BAD MOVIE REVIEW: Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fullfilled (2002)

The Trailer:

After “reconnecting” with Wishmaster 3, and subsequently being tortured by it, I was reluctant to watch part 4. The last time I viewed it was WWAAAYY back when it was first sitting on the new release shelves. ON VHS. (Shocking that WAY back is 2002 isn’t it?) All I remember from the experience is that the woman in this movie made all three wishes and that the third wish was pretty epic. I kinda actually remember liking this movie. (shudder)

So last weekend I gave it another go. Why not? Some things change, others stay the same right?

My feelings towards Wishmaster 4…stay the same.

It was good. I actually fucking liked it. It is no Wishmaster 1 or 2 by any means but it’s still pretty damn good on its own.

The first half of the movie is pretty much a copy of Wishmaster 3…which is a copy of Wishmaster 1. So a copy of a copy of a copy usually ends up looking like shit. And of course, the viewer (me), was dreading every minute. It was the same old story, same old formula, same old outline…but then something happened.

 I got naked.

She made her third wish. The prophecy they’d been talking about for FOUR MOVIES had come true. Upon the granting of the third wish, the gateway to the world of the Djinn will be opened and the Djinn shall inherit the Earth.

One problem: The Djinn can’t grant the third wish. It is a wish for LOVE and a wish like that can only be granted by the grantor.

As dumb as that sounds and as dumb as it is to turn the Wishmaster series into a love story…actually fucking worked here. That wish turned the tables for this movie. The moment she made it, the look on the Wishmaster’s face, the utter incapacity to process that fucking wish is absolutely priceless.

The filmmakers learned their lessons in part 3 and brought us something watchable. Yes, parts 3 & 4 were filmed back to back so you’re probably thinking that they’re both pretty terrible. Now, maybe this is because I pretty much watched 3 & 4 back to back and ANYTHING, no matter what it is, would look infinitely better than part 3 but I’d watch part 4 again.

But don’t get me wrong, this movie is bad. The same ShittyDjinn from part 3 is back…looking terrible as he does. His lines in this movie have improved. The writer introduced a sword capable of killing the Djinn…even though they’ve pointed out SEVERAL TIMES throughout the series that the Djinn is eternal and therefore can not die. Imprisoned…but not die. The acting is about what you would expect for this film. Mediocre…about on par with part 3. There’s one sulking character that gets really old really fast. And unfortunately sticks around for most of the movie. The Ending....it is what it is.

And most of the continuity of the ALL the movies is kinda thrown out the window.

BUT there is a lot to love here. Aside from the amazing third wish, they introduce a “hunter.” So once the waker has said their final wish, a hunter is released (from where? I have no idea) to track down and kill the waker before the third wish can be granted. Which is kind of odd since I would think most third wishes could be granted almost immediately. But whatever, he had a sword so he rocked. Also, there was quite a bit of nudity, so that helped the first half of this movie. And the kills. There was more of them, they were gorier, and they got more creative. THANK YOU. That’s the point of the Wishmaster films. It has nothing to do with anything other than the Wishmaster tricking people into killing themselves in gloriously evil ways.

So in short, give it a shot. DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING. It starts out slow but it eventually picks up again. If you’re a diehard of part 1, I’m sure you’ll hate this movie but for what it was, I liked it. I’m glad I have it on VHS. (God, how I love VHS.)

I hope they decide to reboot this with Wishmaster 5: The return of Andrew Divoff. That’d be awesome. I was thinking about this: I’d like to forego the female lead like they’ve done in all 4 and have the Wishmaster meet an evil person. So the waker is some guy living in the ghetto that hates his life. So its Evil meets Evil. The first wish could be that he wants the Wishmaster to kill everyone that’s ever wronged him. The second wish could be some other kind of random chaos. Then he’d help the Wishmaster on his quest to gather 1000 souls. And then the dudes third and final wish would be to be a Djinn: AND then the REAL prophecy would be fulfilled and the world would be overrun with Djinn.

THE END.