Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (2001) Review

"Do you wish me to break your heart?"
-Djinn



Ugh.  I take back anything bad I said about the first two Wishmaster movies.  Let's get this over with.


Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell follows troubled college student, Diana Collins (A.J. Cook), who is working with her Professor, Joel Barash (Jason Connery), in a museum when she discovers the fire opal, which is the prison to the evil Djinn (John Novak).  She releases the Djinn, who kills Professor Barash and steals his skin.  Now the Djinn is hunting down Diana, who only has her friends, her boyfriend, and St. Michael the Archangel (Tobias Mehler) to protect her and to prevent the gates of Hell from opening.


What Works:  

I have to say, this movie grabbed my interest with the opening sequence which involved a car crash that was pretty impressive for a straight to DVD sequel.  They do an even better car crash during the 3rd act.  Both were impressive, I've got to say, but it's obvious that the entirety of this film's budget went to these stunts.


What Sucks:

What doesn't suck is the real question.  Apart from the two car crashes I mentioned, Wishmaster 3 has no redeeming qualities.  Let's start with the Djinn.  He is no Andrew Divoff, but John Novak gets barely any screen-time.  Instead, he wears the Professor's skin for most of the movie.  And Jason Connery is also no Andrew Divoff.

The rest of the acting is pretty terrible.  Like, even worse than a typical straight-to-video horror sequel.  Even our lead, A.J. Cook, who is good on Criminal Minds is pretty bad here.  This points to poor direction, but some of the minor actors are horrendously bad.

The rules set by the original movie are once again thrown out the window.  The Djinn shouldn't be able to do anything magical unless he is wished to do so.  And yet he does.  Plus, some of the loopholes he finds to kill people with their own wishes are serious stretches.  Seriously, just write the movie slightly different.  Change the dialogue up.  It's not that hard.  This is just sloppy.

Finally, the kills themselves are boring as hell.  There is nothing special about any of them.  The practical effects are lackluster.  A horror sequel should at least have solid kills.  Otherwise, why even make a movie?


Verdict:

Wishmaster 3 is terrible and apart from some cool car crash stunts, it has no redeemable qualities.  Stay far away from this one, because Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell does not have it going on.

 2/10: Terrible 



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