Once, in a time before time, God breathed life into the universe. And the light gave birth to Angels. And the earth gave birth to Man. And the fire gave birth to the Djinn, creatures condemned to dwell in the void between the worlds. One who wakes a Djinn will be given three wishes. Upon the granting of the third, the unholy legions of the Djinn will be freed to rule the earth. Fear one thing in all there is... FEAR THE DJINN.
— Opening Narration
Wishmaster is a series of horror films. It may very well define the Jackass Genie.In ancient Arabian legend, the djinn were almost nothing like the genies we know and love—they were demons. Beings "created from smokeless fire", the djinn were incredibly powerful beings who could nonetheless sometimes be trapped in various items and enslaved.The Wishmaster films, while not sticking perfectly to Arabian lore, were intended to re-Grimmify the genie myth. Did they succeed? Undoubtedly.The series comprises:
Wishmaster
Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies
Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell
Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled
Not to be confused with the album and song by Nightwish.
Achilles Heel: The Djinn has one main weakness: he can only use his powers in the service of wishes, which annoys him quite a bit ("Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have unlimited power, and only be able to use it when some worm asks you for something?"). Without a wish, he's virtually powerless. Getting everyone to stop wishing is next to impossible, however. Particularly since what qualifies as a "wish" is pretty arbitrary. Like a woman at a party saying "You can see right through me..."
Adaptational Villainy: In the series, Djinn are an Always Chaotic Evil supernatural race. In fact, Djinn are supposed to be as morally varied as humans are- good, evil, neutral, whatever. While there are some sources that suggest they are a universally bad lot regardless, the films, needless to say, turn them Up to Eleven.
Always Chaotic Evil: The Djinn race. They're essentially demonic beings created at the dawn of time by God, and all their wishes boil down to a Deal with the Devil, so this trope is to be expected.
The souls the Djinn captures are placed in Hellraiser-like dimension, presumably for eternal torture.
In the first film, a woman gets turned into a sentient but inanimate mannequin when she wishes to be beautiful forever, and Alexandra's sister gets frozen inside a painting.
Archangel Michael: Michael is summoned to fight the Djinn in the third movie.
Brainwashed and Crazy: In Wishmaster, a cop wishes that a criminal who has gotten away on seven counts for a crime (not stated what kind) would just commit something that the cops could easily nail him for. The Djinn then controls his body from a distance, and causes the guy to turn into an almost-supernatural killer who immediately grabs a cop's gun and starts a shooting frenzy in the police station. He kills a half-dozen cops before he dies from his own wounds.
Cargo Envy: A variant. In the fourth film a bartender says within earshot of the series' Jackass Genie (who's disguised as a human) "I'd sell my soul to be a pimple on her ass" in reference to a hot stripper working in the place. The Djinn is more than happy to grant his wish.
Cassandra Truth: Subverted in the first film. When the Djinn (in human form) chases Alex into a banquet, she simply tells the doorman that the man is harassing her, and he jumps in to keep the Djinn from entering.
Catch Phrase: The Djinn's habit of saying "Done!" after granting a wish. Coupled with his insolent smile.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A minor example, but at the beginning of Evil Never Dies, Morgana and Eric had another guy helping them rob the museum. He gets shot, and presumably killed, by a guard, and is never mentioned again afterward, either by Morgana or the reporters and officers covering the robbery
Cluster F-Bomb: A list of all the "fucks" and other swears uttered in Evil Never Dies would be very long indeed.
The scene with the homeless guy and pharmacist in Wishmaster.
Complete Immortality: The Djinn, who outright claims to be eternal, so someone can't just wish for him to destroy himself. The summoner also seems incapable of dying until the Djinn gets his wishes, since Morgana is completely unhurt after getting shot twice in Evil Never Dies. The djinn gave it to her for free, in order to insure her survival for him. Averted in the last two films. Angels have swords that can kill Djinn or at least banish them back to the prison between worlds. One of the wishes in the final film is for a means that can kill Djinn.
Cool Big Sis: Alexandra to Shannon, in the original film.
Crucified Hero Shot: Happens to Father Gregory in Evil Never Dies, the Djinn even going as far as making him look like Jesus.
Curb-Stomp Battle: A bouncer throws the Djinn out of a club, and beats him up while the Djinn tries to get him to make a wish. After he's finished, he wishes that the Djinn would put up a better fight. No points for guessing how this turns out.
When you get down to it, the Djinn's entire modus operandi. He actively advises humans to make wishes, even those who are aware of his nature so they can try to beat him at his own game. He always finds a loophole, and even lampshades how futile these attempts are, since it's nearly impossible to outsmart an eternal being.
The Djinn apparently learned from his mistake at the end of Wishmaster by the second film. When Morgana's boyfriend (who had a part in unleashing him) wishes he was never born, the Djinn, instead of screwing with time, simply regresses him to nothing.
He also realizes that telling people that the wish would cost their soul freaks them out enough that they won't make a wish, so he says "and a pack of cigarettes" to a convict, making the first condition seem like a metaphor or joke.
Death by Looking Up: Ed's death (crushed under a dropped crate) in Wishmaster.
Deal with the Devil: The Djinn granting your wish equals this, since he claims your soul as a reward. He's even crueler than most soul-bargaining entities however, since (at least in the first film) he doesn't even have to tell his victims that they're agreeing to this exchange, so they never know that they doom themselves for all time until after he claims them.
Dem Bones: The opening of the original film had a guy's skeleton tear free of his body and start attacking people.
The End... Or Is It?: The first and second films both have this kind of ending. It's made very clear that the Djinn is not permanently defeated when he gets resealed in the fire opal, but after the upbeat ending for the heroes the last shot slowly zooms in as the Djinn is biding his time in his prison, waiting to be awakened again.
Exposition Of Immortality: The Djinn in the fourth film reminisces about the Roman Emperor Caligula, and speaks fondly of him.
Face Stealer: The Djinn from the first, third, and fourth movies. In the second he used the same human form he had in the first, a corpse from the morgue. In the third and fourth it gets worse as he skins living people, a hapless college professor and a lawyer played by Michael Trucco, respectively.
Facial Horror: The Djinn is particularely fond of mutilating people's faces. In the first film for instance, he uses his powers to make a criminal unwillingly rip out a cop's lower jaw, tongue still intact.
Fan Disservice: In The Prophecy Fulfilled, there is a sex scene between the Djinn in its human form and the protagonist. In the middle of it, multiple monstrous Djinn arms suddenly appear to caress Lisa, which she doesn't notice.
Faux Affably Evil: The Djinn, most of the time. At other times he just drops all pretense and is instead downright terrifying.
Fingore: In the second movie, like Yubitsume, but without the Yakuza: Morgana does it to "purify" herself so she can fulfill the requirements of the sealing ritual.
Groin Attack: A security guards gets stabbed in the crotch with a sword by a Living Statue in Wishmaster. Once the blade is in, the thing even goes as far as twisting it.
Healing Factor: The Djinn have a ramped-up healing factor as part of their Complete Immortality. They can actually be hurt (as the Djinn in the first film demonstrates by blowing its own brains out, which he concedes hurt a lot), but the damage just repairs itself instantly.
Healing Hands: The angel Michael possesses this ability.
Here There Were Dragons: The Djinn discusses how the magic and spells of the past are now forgotten, and there is nothing left to stop him with.
Hoist by His Own Petard: At the end of the first film, the Djinn defeats himself by granting a time-altering wish that, as he realizes too late, means he was never released from his prison to grant the wishes in the first place.
Homicide Machines: The Djinn causes a card shuffler to go haywire Evil Never Dies, causing it to begin shooting cards at people with enough force to kill them.
Hotter and Sexier: Beyond the Gates of Hell and The Prophecy Fulfilled feature a lot of nudity. A lot.
I Am the Noun: Alexandra wishes to know what the Djinn's nature is. He takes her to his hell-like home dimension, and tells her.
Djinn: You wish to know what I am? To you, I am this: The cry of the abandoned child. The winter of the whipped beast. I am the face that stares back at you from the shadows of your mirror. The hollowness at the heart of all your hopes, Alexandra. I AM DESPAIR.
Immune to Bullets: The Djinn heals instantly from blowing his own brains out in Wishmaster, getting shot in the chest in Evil Never Dies just causes him to bleed worms, and multiple gunshots have no effect on him whatsoever in The Prophecy Fulfilled.
Instrument of Murder: The massacre at the end of the first film has a pianist attacked by his own piano, which rips his head off with its wires.
Jackass Genie: In these films, the Djinns are demonic beings who interpret any wish in the most negative manner imaginable. They ramp it up to the point that they could even be considered the seminal modern example of this trope.
Also means the Djinn is holding the Villain Ball, big time. One would think he'd grant positive wishes and count on peoples' greed to help him fulfill his plan.
He has a tactic where he makes the first wish positive (so that they will wish for more), the second wish negative so that the victim will make the third and final wish to clean up the mess caused by the second wish. If he made all the wishes positive, it's possible that the person will be content with one or two, and never make the third wish.
Jack the Ripper: A painting of him is brought to life by the Djinn, and kills a security guard, at the end of Wishmaster.
Large Ham: The Djinn is ridiculously hammy, especially in the last two films.
Living Statue: Statues of snakes, ancient gods and warriors are animated by the Djinn at the end of Wishmaster.
The Mafiya: The Djinn's "sidekick" in Evil Never Dies turns out to be a member of it, and the two briefly hang out in a Russian club after getting out of prison.
Man on Fire: A random partier is engulfed in flames, shot from a fireplace, at the party at the end of Wishmaster.
Our Demons Are Different: The Djinn in this series are largely merged with much of the folklore about demons. They are one of three entities made by God (the others are Angels and Humans) while demons are not stated to exist as seperate beings, the wish-granting is identical to a Deal with the Devil since the Djinn's prize is the wisher's soul, and their home dimension is almost identical to Fire and Brimstone Hell, where the souls he collects are gathered to suffer eternal torture.
Our Genies Are Different: The djinn in this series are some kind of byproduct of God's creation of the universe and are all inherently evil and as such were banished to some Hell dimension. The main one is trapped in a red jewel on Earth and if he successfully grants his summoner's three wishes he can free his brethren and get rid of whatever it is that's restricting his powers so that they only activate for wishes. He also collects souls and has a very loose definition of what exactly constitutes as a wish.
Psychic Assisted Suicide: The Djinn in the fourth movie is commanded to settle a legal case as part of a wish. He calls over to the troublesome attorney, and not only takes over his body to make him sign the agreement that he materializes in front of him, but directs him to pull out his own tongue, cut off his nose, slice up his cheek, and put a bullet in his brain.
Reality Warper: Djinn can alter reality to fulfill a wish. He states that the only limit to this is the wisher's imagination.
Reset Button: How the Djinn is defeated in the first film when the third wish is used to prevent him from being released in the first place.
Retcon: In the first movie, Djinn is will unleash End of the World as We Know It when the protagonist makes her third wish. In the second movie, he also has to collect one thousand souls before that.
Saying Too Much: When the Djinn in the first film disguises himself as a friend of Alexandra, and comments that Alex's boss would really like her apartment. Alex notes that she never mentioned who she worked for. The Djinn manages to talk his way out of it.
Sealed Evil in a Can: In the intro of the first movie, a wizard traps the Djinn in a gem. The gem is later placed in a statue which is broken in modern times thanks to a drunken dock worker. The heroine retcons reality by wishing that the worker hadn't been drinking on the job that day, sending the Djinn back into its prison.
Self Mutilation Demonstration: In the first movie the Djinn blows his brains out at the heroine's command, from which he automatically recovers, thereby demonstrating two things: he must do whatever she says, and he is not to be gotten rid of that easily. He does concede that it hurt like hell.
Story Reset: The first movie is finished up by having it 'never happen' with a single time-altering wish.
Screw Yourself: While dealing his business in prison in the second movie, the Djinn grants one inmate's wish that his lawyer "would go fuck himself". Hilarity Ensues.
Spotting The Thread: Alex eventually catches on that the Djinn disguised himself as one of her friends. The Djinn manages to explain a Saying Too Much slip-up, but his antagonistic behavior and constant offers to do something for her (thereby invoking a wish) give him away.
Summon Bigger Fish: The protagonist of Wishmaster 3 tries this by wishing for the aid of the Archangel Michael. It only partly works. Michael has a sword that can kill the Djinn, but only the summoner can actually kill the Djinn and can only use the sword once they become worthy. Michael spends most of the film with her running. Still, his healing powers are useful.
Taken for Granite: A variation. The Djinn tricks the female clerk at a clothing store into wishing she "could be beautiful forever". He turns her into a mannequin.
Temporal Paradox: In the first film, the protagonist's solution for getting rid of the djinn creates a grandfather paradox.
Tempting Fate: At the end of the second film, the casino owner can't believe that hundreds of people just dropped dead in his establishment (the Djinn claimed their souls), causing him to say "What's next?! Frogs and locusts?!". Guess what the Djinn conjures up when the owner makes his wish.
Theme Naming: Characters Finney, Beaumont, Derleth and Demerest in the first film are named after fifties sci-fi and horror writers.
Three Wishes: Three wishes are granted for the one who awoke the Djinn (everyone else gets only one, and give up their soul in return). Granting them all will unleash the hordes of the Djinn upon the world. The Djinn may also give a "free" wish. He did so as a demonstration to show that one cannot simply wish the Djinn were dead or killed. He offered the protagonist in the second film a free wish, so that she "might know its joy", but she refused. In the first film the protagonist makes her third wish such that it resets time so that the Djinn was never freed from his magical prison. As the Djinn learns from his mistake, later movies force the heroes to look for other ways to beat him at his own game.
Time Abyss: The Djinn notes that he is older than time itself.
Tongue Trauma: In The Prophecy Fulfilled, the Djinn uses his powers to force someone over the phone to rip out his own tongue.
Villain-Based Franchise: The series is centered around an evil genie, although the one in the third and fourth movie seems to be a different Djinn from the one in the first and second.
Villain Decay: The Djinn was scary and so much of a threat in the first film because he was utterly evil beyond redemption, completely immortal, his powers knew almost no bounds, and he would bring about hell on Earth if he got his three wishes. What stopped him from being an Invincible Villain was that the entire plan hinges on granting wishes, so the protagonist could technically stop it by not wishing at all and had to be constantly wary of saying anything that could possibly be interpreted by the evil Djinn as one. In the second film, he suddenly has to collect 1000 souls first, and much of the plot placed him in prison, where he was significantly less menacing as a villain. The third and fourth films continue the process by making the Djinn killable, and having to pursue romance with a woman.
Villains Out Shopping: The Djinn goes shopping for a suit in the first film. It's not used used to humanize him however, as he simply uses the opportunity to Kick the Dog one more time by condemning some poor clerk to another horrific fate.
Viva Las Vegas: The end of Evil Never Dies takes place there, since it is the best place to find a ton of people wishing. As the Djinn put it:
Djinn: "Ka-ching!"
Voluntary Shapeshifter: The Djinn can take on the form of others, but he has to use their face for it. The Djinn in the fourth film does it without restriction at one point.
Walk on Water: In the fourth film, the Djinn and Lisa are both standing on top of a lake in a vision he projects.
We Can Rule Together: The Djinn in the fourth film offers Lisa to rule beside him as his queen, and offers her immortality and eternal bliss along with it. As far as we can tell, he's being sincere, which is unusual from such an Always Chaotic Evil race. Maybe it was due to him having to fulfil the conditions of her last wish. She wished that "she could love him for who he really is" (while he was in disguise as a human), which is of course an evil being. Moreso, she has to do it willingly, because the Djinn simply using his powers to make her love him wouldn't be real love since it would just be manufactured.
"You may have won the battle, but the war goes on!"
Wishplosion: Done once a film, with a different human "mark" each time.
In the first film, the mark wishes the accident that freed the djinn had never happened. She also wished for him to blow his brains out; he immediately complies, and she discovers he is in fact Immune to Bullets. "If it's any consolation," he adds, "That hurt like hell."
In the second, she wishes (basically) for her innocence back so that she qualifies to re-trap him. Played with initially, when the heroine tries a couple of wishes to get rid of the djinn (such as wishing there was no evil in the world), with the djinn explaining why he can't grant the wishes, forcing her to choose again.
In the third, she summons Michael the angel to fight him. He only ends up giving her the means to dispose of the Djinn, a sacred sword—she still has to do the job herself.
Finally, the fourth plays with it — she wishes she could love the djinn as he really is (thinking he's her human lawyer); this stymies him because she has to "grant" it herself, willingly. It can't stop him by itself however, until her boyfriend wishes for a way to kill him.
The Worf Effect: Played with on a meta level. See Hey, It's That Guy! on the Trivia tab for the classic horror icons that are a list of the Djinn's victims.
Your Soul Is Mine: Like modern depictions of demons, the Djinn collects souls so he can drag them to what is effectively Hell to torture them forever. He also needs them to power the jewel that he was trapped in, which acts as a doorway to the Djinn world.
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