Wishmaster, I forgot how damn entertaining this movie was, I have a thing for cheesy horror with iconic villains and practical effects and Wishmaster has all of those in spades. You can tell it was produced by Wes Craven as its tone is very similar to A Nightmare On Elm Street, there's a dose of comedy in there but also some really good practical gore effects and the character of the Wishmaster is as creepy as he is fun to watch.
These are the type of movies that got me into horror in the first place so I have a place in my heart for them. The best way to describe this film for someone who hasn't seen it is it's like Candyman mixed with A Nightmare On Elm Street 4. The way the Wishmaster uses peoples wishes against them is very creative, it seems like past the nineties these types of films just weren't made anymore. They exist in their own little category of what I call "adventure horror" films like Waxwork, Fright Night, and The Wishmaster are horror films which focus on colourful over the top characters and creative plots.
These are movies that were never intended to be frightening, only to be as entertaining as possible and The Wishmaster delivers everything it intends to, it's a blast.
Wishmaster 2 sadly doesn’t have the same charm as the original
It has a few moments that are funny and worked for me, the Djinn being locked inside a penitentiary gathering souls from granting the prisoners wishes, that element of the film I really liked and Andrew Divoff is still pretty entertaining as the Djinn and the make up effects for the character are as good as the first entry but other than that it's not a particular good film.
The protagonists aren’t interesting enough to make you feel invested in them and there's something missing from this movie that the previous film has, I imagine it's due to West Craven no longer being involved in the production. The pacing of this film isn’t nearly as good as the original, the second act in particular drags on and it has a direct to video quality to it.
It's not unwatchable but it is definitely a pretty disappointing sequel considering how much I enjoyed the first film.
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