The Wishmaster Franchise (1997, 1999, 2001, 2002)

The slasher subgenre had been bubbling under the surface of horror for a few years when it burst into the mainstream with the one-two punch of Black Christmas and Halloween. They laid the groundwork for an explosion of flicks to come out through the 1980s. The problem was, the bubble burst fairly quickly. Sure, there were still a bunch of slashers coming out. They were cheap to make. But by the early 1990s, the quality of the subgenre was gone. People were tired of the same old stories of some maniac killing a bunch of unknown “teen” actors.

One way that studios tried to keep the subgenre going was to bring in different kinds of killers. Instead of the usual maniacs, there would be monsters and possessed objects stalking the characters. Child’s Play featured a doll possessed by the spirit of a serial killer. Leprechaun saw a leprechaun murdering people to get its gold back. Monsters like those started making their way onto the big screen and into video stores in an attempt to keep the dwindling audiences interested in the subgenre.

Slashers were rejuvenated when Scream came out in 1996. That didn’t mean that the old ways were gone. Many slashers still required some sort of a hook to draw audiences in. Scream turned its story into a murder mystery, steeped in nostalgia for the slashers that came before. Other movies needed other methods. One of those was to keep the odd killers alive on the screen. Snowmen started hacking and slashing. So did whatever the Creeper from Jeepers Creepers was. And then there was the four-film Wishmaster franchise, which brought a djinn in as the killer.

The Wishmaster franchise began in 1997 under the producing eye of Wes Craven, a man who knew the slasher genre inside and out. He kept it alive in the 1980s with the imagination of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. He rebuilt the subgenre when he directed Scream. And now he was going to present a new villain to the world, a wish granting demon bent on taking over the world.

Over the course of four films, Wishmaster went from a theatrical release with many cameos to a television movie with a few cameos to a pair of direct-to-video sequels filled with working Canadian actors. It kept throwing new pieces of lore into the mix to keep things fresh. There were real world events and people tied into the mythology. And there were a whole bunch of crazy death scenes littered through the six hours of the franchise. It was a wild ride that all began with the first film.

Wishmaster

A new installation was being put into a museum. When one of the pieces was being moved off a barge, a drunken crane operator dropped it. The piece broke open to reveal a gemstone. Alexandra Amberson (Tammy Lauren) worked as an appraiser and was tasked with appraising the stone. While handing it, she accidentally unleased a Djinn (Andrew Divoff), a demonic genie, that wanted to grant her three wishes. Upon the third wish, the entire Djinn species would be able to come to Earth and take over. It was up to Alexandra to stop it.

The basic lore of the entire franchise was put in place in the first film. The Djinn could grant anyone a wish, though the vagueness of their wish would allow the Djinn to distort it in the most violent way. Usually the wishes resulted in death. The person who woke the Djinn could be granted three wishes. With the three wishes granted to the waker, all the Djinn would be woken and could conquer Earth. Every movie worked that way. There was always a waker. There was always a Djinn trying to get the waker to wish three times. The waker always had to stop the Djinn before the third wish could be granted. 

Wishmaster also introduced the slasher element. As the Djinn searched for the waker, it encountered many different people. It would coerce them into making wishes, usually in the most unsubtle way possible. Someone would say something, and the Djinn would reply with “Is that your wish?” or “Would you wish that?” or “Make that a wish and I will grant it.” Then when people wished it, usually in a turn of phrase and not an actual wish, the Djinn would twist it so that they died. One guy, while talking about his security job, wished to escape. He was placed into a locked chest of water and told to try to escape like Houdini. Things like that constituted the deaths. The Djinn was the killer.

That Houdini death featured one of many cameos littered throughout the first film. It was the only theatrical entry in the franchise, so it managed to feature some recognizable horror stars. Tony Todd, of Candyman fame, was the security guy placed in the water. Ted Raimi, the brother of Sam Raimi, was featured in an opening scene as a museum worker who was crushed when the drunk crane operator dropped the artefact. Robert Englund, the man made famous as Freddy Kruger, played the guy who ran the museum. Kane Hodder, who played Jason Voorhees in a few movies, was another security guard. Angus Scrimm, the tall man from Phantasm, was the narrator. He wasn’t the only Phantasm actor in the movie either. Reggie Bannister showed up as a pharmacist. He argued with a homeless man played by George ‘Buck’ Flower, who frequently showed up in John Carpenter’s stuff and frequently played homeless people and drunks in many other movies. It was a who’s who of recognizable horror people in small roles.

The low budget nature of the movie, costing only five million dollars to make, meant that it would be easy to turn a profit. It was. The movie made fifteen million dollars. That was enough to greenlight a sequel, but it wasn’t enough to push that sequel into theaters. There needed to be a new avenue to release the movie. That avenue ended up being television, which was where they released…

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies

The end of the first film involved making a wish that would cause the events to be reversed. It was a butterfly effect situation. One event, the drunken crane operator dropping the crate, caused the gem to be revealed. That, in turn, caused the release of the Djinn and all the deaths that followed. With the wish being that the crane operator wasn’t drunk, he wouldn’t drop the crate, the gem wouldn’t be found, and the deaths would be reversed. It also meant that the Djinn would still be trapped inside the gem. That set up the events of the second film.

A group of thieves robbed the museum. During a shootout with security, Morgana Truscott (Holly Fields) noticed a chunk of a statue that fell on the floor with a gem in it. She took the gem. It warmed in her hand and she dropped the gem, breaking it and releasing the Djinn (Andrew Divoff). Morgana escaped, and the Djinn was arrested for the robbery. Luckily for him, prison was filled with souls to take. It also gave him connections to a casino where, upon release from prison, he could steal many more souls. Morgana teamed up with a priest named Gregory (Paul Johannson) to stop the Djinn from stealing souls and getting her three wishes.

There was a slight bit added to the Wishmaster lore in the sequel. The first film hinted that the Djinn had to power the gem through stolen souls before the third wish could be granted to the waker. That was why so many innocent seeming bystanders were killed through wish-making. The sequel gave specifics to how many souls were required to grant the third wish. The Djinn had to steal one thousand souls to have the power required to fulfill the prophecy of the Djinns conquering the world. That was what made the prison and casino good places for him. The high density of people who would wish for something else, whether it be escape from prison or big money at the craps table, meant that the Djinn could easily obtain the number of souls required.

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies had a smaller budget, assumed to be around two and a half million. This meant that the big-name horror people wouldn’t be making the cameos they did in the first film. There were still some recognizable faces, though. Bokeem Woodbine played a pivotal role in the casino portion of the film. Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister played a guard at the prison. James and Simon Kim played the lackeys of the big bad in the prison. Robert LaSardo even showed up in the prison scenes because no genre prison movie can be complete without him. It wasn’t the same level of the first film, but neither was the budget. It was to be expected.

The ending was different than the first film, as well. Morgana didn’t wish her way out of the bad situation. She, instead, researched as much Djinn lore as she could to find a way to stop the Djinn. It resulted in a standoff at the casino. The Djinn took the souls of anyone who had made wishes. The Djinn demanded that she make her final wish, which, to be honest, wasn’t going to make her want to wish a final time. She pulled out the gem and recited an incantation that put the Djinn back into it. Everyone got their souls back, somehow, and it was a happy ending. Until…

Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell

The second film in the Wishmaster series wasn’t as successful as the first, which meant another downgrade as it went into the final two sequels. The franchise hadn’t been theatrical since the first film. The second film had gone to television and hadn’t been overly successful. The third film began the direct-to-video life of the Wishmaster franchise. It meant that fewer eyes would be on the film, but it could be done way cheaper for, potentially, more profit on the home video shelves.

College student Diana Collins (A.J. Cook) was studying some historical artifacts when she found a gemstone. The Djinn (John Novak) was released from the gemstone and immediately killed Joel Barash (Jason Connery), her college professor, and stole his identity. The Djinn set out to find Diana and force her into the three wishes, killing her friends and acquaintances along the way. She had a trick up her sleeve, though. She wished for the archangel Michael, who possessed her boyfriend Greg Janson (Tobias Mehler). Together, they fought off the Djinn.

Obviously, the new addition to the Wishmaster lore was the introduction of Michael. The first two films had set the Djinn up as an evil genie. It was a wish granting entity that was all about claiming the souls of the people who made wishes. The threequel reimagined that by setting up the Djinn as more of a demonic entity than an evil genie. It still granted wishes like a genie, sure, but it was a demonic sort of creature and could thus have a good counterpart. The Djinn was a demon? Of course the counterpart would be an angel.

One other big piece of lore came into play through Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell. During a lecture that the Djinn gave as the professor, it mentioned a little tidbit of history that was made canon to the Wishmaster films. He asked the class if they had learned about the Djinn. They said no. He said they couldn’t learn the history of the Trojan War without knowing the Djinn, then went on to explain that Helen of Troy had wished, to a Djinn, that everyone would love her beauty. That was what caused Paris to love her. That was what caused the whole war. A wish to a Djinn had been the reason for the Trojan War. It was canonical.

The cast was downgraded once again. With the franchise going direct-to-video, they couldn’t even cast the same caliber of people as the second Wishmaster film. Instead, the cast was filled with Canadian-content staples and people who would go onto bigger and better things. The star was A.J. Cook, who would soon go onto Final Destination 2 before becoming much more recognizable in the long running procedural Criminal Minds. One of the supporting characters was played by Emmanuelle Vaugier, who ended up with a much more under-the-radar career. She had a bit part in 40 Days and 40 Nights. She had small roles in television shows like Supernatural and Two and a Half Men. She was one of the stars of Far Cry and showed up in Saw II. She did some Lifetime/Hallmark movies along the way too. She became recognizable, but not a big star. Sarah Carter, of Smallville and Falling Skies, was also in there. It was a very Canadian cast.

After two films of the Djinn being trapped in the gem at the end, Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell gave a refreshing twist to the ending. The Djinn was killed. Michael couldn’t do it himself. Only the waker could kill the Djinn after it awakened. Diana didn’t have the confidence at the beginning, though. She thought she needed Michael to do it for her because he was a powerful being. However, as the movie played out, she became more confident. Diana saw her friends killed one by one and needed to stop the Djinn from destroying the world. She attempted to kill herself by jumping from a roof because without her life, she couldn’t make the final wish. The Djinn caught her and fell from the rooftop with her. On the ground, Diana found Michael’s sword and stabbed the Djinn with it. That was it. The Djinn was dead. Yet, it returned in…

Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled

The fourth film was a direct-to-video sequel that left the question of whether the third and fourth films featured new Djinns or not. The first two films certainly featured the same Djinn. It was impersonating the same dead person. The gem had come from the same statue in both films. Even the third could be considered the same Djinn. Different actor, same Djinn. Nothing said it wasn’t. The gem being found in a different place was believable because Morgana wouldn’t have hidden it back in the statue from the museum she robbed. When the Djinn was killed at the end of the third film, however, everything was thrown into disarray. The fourth film featured the same actor playing the Djinn as the third film, even though that Djinn had been killed. It could have been a Leprechaun situation where the same actor could be playing multiple monsters of the same species, like Warwick Davis playing a different leprechaun in each movie. Either that, or the Djinn was somehow resurrected.

Whatever the case, the Djinn was back. Lisa Burnley (Tara Spencer-Nairn) was working with a lawyer friend named Steven Verdel (Michael Truco) to get a settlement after her boyfriend Sam (Jason Thompson) was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. He gave her a gem, which awakened the Djinn (John Novak) inside. The Djinn quickly killed him and stole his identity. It got the three wishes from Lisa but put off fulfilling the third because it wasn’t an easy wish. She had wished to love the Djinn, posing as Steven, for who he was. That meant the Djinn had to build a romantic relationship with her to fulfill the wish. It couldn’t simply change her feelings. The Djinn had to convince Lisa to change her own feelings and fall in love with it.

One major piece of new mythology was added to the Wishmaster franchise in the fourth entry. With the three wishes made, a hunter (Victor Webster) was released. That hunter was sent to track down, and kill, the waker before the third wish could be granted. Since the wish involved taking time to build a relationship, there was ample time for the hunter to do his duty. The Djinn had to protect Lisa from the hunter while also trying to fulfill her wish. It was an added complication to an already complicated wish grant.

The other piece of mythology, one that was much more minor and didn’t change the trajectory of the movie at all, was a throwaway line that built up the world. The Djinn was disguised as Steven. It was talking to Lisa about all kinds of things and mentioned that Caligula was a misunderstood guy. It further reiterated that by saying something along the lines of feeling like it knew Caligula lifetimes ago. What that insinuated was that the Djinn had been associated with Caligula. Much like the Trojan War stuff from the third film, this was merging history with the film’s lore.

Another similarity to the third film was the way the final Wishmaster film ended. Once again, the Djinn was stabbed with a sword, which was what killed it. The way that happened was a little different. Sam had been wished out of his paralysis. That was Lisa’s second wish. Sam confronted the Djinn while it was pushing Lisa to confirm her third wish was granted. He wished for something that could kill the Djinn and was given a sword that the Djinn quickly stabbed him with. Lisa managed to throw the Djinn onto the sword which was still sticking through her boyfriend. The Djinn died on the sword in a sort of kebob situation with Sam. The disrespect for her recently cured-of-paralysis boyfriend. Wow.

There wasn’t much to say about the cast. Much like the third film, it was primarily stacked with Canadian working actors of the time. Steven was played by a guy who went on to have a recurring role in How I Met Your Mother. There was a strip club bouncer played by Aleks Paunovic, who still pops up in low budget movies filmed in Canada. Victor Webster popped up as the hunter, years before he would star in two direct-to-video Scorpion King movies. It was a cast.

After four films, the Wishmaster franchise concluded. It was a turn-of-the-century slasher that didn’t have a long shelf life. The slasher craze died around the time that it was petering out, with the “monster” slashers taking the biggest hits. The Leprechaun franchise died out. The Child’s Play/Chucky franchise had a lull. There wasn’t an audience for them because the audience had gone for a more torturous kind of horror in movies like Saw and Hostel. The heyday of the slasher was gone, and the popularity of the monster slasher faded away to nothing.

Slashers never completely died, though. The peaked in the early 1980s and had a resurgence in the late 1990s. There hasn’t been quite the same push for slashers since that time. But they never left. There were newer movies like Happy Death Day and The Babysitter that pushed the subgenre in new directions. All the major 1980s franchises were rebooted in one way or another. Friday the 13^th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre all got Platinum Dunes remakes. Halloween was rebooted by Rob Zombie, then got a new sequel/reboot from David Gordon Green. Child’s Play and Leprechaun even got reboots along the way. My Bloody Valentine and Silent Night, Deadly Night were remade. Black Christmas was even remade. Twice. It’s only a matter of time before some of the more forgotten properties find their time to shine in the reboot/remake realm. When will that time come for Wishmaster?

Now for a whole heaping load of notes:

• Chris Angel directed Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell and Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled.
• Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister joined the five-timers’ club this week with Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies. He could previously be seen in The Human Centipede III (week 180), Santa’s Slay (week 263), The Wash (week 303), and Street Corner Justice (week 391).
• The other new five-timer this week was Kane Hodder, who appeared in Wishmaster. He had already appeared in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (week 85), Friday the 13^th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (week 294), 3 Musketeers (week 384), and Hardbodies (week 392).
• Robert LaSardo has been featured in four different Sunday “Bad” Movies. He was in Death Race (week 9), Drop Zone (week 132), The Human Centipede III (week 180), and Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies.
• Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled saw the return of Aleks Paunovic to the Sunday “Bad” Movies. He was previously in The Marine 3: Homefront (week 30), The Christmas Consultant (week 55), and In the Name of the King: Two Worlds (week 220).
• Verne Troyer played a small role in Wishmaster. He was also in Gnome Alone (week 151) and Jingle All the Way (week 160).
• Jean St. James also appeared in Wishmaster. She was in D.E.B.S. (week 111) and Ice (week 365) as well.
• George ‘Buck’ Flower popped up in a memorable role in Wishmaster after showing up in both Mac and Me (week 125) and Tammy and the T-Rex (week 408).
• James Kim and Simon Kim were brothers who appeared in Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies, as well as Exit Wounds (week 93) and Batman & Robin (week 138).
• Emmanuelle Vaugier made her third Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance in Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell, following her appearances in A Nanny for Christmas (week 3) and Far Cry (week 364).
• Andrew Divoff was in both Wishmaster and Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies as the Djinn. He was previously in Mac and Me (week 125).
• Victor Webster played the hunter in Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled. He was the titular Scorpion King in The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (week 380) and The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (week 380).
• John Novak took over the role of the Djinn in Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell and Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled. He also showed up in The Incredible Hulk Returns (week 335).
• Chad Bruce and Jennifer Pudavick were in both Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell and Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled.
• Gretchen Palmer made her long-awaited return to the Sunday “Bad” Movies in Wishmaster after first appearing in Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (week 32).
• The pharmacist in Wishmaster was played by Reggie Bannister, who also showed up in Metal Man (week 79).
• Ricco Ross was in Bermuda Tentacles (week 96) and Wishmaster.
• You may have noticed Peter Liapis in Wishmaster. He was also in Sextette (week 141).
• Wishmaster featured an actor named Dennis Madalone, who was in Mom and Dad Save the World (week 186).
• Frank Nicotero was in Wishmaster. He was previously seen in Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (week 252).
• Santa’s Slay (week 263) featured Annie Sorrell, who was also in Wishmaster.
• The narrator of Wishmaster was Angus Scrimm, who was involved in Chopping Mall (week 306).
• Now onto Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies. The star was Holly Fields, who did work in Beverly Hills Chihuahua (week 70).
• Christopher Boyer returned from Zarkorr! The Invader (week 123) to appear in Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies.
• Did you recognize Matt Falletta in Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies? He was also in Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (week 159).
• Nothing But Trouble (week 267) and Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies both featured James Staszkiel.
• M. Steven Felty was in Attila (week 321) and Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies.
• Finishing off Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies, it featured Scott L. Treger, who was in Soul Man (week 354).
• Finally, Sarah Carter was in Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell. She was also in DOA: Dead or Alive (week 191).
• Have you seen the Wishmaster movies? What did you think of them? Did you like any of them? Let me know on Twitter or in the comments.
• I’ll be building the next chunk of the Sunday “Bad” Movies schedule soon. If you have movies that you think I should be watching for this blog, let me know. I’m on Twitter and I check the comments. I’ll take any suggestions into consideration.
• Head on over to Instagram and give Sunday “Bad” Movies a follow. There’s fun stuff there every once in a while. Right now, I’m putting up one movie clip a day for October from many of the different horror movies that have been covered.
• You know the drill. There’s one final thing to do before I close the post out. I need to quickly promote next week’s post. I’ll be revisiting a Canadian franchise that was first featured years ago in the blog. It’s time to check out Another WolfCop. I’ll see you next week for a post about a movie I saw in theatres when it came out. It’s revisiting time.