Crappy film

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

It's been a long time since I saw this film and a long time since I saw the first one too, but it's been on my mind to say something about it. Wishmaster is a 10/10 film for me. It's a fantastic story of good vs. evil executed brilliantly.The second film just doesn't work as well for a number of reasons. It goes wrong very near the beginning, the first wish is too much of a stretch. The Djinn is only really supposed to be able to take a person's wishes and interpret them in a different way. When a police officer tells the Djinn to "Freeze" that isn't a wish. It's a command, and in my opinion the Djinn shouldn't have been able to freeze him and claim his soul. In addition, in Wishmaster 2 most of the wishes feel like set pieces. In the first film the wishes worked so well because they were an integral part of the plot, and each one moved the story forward in some way.The other thing that bothers me throughout the film is Andrew Divoff's performance. In Wishmaster the Djinn is charismatic and intelligent. He is malevolence incarnate. In Wishmaster 2 I get the impression that Andrew has been told the Djinn is supposed to feel awkward in human form, and he is to play it like that. As a result, the Djinn comes across as more like a robot than the confident super-natural being he is supposed to be. It makes me wonder if the director insisted Andrew play it like that.There are a few redeeming features though. Holly Fields performance is good, and she manages to carry the plot of the film well enough. The tag line "Evil never dies" is simple, but clever, philosophy and I like that. And although most of the wishes don't work very well, one or two of them do.If you are willing to persist with the series I found that both Wishmaster 3 and Wishmaster 4 are not as bad. They're nothing like as good as the original, of course, but they're watchable, and unlike this one, they don't make you wonder what on Earth the director was thinking.

This easily falls into the 'so bad it's good' category. If you believe in that phenomenon, add this to your list. If not, avoid at all costs - you will hate it.The special effects are out of this world bad, the plot line is super silly. The love story is laughably inappropriate. Divoff plays an amazing creep in this awful romp - he looks like a cross between Phil Hartman and Jim Carrey with his perpetual goofy grin. Some of the deaths in this movie are just hilarious to watch. My favourite thing is the actors' reactions to them, and how the extras in this movie don't seem to notice anything going on around them.That casino scene was just epic.

The original Wishmaster film was a pleasant surprise. Director Robert Kurtzman and writer Peter Atkins cleverly married very traditional old-school horror movie plotting and contemporary FX laden gore-splattering. The film benefited from a sense of humor, and had a fairly rapid pace that kept one distracted from any flaws. The direct-to-video sequel, by contrast, shows no savvy at all in it's plotting, its (very limited) use of FX, or its pacing. For most of the film, the monstrous Wishmaster is confined (in his human form) in a prison, where it takes the longest time for him to get anyone to ask for a wish. This prolonged prison scene might have been salvageable if the dialogue were witty, but it basically reduces to:Wishmaster: "I grant any wish, ask for something." Prisoner (or Guard): "F*** you!" Wishmaster: "No really, just ask."If such is your idea of snappy dialog, this movie's for you.Holly Fields is mighty pleasing to look at, but there's nothing much for her to do, so they decide to toss in some "inspirational" Christian redemption drivel into a story involving ancient Persian mythology - huh? - oh, never mind, it's not worth the effort.Andrew Divoff, who did a fine job in the first Wishmaster film, stumbles around looking for something interesting to do, can't find it, and stands around and sulks instead. We would certainly feel pity for him if we hadn't grown numb from boredom.

"WANTED: An actor who has mastered the evil-smirk method, to play Satan without ever changing his facial expression. We're making a B-movie, so will 500 bucks do? That's approximately $2 per smirk. You need to have a distinctly silly face which we will try to pass off as evil. Also wanted is a writer: preferably unemployed, i.e. with low financial expectations, and with a penchant for very cheap word-play. You see, our Wishmaster grants wishes, but he always twists the wish semantically to screw over the person whose soul he is taking. Neat idea, huh? We don't expect this turd to go the big screen, but we should get a few dozen viewers on various retarded cable channels."W2:END is a horrible Z-grade piece of crap worthy of an MST3000 treatment every step of the way. The actor playing Satan grins like an imbecile in every scene, making one wonder whether Hell has more to do with low IQs rather than low morality. Perhaps this movie suggests that the dumb end up in Hell... Marilyn Monroe? Gregory Peck? Lady Di? It kinda wouldn't be fair; after all, they didn't ask to be born that way.The Wishmaster, who for some reason refuses to be called by his Christian name "Satan", looks about as scary as South Park's gay Devil. The movie uses the age-old cliché of a wish being twisted around so as to not fulfill the wisher's intention. I have no idea if this was supposed to be funny. It was brutally lame. I'll tell you what was funny, though: Damsel In Distress: "Tell me how to stop you!" Satan aka Wishmaster: "Now you're p***ing me off!" Our female hero can't figure out a way to semantically screw over the Devil, so in a moment of uninspired panic she screams at him hysterically for an answer! One would think that the Wishmaster would find this amusing, especially since he's basically not more than a third-rate comedian here, but instead he gets upset at her - like a little girl. This extremely silly verbal exchange is right up (or down) there with Plan 9's precious "Your stupid stupid minds!" cinema moment.Included in the movie is also a young Catholic priest who is not only heterosexual, but takes off women's bras with suspiciously expert ease and speed. Somehow that actor looks more like someone they fished out from a neighbouring porn set, than an actual celibate minister. The world it is going' a-down, and yet these two have the energy and the interest to "get it on".More nonsense comes in form a rather tiresome rule that Satan has to fulfill 1001 wishes in order to accomplish his mission. Who makes these rules, anyway? 1001? Was it Scheherazade? Ali Baba? Our Horned bad guy eventually realizes that getting 1001 morons to make a wish is actually very hard work, and he gets frustrated, finally coming up with a cunning plan involving a Las Vegas casino. All silly hell breaks loose there, which is when we get some truly bad special effects, such as a woman craping several kilos of coins. People's faces melt, there is mutilation and carnage left and right, and yet all of it seemed about as scary as watching Heidi walk her sheep through the Alps.I'll you tell what IS scary: that there are people out there who actually enjoyed W2:END for its horror "value".The movie ends with the damsel chanting "nib shugaroth baheem". Is that "this was not a smart career move for me"...? I have no idea what this catchy word-salad means, or whether sugar has anything to do with Satan's demise, but something tells me that "abracadabra" would have been just as good - and easier to pronounce. Perhaps "nib shugaroth baheem" means "we've run out of funds hence have to end this dumb movie abruptly", in some obscure Asian language. The Devil may be hell-bent on conquering Earth, but even he knows that you can't finish a movie if the bank refuses to pay out the entire agreed-upon sum...Perhaps the current financial crisis will prevent many similar wishmasterian cinematic turds from being produced in the near future? I think that would be a good thing, in spite of the fact it would mean even higher levels of unemployment among actors who specialize in the "smirk/grin method".