1. Wishmaster (1997)

• Director: Robert Kurtzman
• With: Andrew Divoff, Tammy Lauren, Robert Englund, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Angus Scrimm, Ted Raimi, Jenny O’Hara
• Music by: Harry Manfredini
• Duration: 1h30
• Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

A demonic djinn attempts to grant its owner three wishes, which will allow him to summon his brethren to Earth.

2. Wishmaster : Evil never dies (1999)

• Director: Jack Sholder
• With: Andrew Divoff, Holly Fields, Chris Weber, Carlos Leon
• Music by: David Williams
• Duration: 1h35
• Rating: 6/10

Synopsis:

The evil Djinn is awakened once more, and must collect 1001 souls to begin the Apocalypse.

Review:

Before I start my review for these two movies I would like to say that I know there are two more movies in this franchise but I will not watch nor review them, because they are utter garbage (personal opinion!) and I do not deem the worthy of my time…

Having said this:

I remember watching these movie at the end of the nineties and having a clear love for the villain in them, Andrew Divoff playing the Djinn 🧞‍♂️ felt like perfection back then. And before I rewatched them I thought he was worthy of being put in the upper shelf of villains, next to Krueger, Jason, Myers and Jigsaw… but this rewatch made me realise not all movies stand the test of time!

Granted, a lot of the death scenes (I know, macabre) are just fun to watch, even with the limited budget and special effects the still look amazing (especially in the first movie!). A skeleton breaking free from its flesh, statues and paintings coming to life, the double meaning of certain wishes… and yeah there are some mistakes in the story or in the movie (what movie doesn’t have those?) and acting isn’t up to point but Divoff saves the movie, just by his performance… But like I said, these didn’t stay as good as when they came out…

The second movie has the worst acting of both movies! There’s a great deal of overacting and especially bad dialogues… man the writers did a bad job there! Again it’s Divoff that saves the day! (And the ‘The lawyer can go fuck himself’ scene!)

Apart from some memorable oneliners (Evil never dies, be careful what you wish for…) the movies are nót memorable unfortunately… so I lowered my previous ratings for both movies…

Ah well glad I rewatched them but they’ll be in my cupboard for a very long time now, I suspect!