ORBzine - Video Review Xmas 2001 Special

Wishmaster

The film starts with an introduction to the evil Djinn, who grants wishes in exchange for souls. The wishes are of the kill-the-wisher type, pretty predictable for this kind of schlock-horror effort. He wipes out lots of extras in Ancient Bagdad, before a magician traps him in a gem.

We go forward to the modern day. Ted Raimi [ SeaQuest DSV ] and Robert Englund [ Nightmare on Elm Street ] are overseeing the transportation of an ancient relic. The relic contains the Djinn's gem. As you can imagine, something goes badly wrong and the Djinn is released. He kills a character played by Andrew Divoff, then appears in his human form played by ... Divoff. Yes, this gives the Producers the chance to avoid paying two actors, and Divoff himself gets to avoid wearing extensie makeup for many scenes.

Tammy Lauren , a Jeri Lynn Ryan lookalike with neither the talent or the attractiveness, is the one who accidentally released the Djinn. Therefore Divoff the Djinn stalks her, trying to force her into making three wishes so he can rule the world. Along the way he kills of some boring one-liner characters - just like Warwick Davis does in Leprechaun .

The real highlight of the film is the appearance of Tony Todd [ Candyman ], who has a cameo as Johnny Valentine the security guard. Kane Hodder [title character of Jason X ] also has a cameo. Angus Scrimm [ Phantasm ] narrates, and Verne Troyer [ Goldmember ] is one incarnation of the Djinn. However, this is not enough to raise the film above mediocrity.

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies

This time the Djinn is accidentally released from the ancient relic by a female burglar who broke into the Museum. The Djinn transforms himself into the likeness of Andrew Divoff, even using the name of Divoff's character in the previous film. How this is possible [especially when you consider how the first film ended] is never explained, but then this isn't the kind of film where logic counts.

Divoff pleads guilty to burglarising the Museum and shooting a guard, so he gets sent straight to prison. This is part of his plan: he sells wishes and collects souls. The Producers get to provide some cheap schlock, and Divoff manages to spend most of the film without make-up.

The burglar girl isn't much of an anti-heroine: she spends most of the film feeling guilty about shooting the guard. The script invents a different way for the heroine to defeat the Djinn, so that the audience don't feel that it's just the same thing over again. No, it's not exactly the same as the original -

Prophecy 2

Jennifer Beals plays a woman who gets off with a strange man. How strange? Well, he turns out to be an angel - and she falls victim of an accelerated pregnancy. The child she is carrying will be half-human, half-angel, a child that is prophesised to save the world or something. Fallen Angel Gabriel [Christopher Walken - Batman Returns ] is out to stop this from happening.

Gabriel is out of his league when up against Ms Beals, so he recruits a helper. Enter Brittany Murphy and her boyfriend [Danny Strong - Jonathan in Buffy The Vampire Slayer ] in an amateurish suicide attempt. Damn, Danny Strong's characters are always hard-up for women!

Meanwhile, Ms Beals finds some help of her own. First a priest [JG Hertzler - Star Trek ] and then a good Angel [Eric Roberts - The Specialist].