where it undoes the entire movie, how exactly does this set itself up for a sequel? That, I'm rather curious about. Now admittedly, this one's more of a trivial matter that'll probably get answered in the sequel, so I'm not gonna dwell on that too much. But I will say that the writing here is pretty good, and that's really awesome to say.
What about the acting? Well, the acting is actually pretty good. There were maybe, like, one or two background actors that kinda sucked, but it's not enough to bring the entire movie down, so I'm not going to fault them entirely here. There are several names that I did recognize in this movie. Those names are Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, and George Buck Flower. If you don't know who Robert Englund and Kane Hodder are, then you need to brush up on your horror movie history. As for George Buck Flower, he basically plays almost the exact same hobo character from a couple of John Carpenter's movies, such as "They Live" and "Escape from New York". So for me, it's nothing new to see him play the same character in those two movies. I will say that he does a great job here. But again, it's kinda hard to fuck up playing as a hobo. As for Robert Englund and Kane Hodder, they do a pretty good job here too. But what's strange about all this is that, even though they are big names in the horror movie genre, they are not the reasons to watch this movie. That honor goes solely to Andrew Divoff as the Djinn. Holy shit, does he make this movie worth watching. I'm gonna tell you, guys, Andrew Divoff absolutely kills as the Djinn in this movie. And I know that he's in the sequel, so that's gonna be awesome to see. But as for this movie, Divoff is amazing here. He has enough charm and personality to make the Djinn his own character. So, kudos to Andrew Divoff for making the Djinn the most memorable character in this entire movie. As for the rest of the cast, besides the one or two background characters, all of them turn in a pretty good showing. So ultimately, the acting is pretty damn good, and everyone was given enough material to make their characters work. So without beating the same horse, the acting is really solid from most of the cast.
This movie is very heavy on special effects, and just about all of it looks really spectacular. Especially for the standards of 1997's special effects. We have a ton of practical effects involving makeup, blood, and costuming. And all of it looks really solid. I especially have to give the makeup effects a ton of praise here, too. Most of it comes from our Djinn. He looks really good in this movie. Especially the little world he lives in, when Alex wishes to know what the Djinn is like. Thus, he transports her inside the gem in where he presides in. And that looks really good, too. Blood effects are amazing in this movie. It's one of the better looking movies I've seen where the blood effects are really awesome. Makeup effects and costuming involving the stone statues look really good, too. Guys, I'm gonna tell you again: For 1997, the special effects in this thing are amazing. And I would dare say that most of it looks really good by today's standards. So, I have to say that the special effects are so fucking good in this movie, that they rank up as one of the biggest highlights for this movie.
Camerawork here is really good. Lighting here is lit really well. Our score here is decent. Sound-mix is a little bit sketchy at times. You see, early on, I had this movie's volume up at max. And there were times where I could barely hear the dialogue from some of these characters. It sounds really quiet for some reason. Now I don't know if this was an issue involving the version of it I have on DVD, or if Artisan Home Entertainment kinda made the sound-mix that way for whatever stupid reasoning. But either way, it was kind of an issue for me. Again, I don't know if it was a technical issue on my end, or if it's the version of it on DVD, but it was something I noticed, so you have take it for what it's worth. Now admittedly, it doesn't ruin the entire movie for you, but it is something that you might notice, if you're a technical weirdo like me. But anyway, sound-mix could've been fixed better. But again, it might just be an issue on my end.
Ultimately, guys, am I able to recommend "Wishmaster"? Absolutely, yes. This thing is a really solid horror movie. And I'm rather happy to have come across this franchise after hearing about how most of the "Wishmaster" movies are really good. I'm hoping that the rest of them are good. But again, I'll worry about that within the next couple of months. But as of right now, I'm totally able to recommend the first movie. If you're a horror movie fanatic, and you've never had a chance to see this movie yet, then go ahead and check it out. In fact, I have the first two "Wishmaster" movies on this 2-pack that I bought. So even if the second one does suck, at least I have the first movie right there. I'm certainly hoping that both movies are going to be good, but again, I'll see for myself if the second movie, along with the third and fourth one, is any good. But as of right now, I'm genuinely excited to watch the rest of the "Wishmaster" movies. And this first entry is off to a great start. Now...I think I'm gonna go and watch another horror movie. I think I'm gonna go watch my copy of "Perfect Blue" on DVD. It's been a long time since I've seen that thing, and I feel like giving it another watch.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment