I "Liked it" Wishmaster: But don't get me wrong, this is a bad horror movie, but the physical effects were a fresh sight

The Wishmaster made me wish for the days of actual physical effects. 1997 was a crazy year for effects. You had Titanic, The Fifth Element, and Contact, 3 movies that had amazing special effects, and of those effects they were known for the computer generated effects. Wishmaster which I thought was much older than it is, relied on the soon-to-be “old school” physical effects, and because of that this movie was . . . pretty good?

            Don’t get me wrong, this is a very low grade horror movie. The writing is atrocious, and the acting is pretty funny, but man when horror stuff happens it’s pretty gruesome. The skeleton coming out of the man and getting up and walking around was gross but kind of well done because it was all done without any sort of computer touches (I’m assuming, really, I mean, I didn’t do any major research into this move – or any movie I review for that matter – but it sure did look like it was all done without computer help).

            Some of the funniest moments were when things were supposed to be scary and intense and the script suddenly becomes something I could have written when I was in high school. At one point the demon leaves a message on an answering machine for Tammy Lauren (who was just so much the epitome of a hot 90’s woman that I wished she was in more stuff now so I could see some of her work now and if she is still hot (my money is on the fact that she is)) and halfway through the message she grabs the phone and screams “Fuck you!” at the demon before hanging up and rushing to save her sister! It was truly one of the most unintentionally funny moments I’ve seen in a very long time (probably because I generally avoid movies like this).

            I am fully aware that one does not watch Wishmaster with the intention of seeing fine cinema, or even – let’s be honest – a good movie, which is why I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie because of the effects and then because it was such a bad movie it was almost enjoyable. Very almost.

            I have the intention of watching all 4 Wishmaster movies, but Jesus I don’t know if I can. The first one was pretty bad. The opening moments were, bad, yes, but also rather creepy with the freaky shit that was going on, and the ending which mirrored the beginning was also weird and trippy and that made it better than I had anticipated at least.

            Still, I really don’t know if I can watch any more of these movies, or if I do, it may be awhile before I can.