Oh that evil Djinn is back for another go around at taking over our world.  This time around he finds a woman who grants that all important third wish — except there are string attached to this one.

Judging a Book by its Cover

The prophecy fulfilled??  After four movies it’s about time!

This must also be the movie where the genie gets lucky.

Love is a bitch.

Directed by Chris Angel

Starring Tara Spencer-Nairn, Michael Turrco, Jason Thompson and John Novak

The film opens with a young woman named Lisa who’s in love with a young man Sam, however, after a motorcycle accident leaves him paralyzed, he shuns her because he can’t physically love her.  Their lawyer, Steven, has a thing for Lisa and in trying to woo her, he presents her with a present he found on the world wide web!  It’s just a weird box until she drops it and a gem falls out. She picks it up briefly, thus easily awakening the evil inside, before rebuking Steven and giving it back to him.

Are we playing Highlander?

Later that evening, the Djinn reveals himself looking for the one who awoke him and kills Steven to take on his persona.  He returns to Lisa and she starts making wishes around his presence so he doesn’t even have to show his true form to her. Believe it or not, the third wish is actually made this time around but unfortunately it presents a problem for the ol’ Djinn. It requires that she love him for what he really is…too bad he’s an ugly demon from between our dimensions.

I love this killer shade of paint.

The other Djinn — who have been waiting over four movies for someone to finally release them — show up and ask what the hell he’s waiting for.  Apparently human love cannot just be wished for, but it must be freely given.  So the rest of the movie has the Djinn try to woo her while he offs people in his way.  Why not just skip that wish and wait for another one?  As that drama goes on throughout the movie, someone known as “The Hunter” appears and tries to kill Lisa before the wish is granted.

Finally, something a little different for a Wishmaster movie. It’s actually better than the last one, although not by much.  The charging of the gem with the souls of those who made wishes is not necessary this time around as the granting of the third wish is all that’s needed to bring the Djinn (plural) to our world.  Poor Lisa is caught between her love of Sam and Steven, and even the Djinn itself beings to feel feelings. Those looking for a horror movie might be disappointed in this chapter of the franchise.

I like your face, I think I will take it.

Ninety percent of the time, the effects are weak or even non-existent. Most of the wishes are lame and the only cool parts come from a guy having to cut his nose off and a beheading later on by the Hunter. An example of how bad it gets — at one point a woman wishes for killer sex, and she winds up screaming while being tossed against a wall? That’s it?  That’s all you could come up with?  This is one weak ass Djinn.

Take a little bit off the top, guvna?

The acting is surprisingly decent, as most of the characters are likeable aside from Sam’s character. He’s given the unfortunate task of looking like an asshole when he really has no reason to. At every moment Lisa tries to endear herself to him, he’s constantly pushing her affection away even though it’s exactly what he wants. John Novak’s Djinn comes off more like a cartoon than anything, which may be fitting given Novak’s long history of voice acting for many cartoons. He tries hard enough but like I said for the last movie, he’s given lines that make him a terrible Kruger rip off at best.

TL;DR

Story: 4 – The fourth Wishmaster still plays out like the rest in the series though the granting of the third wish was quite interesting…up to a point.

Blood: 3 – A dude stabbing his own face and a beheading are the few highlights of this less than bloody affair.

Boobs: 5 – The movie’s sex scenes are reminiscent of the old Cinemax style late night movies.

Rating: 4 –This was better than I expected it to be, but unfortunately, I came to the dance for a horror movie, not a romantic drama. I suppose credit should be given for attempting something different, but it just doesn’t gel well.

Trivia

This film was shot back-to-back with the third part over a period of sixteen days across both films.