Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled Movie Review

You ever notice that they don't release horror movies on Halloween any more? Instead they put out straight-to-video horror movie sequels in late October, figuring kids are too lazy to stand in line at midnight to see them anyway.

So here we have part of October's wave of horror updates, the fourth in the Wishmaster series, which features a naughty genie (or djinn, in the archaic parlance of the Wishmasters), here on earth once again to wreak havoc on greedy humans by twisting their wishes against him.

The twist this time has something to do with the titular prophecy, which I didn't really understand, but involves unleashing all the evil djinn on the earth and enlisting a "hunter" to stop them. Nevertheless, both djinn and hunter seem set on chopping up humanity, so what the big deal is I just can't say.

As a new scream queen, Tara Spencer-Nairn is effective beyond the level of material she has to work with, as is Michael Trucco, the smarmy lawyer who finds his body inhabited by the bad djinn and who puts the moves on his prey, Lisa (Spencer-Nairn).

Fortunately, Wishmaster 4's sense of humor makes it plenty watchable, though hardly scary. The djinn's mind control tricks telling one lawyer to hold his tongue (literally) is a real hoot. It's just too bad it never takes the gags to the hilt: When one bartender jokingly says he'd sell his soul to be a pimple on a dancer's ass, we see the bartender vanish, but we don't see his little head erupt on the aforementioned ass, screaming all the while.

Now that's something I'd wish for!

DVD includes two somewhat amusing commentary tracks, making-of documentary, and a humorous "Djinn's Guide to Dating" Q&A session.

When you wish upon a rubber mask and some ketchup...