My first wish after seeing "Wishmaster" is never to see "Wishmaster" again. The film is billed as a Wes Craven production, and it shows in almost every aspect of its creation. The story lacks the potency and credibility that Craven, as a director, has mastered many times over; the acting consists of one-note performances that bog the characters down; the gore, oh the gore, fills pretty much every other scene with grizzly images of disgusting viscera that is neither shocking nor frightening.

The biggest disappointment is that the film never rises above the level of straight-to-video releases that dominate rental shelves nowadays. It begins with a narration that relates the history of the Djinn, a mysteriously powerful entity capable of granting three wishes to one who would summon such a spirit from his prison, a rather large, valuable gemstone. Of course, these wishes do not come without a price, that being that the wish itself is not exactly what its wisher intends.

Case in point: when released upon the streets of New York after the precious gem is discovered in an artifact statue shipped across the Atlantic, the Djinn is freed and ready to wreak havoc. He takes the face of a human as a disguise; later, when buying an expensive suit, he asks the store clerk what she wants more than anything in the world. "To be beautiful forever," she replies; he, in turn, tranforms her into a store mannequin.

The concept isn't entirely without originality; a dark spin on the three wishes scenario hasn't really been done. It's a shame that after "Wishmaster," it still has yet to be done in a manner that does it justice.

There is a story, albeit a very tepid one. Young gemologist Alexandra (Tammy Lauren), who works for an auction house, is given the gem to study its value and worth. She sees something in her microscope, and asks a friend to run some tests on it, unaware that she has awakened the Djinn, and will be the one chosen to make three wishes in order for the rest of his kind to be freed from the void between worlds. The problem with this plot is that it never breaches the bounds of predictability; we know what's going to happen, how it will happen, and what will come next.

Of course, this allows the filmmakers to dabble in visual excess, supplying the audience with a cornucopia of violence, bloodshed, and gruesome gore effects. The opening scene that sets up the back story of this menace features some nice effects work, though as the road becomes long and ever-so-cumbersome, each new effect is just another notch in the dashboard. Once the ending rears its ugly head, crowning the movie is a cliched bloodbath of mutilation, bodily fluids and high-pitched screams from unconvincing extras, it's all gone to hell in a handbasket.

A cast composed mostly of unknowns make for some awkward moments of unbelievable emotional outbursts and feeling. Lauren is hardly star material, her forced facial expressions and uneven force unable to give us a feel for Alexandra's situation. Andrew Divoff, as the Djinn, is the sole saving grace of the film; he supplies just enough acting relish to give the antagonist a humorous approach in certain moments. Of course, cockiness and gore do not make up for lapses in the storytelling department, where "Wishmaster" fails to make good use of the concept is so blatantly smothers.

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