31 (or so) Days of Terror: Wishmaster

I'm a big proponent of the media using lesser known ghouls and goblins in their works. The usual Vampires, Zombies, and Skeletons get boring after a while so it's nice to shake things up. That was the entire point of these two articles. So imagine my joy when I discovered that not only was there a horror movie about an evil genie, but that it was also an incredibly fun watch. Dear readers, let me introduce you to Wishmaster...

Raymond Beaumont (Robert Englund), an eccentric rich guy, has just purchased an incredibly rare ruby from Persia that unbeknownst to him contains an evil genie. The ruby is lost in transit and through a series of misfortunes arrives in the hands of Alexandra Amberson, a gem appraiser. Alexandra accidentally releases the genie (or djinn as the film calls it) who after 900 years of confinement must grant people wishes to regain its strength. But Alexandra has become linked to the djinn and the monster has been turning her friends and family's wishes against them in true Monkey's paw fashion. Eventually the djinn closes in on Alexandra and must grant her three wishes before it can unlock its full power and release the gates of Hell. Will Alexandra be able to outthink this ancient monster or will we all die at the hands of the Wishmaster?


Horror as a genre has always focused on its villains. They're the ones who get the memorable looks, sympathetic (or not) backstories, and are the characters focused on from story to story. This is partly due to the interchangeable nature of horror protagonists, one scared idiot isn't all that different from another, but more because the villains are just more interesting. Horror villains are puzzles in a way, even when they're inhuman like here, we audiences try to understand their motivations and psychologies. We ask ourselves what drives this thing and how did it come to be this way? A good Horror villain makes us try to rationalize the irrational.

Andrew Divoff in full makeup as the Djinn.

The Djinn is no exception to this. He's an intriguing figure, closer to a cultural perception of a devil than a genie, and actor Andrew Divoff gives him so much personality. You can just tell the Djinn's having so much fun just toying with people, tricking them into saying the wrong thing so he can grant their wish in the worst way possible. Everything from his smug grin to his deep scratchy voice to the hypnotizing look he gives his victims creates a presence when he comes on screen. And Divoff doesn't push his performance too far into hamminess, keeping it on the right side of menacing. Where a lesser actor would feel the urge to go over the top, Divoff has the sense of when to keep things restrained and his voice low. The Djinn reminds me a lot of Freddy Krueger, but done in a much different way. They both like to mess with people before they kill them but Freddy was more of a bully, he enjoyed rubbing it in his victims' faces how helpless they were. But the Djinn is more smug and sadistic, he likes playing on people's ignorance and leading them astray. He's much more of a conman, smiling because he's the only one in on the joke of how these people are screwing themselves. Just a great memorable villain.

He looks amazing too, a full body makeup of stretched albino skin and Giger-esque tentacles. And the filmmakes are smart with how they use it. The Djinn spends most of the movie in disguise as a yuppie straight out of Bret Easton Ellis and his true form is kept hidden at the beginning to create suspense, so the audience is left wondering what he actually looks like for the majority of the film. So when he's finally revealed at the climax, that reveal has much more impact. This film is actually a great showcase of practical effects. The myriad amounts of gore are all done with makeups and puppets, which was rare in 1997 when this was made and is almost non-existant today, and they're equal parts bloody disgusting and joyous to see. Faces twist, heads explode, guts burst from bellies and at one point a man's skeleton rips itself of his body. All on full display for the gorehounds.

Best effect of the movie.

Another credit to Wishmaster that elevates it above other monster gorefests is the main character Alexandra. Unlike in other Horror films, she doesn't act stupid or just wait in ignorance for the Djinn to attack her. No, from the minute the Djinn is released and she feels their connection Alexandra starts researching the monster. She looks up its past, its folklore, how it came to America and all the events surrounding it. She also doesn't panic when the Djinn finally reveals itself, instead she thinks on her feet and tries to turn her wishes against it. She tries to con the conman and succeeds. Characters acting intelligently is a plus for any Horror movie.

Wishmaster was an unexpected treat. It's an underrated classic with a hypnotizing central villain, spectacular practical gore effects, a smart female lead and exposure for an underused monster. Add in cameos from other Horror legends like Englund and Tony Todd and I don't understand why this movie doesn't get talked about more. It's a great ride in the tradition of 80s Horror and understandably spawned a few sequels.

Highly recommended for fans of practical effects and obscure monsters

Final Score: 5/5