5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The evil Djinn is awakened once more, and must collect 1001 souls to begin the Apocalypse.
Starring: Holly Fields, Andrew Divoff, Corey Haim, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Bokeem WoodbineHorror | 100% |
Supernatural | 16% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
BDInfo
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Note: This film is available as part of the
Wishmaster Collection.
What would your three wishes be? It’s a time honored game played by a lot of kids, and maybe even some nostalgic adults: pretend you
were someone like Aladdin who discovered a genie in a bottle (since that’s where genies supposedly are invariably found), freed it from its confines
and then were granted that magic trifecta of desires. Of course any kid worth their salt makes it clear that their third wish is for three more (or
infinitely more) wishes, unless the rules have already been proscribed denying that ability. But at least those first two wishes can be fun to
contemplate, for those fond of indulging in such episodes of pretend. You might not want to get to that venerable third wish should you find
yourself in an environment like that depicted in the Wishmaster series, since part of this film’s conceit is that the djinn (an Arabic term
relating to a class of supernatural beings, one of whom is called a djinni, or as it became Anglicized, genie) are basically just waiting to escape their
purgatorial (or in fact hellish) universe to invade ours, and that some poor hapless mortal getting to that third wish is the mechanism by which that
event can happen. That’s just one way the Wishmaster franchise skews traditional elements of “genie in the bottle” stories, with another
one being that very bottle element: in this formulation, the djinn is imprisoned in a jewel, one that (of course) repeatedly falls into the hands of
either unwitting innocents or very witting bad guys, all of whom (again of course) unleash the superpowered being into the human realm,
with expected calamitous consequences. The first Wishmaster is fun if hokey, augmented by some nice visual effects work, but this is one
franchise that definitely experiences the law of diminishing returns as it goes on.
Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films' Vestron Video imprint, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. All four of the films in the Wishmaster Collection are within "shouting distance" of each other, quality wise, but I'm grading this film and the first sequel at 3.5, and the last two at 4.0 to indicate some subtle but noticeable differences between these transfers. The first two films exhibit some fairly bad wobble during the credits, a tendency which calms down when the actual film begins. As with Wishmaster, this first sequel's palette looks quite good in this transfer, with (again as with the first film) the brightly lit outdoor scenes popping very well and offering good fine detail levels. This film has a little bet less of the red grading than the first film, but individual moments that are bathed in the hue exhibit the same loss of fine detail as in the first film (see screenshots 5 and 8). Also as with the first film, while grain resolves generally very well, there are isolated moments of chunkiness that can feature a kind of chroma like anomaly that tends to add a bit of color to the grain field.
Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one that perhaps unexpectedly belies the film's lo-fi ambience to deliver some appealing surround activity, especially in some of the effects sequences. There's some robust if sporadic low end here in moments like the shootout that begins the film, or later intrusions by the Djinn. Some of the sound effects are kind of goofily amusing as well, especially when Demerest starts granting wishes at the prison and things go (intentionally) haywire. Dialogue and score are both rendered clearly, as with the first film, and with good prioritization.
Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies actually starts out fairly strongly, but then starts to dissipate its energy as it moves along, never recapturing whatever fitful force the first film was able to muster. As with the first film, there are some fun if "old school" looking effects on tap, and the performers do what they can with inadequate material. Technical merits are generally very good for those considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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