Wishmaster Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Wishmaster Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 27, 2017

Note: The scores above are averages for the four films in this set. See the individual reviews (linked below) for more information.

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.

Reviews of the four films in this set can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Wishmaster Blu-ray review

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies Blu-ray review

Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell Blu-ray review

Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled Blu-ray review

Wishmaster Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Wishmaster Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Wishmaster Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplementary material accompanying each release is detailed in the above linked reviews.

Wishmaster Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Wishmaster is one of those franchises that has some (maybe even a lot) of interesting elements, but which never seems to know exactly how to best capitalize on them. There's certainly goofy enjoyment to be had in all four of these outings in various measure, but this is probably a set for those who grew up with one or more of these films and has imprinted on their questionable "delights". Technical merits are generally strong, and on the first film at least supplements are plentiful, for those considering a purchase.