This DVD Review of Wishmaster was compiled by Matt Goldsmith of Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. Thanks Matt for another excellent Review.

"BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR", is the tag line for WISHMASTER, a great little horror film directed by Robert Kurtzman, the "K" of the KNB Boys. No they are not the latest teenage music group sensation, but rather a Makeup FX production company based in the USA. This is the second feature for good ‘ol Bobby boy and he really struts his stuff with the low budget gore-fest. It cost under $US6 million to make and you would swear it was double that. I suppose that owning your own FX house would help cut down on the costs, and seeing as this film features some of the greatest horror icons from the past 2 decades, it's obvious that everyone involved did it for the pure fun of film making and not for the big bucks.

WISHMASTER is the story of an evil genie, known as the djinn(that's gin, like the alcohol), played by Andrew Divoff, who just eats this role alive. The djinn (singular and plural) have existed since the beginning of time. Just like a good genie they grant 3 wishes, but only to the person who releases them. The catch is that you must be very careful HOW you make you wish, ‘cause this is a bad genie after all. You may ask for a million dollars, but chances are you may be setting a death sentence for someone else, maybe your mother....in-law. The one who unknowingly releases him is Alex(Tammy Lauren who plays this role with real gusto, I think we've found the new scream queen for the 90's).

She appraises jewels for an Auction house who is given an Ancient Opal that houses the Djinn. It just so happens that Alex is a touch Psychic, but you knew I was going to say that didn't you!! When the Djinn makes a wish she is sort of aware of it, particularly when something nasty happens to that person, it causes her pain too. The premise behind the Djinn tricking people to make wishes, is for him to collect their souls giving the opal the power to bring his world into ours...Of course Alex must make three wishes for this to finally happen....There are some truly disgusting FX in this film, and I relished every minute of them (if you don't mind seeing someone's skeleton ripping through their own skin, then this is the film for you). Robert Kurtzman has come up with a few tricky moments in this movie, and even though I found it a touch light in the horror department when it should have been darker, it is still an enjoyable romp, and there is already a sequel in the works.

Okay, so how does this DVD transfer hold up? Live Entertainment (who made this movie) have done a really good job with this transfer and the DVD is packed full of lots of goodies. Firstly, there is 2 versions on this DVD, one is the 16:9 Enhanced version and the other side contains a Panned and Scanned. Thanks to my region 4 Samsung.....again....the 16:9 Enhancement of this region 1 DVD wouldn't work properly and the picture appeared zoomed in, even with my player set to 4:3. So this review is based on The P&S..(have I've committed a cardinal sin!!!) Anyways..There's a making of feature that's fun to watch, several trailers, a running commentary, and the interactive menus are great.

The main menu has fire flames, and the second, a HUGE eyeball that moves around. With the menus to select-a-scene there's a 30 second grab from each chapter. If you don't make your selection quickly, the Djinn pops up with "Make your Wish, or we'll make it for you!!" Well I thought it was cool!! The picture quality is very good indeed, in a few scenes I did notice some pixilation, one with a lot of smoke was the worst, and even then it only lasted some 5 seconds so it's no great loss, but the rest of movie was very clean, very sharp and the colours were fabulous. The sequence in GEMWORLD was saturated very heavily with red and it holds up beautifully, there is absolutely no bleeding whatsoever.

Watching a movie of this quality makes you really appreciate DVD and what can I say about the sound....Holy Bloody Dooly!! This is absolutely brilliant. The DD5.1 is amazing. This is one film that I will watch and watch just for the sound. The rears are always in use and the localisation is spot on. In the scene where the Laboratory explodes a piece of shrapnel flies into the surrounds ( at 18:08 minutes,) and it nearly took my right ear off...I SWEAR...Harry Manfredini (the composer) has added some rather intense jolts of music, and it still makes me jump even after several viewings. The DD5.1 track have done true justice to these heart-attack inducing moments, and there are quite a few too.

I was suprised to see at the end of the credits (Yes I'm one of those people, even if i do watch it in Fast Forward) That this movie, being low budget, was released in ALL 3 digital sound formats, just a bit of trivia you. While this film sometimes reminded me of other films (The Party chapter is right out of Hellraiser 3, but the writer Peter Atkins wrote that too), and the fact that some of Manfredini's music is a little reminiscent of Jason Goes To hell and the other Friday 13thflicks (funnily enough he composed them as well), it is still a great little horror film that seems to get better with each viewing.

At $US23.95 it was well worth it for me, one being a horror fanatic and secondly having such great features (the DVD...not me). BUT if gore isn't your style then don't bother with WISHMASTER ‘cause there are some rather sticky moments, faces ripped off, heads blown to bits, and your usual horror goo...

PICTURE QUALITY (4.5/5...Near Perfect so a high 4.5) SOUND QUALITY (5/5...OOOH BABY)

Features: , 16:9 Enhanced and P&S , AC-3 Languages: English (DD2.0), English (DD5.1), Subtitles: None, Region Code: 1, Chapters: 24, Running Time: 90 minutes.

Review Equipment: TV: Mitsubishi DIVA 68cm TV, DVD: Samsung DVD905, Receiver: Marantz SR870, Speakers: B&W 602's (front), Sony (rears). Cinema Chairs (Gilberton Recliners....okay so there not REALLY cinema chairs but they're very comfy..)