Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled

Director - Chris Angel (The Fear: Resurrection, Halloween in New Orleans)
Starring - Tara Spencer-Nairn (The Strain, The Wonderful World of Disney), Michael Trucco (How I Met Your Mother, Eyes of Terror), and Jason Thompson (Undressed, Circle)
Release Date - 2002
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Leave no soul unturned"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Finally, winding down my trip through the Wishmaster series.  After the dud that was Wishmaster 3 I could only imagine how bad Wishmaster 4 would be.  With the same director and same actor portraying the djinn I only imagined this film would put me to sleep...but I was wrong.  Wishmaster 4 had the same director but they had quickly learned what was wrong with the last film and fixed it the best they could. The movie was nowhere near the drowsfest the previous film was.  In fact, it was actually somewhat entertaining.

     The film follows Lisa (Spencer-Nairn) who is working with a lawyer to help reach a settlement for her boyfriend who was in a horrible accident and lost the use of his legs.  She gets close to the lawyer and he buys her a gift from online.  What they did not expect was that the gift to be the home of an evil djinn that Lisa accidentally awakens.  He kills the lawyer and takes his image before taking the souls of everyone close to Lisa before she accidentally makes two wishes.  She creates a paradox when she wishes that she could love him.  Love is something that only she can do so the djinn must win her over before he can release the other djinn from their dimension.

     I went into this one with a few beers ready and an energy drink on hand incase the movie started to put me to sleep.  However, this one really surprised me.  It does not surpass the first two films but it is a hell of a lot better than part three...which doesn't take much.  The acting in this one is about the same as the last film.  The cast feels like they put very little effort into their performance and the character look and feel like they were originally written for a day time soap.  Once again the djinn is a flat character that does not deliver on the charisma that Divoff started the franchise off with.  The story for this one is 90% of the same as the other films but the paradox at the end really made this one interesting.  Doesn't make it that original but does make it stand out from the third film.  Finally, the film once again hits the viewer with forgettable kills which is crazy considering that the film series was created by one of the greatest practical effects artists of our time.  The practical effects we get are great but the kills do not stand out at all.  Overall, Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled is a step above part three but the series has definitely ran it's course by this point.  The series finishes on a positive note but the series should have truly ended with part 2.