you can get the entire saga for $25 at amazon

Eight years ago, Wes Craven unleashed a powerful force on the horror movie circuit. It was the likes of which no one had seen since Puppetmaster or Candyman. It was Wishmaster, a horrific yarn about a djin who granted wishes to the person who set him free from the red jewel he was in. Like Aladdin, but not nearly as he-haw-larious without Robin Williams. Instead, the Djin, which is like the daddy of genies, was played by Andrew Divoff, who has the eeriest eyes and deepest, devious voice. He also has the acting chops of a robot, so he makes for an interesting romp. In the first movie we have an innocent woman, played by Tammy Lauren who lets out the djin by polishing the jewel. Lauren gets respect from me because she manages to really keep her clothes on and look respectable throughout the entire film. I really give her credit for that. Of course, two projects after Wishmaster, she quit on acting, so do with that what you will.

She lets out the Djin after a shipping accident that led her to find the jewel by chance. The Djin starts to kill all the people she loves, and then she has to wish to get him off her back. The lamest part is when you have these lame wishes that are jokes, but I'll get into what I mean by that for part three. In one, it's not as bad. Oh-- but wait-- if she wishes her three, then she lets the Djin loose on the world to wreak havoc and kill everybody. So what should she do? Oh you just do what everyone in this situation does, you wish you never met the genie. She wishes that the guy who caused the shipping accident didn't drink that morning, so everything goes as planned and she never encounters the jewel at all. No one knows the better and everyone who was dead, is alive and kicking because it never happened. Cliche? Yes. Bad, sure. But baby, it can get so much worse...

In Wishmaster 2, the last of the acknowledgeable Wishmasters (coincidentally you can buy 1 & 2 in a double pack for like $10 at Best Buy), the Djin, and Andrew Divoff, are back. This time, the direct to video gem hit stores without Wes Craven's name. Good choice, chief. This time the Djin is brought to light by Morgana, some chick, during an art robbery gone bad. It's an interesting start, made more interesting by the new plot: the Djin now only grants one wish and he gets your soul, but he needs 1001 souls to open the gates of hell or rule the world or some bullshit like that. 1001 because 1002 would be excessive, right? Anyway, he goes to prison, where everyone's wishing for something. And this time, the bad joke wishes start to pile up. In one instance, for example, this Russian mob boss says he wishes he could see this one nemesis of his one more time (unspoken: so he could kill him). The Djin turns the guys face into his nemesis, and gets his soul. It's not like a store or anything either, whether you're satisfied with your wish or not, you still have to give up your soul. What a lark!

So he goes to jail, where the producers show us the desperation of jail and how everyone wants something in there. Really powerful, profound stuff. Oh, but what of the common man, you ask? He also goes to Vegas, where there's tons of stupid crap going on. He gets all his souls too, but then the chick, Morgana, she does something to trip him up. Let me think... oh after she seduces a priest away from the cloth, she ends up using some spell or some crap to put the Djin back in the jewel or some crap. Who knows?

Here, we reach our pivotal departure. This is where people say it GOT bad. Yeah. Andrew Divoff quit being the Wishmaster (AKA. the djin). This was hugely horrible, but they forged on without him and paid the price. They carted in John Novak for the Djin. Oh, that sounds like a familiar name, right? Wrong. unless you remember the District Attorney from Darkman 3.

This time the Wishmaster heads to college, in professor form. He latches on to a female again and kills her friends, blah-blah-blah. This is no different than the others, but this time the battle of good vs. evil becomes direct and real. Good being God, evil being the Djin. So the Djin, this time, manages to kill people on his own. Not all of them wish it, which really paints a free character of the Djin, doesn't it? I mean we always think of a genie as a slave and all, but not this guy, anymore. It was a super-lame ending in which they called on the archangel Michael (which could've been in 2) and tried to defeat him using the Sword of Justice. OH, the Sword of Justice! For some reason the Archangel can't hold it, but the girl can, because obviously she's just and angels aren't. She kicks the Djin back, only for his pending return...

Wishmaster 4 brings Novak back, and this is an ultimate shitfest. You know I try to keep the profanity to a minimum here, but this is pure, complete, total crap. The Djin comes back as Novak, but then takes over or turns into a lawyer type who gets her handicapped boyfriend the use of his legs back. This is more piss-pour drama than anything else, and the horror is really low. How does it end? I don't think I know because I never make it through. This is really that boring and slow and bad. All I know is that the woman has sex with the Djin. Why? I don't know, but the bottom line is that she does. This means that she loves the Djin, then the Gaurdian or some crap comes in to defeat the Djin, bing, bam, boom, the end. Everyone's all happiness and sunny days.

What's the point of all of this? Well the summary would be this: Andrew Divoff is as cool and creepy as the character could've been, but ultimately the Wishmaster saga got so folded over and the answers to his demise became so numerous and confusing that there was no real point to continuing it past the first Wishmaster. And really, the whole thing could've been so much better that there was really no point in the original itself. If you notice the Wishmaster saga on the SciFi Channel one weekend, you'll be sure to work out a butt-groove in the couch if you watch it all. You'll probably experience all the effects of quitting smoking too, since watching them all is equally stressful.