WISHMASTER: THE PROPHECY FULFILLED

Lisa and Sam seem determined to live together forever happily ever after; but things change considerably because Sam, after being involved in a car accident, loses the use of his legs and immediately the relationship with his girlfriend, who has had a secret relationship with their lawyer Steven for some time, begins to deteriorate. One day Steven gives the girl an ancient box containing a small red jewel. Lisa unknowingly awakens the Djinn, a mythical demon who lives in the red gem and who desires to fulfill the three wishes of the person who has awakened him to bring his malevolent race back to earth. This time the Djinn will manage to obtain all three wishes, but fulfilling the last one will not be easy because he must succeed in making the young Lisa fall in love with him. Released in Italy for the home video market only and with the unappealing title "The Cursed Prophecy" (which might make one think they are dealing with yet another film dedicated to the "The Prophecy" saga with Christopher Walken), this fourth installment of the "Whishmaster" saga turns out to be yet another misstep that only drags the series further into the abyss and the pathetic. Already disastrous since the second film, this series continues to decline. Released almost simultaneously with the third installment and directed by the same Chris Angel (who had already directed "Whishmaster 3 – The Devil's Stone"), this "Whishmaster 4 – The Cursed Prophecy" represents the lowest point reached by the series. A total lack of original ideas dominates throughout the film: we are once again forced to encounter the same old story, which never changes from chapter to chapter, adorned with characters on the verge of being unbearable and poor ideas that force the viewer to regret the money spent on renting or purchasing the DVD. As already happened in "Whishmaster 3," the Djinn appears with a truly un-terrifying and unmemorable appearance; the murders, which here occur even more sporadically, are most of the time so ridiculous that they provoke laughter and much pity even in the rare cases where an attempt is made to enter the gore/splatter genre. If in the third film we could witness mild ideas such as the intervention of the archangel Michael in the fight against the Djinn, here "Whishmaster 4" is ready to surprise us with further ideas on the verge of ridicule: this time, the fearsome demon is not fought by the celestial archangel but by the tough Terminator, an enigmatic figure who has come to earth from another world, halfway between Highlander and Terminator, who goes around killing anyone who crosses his path and making his allegiance unclear: is he one of the good guys or one of the bad guys? This figure turns out to be as useless as one could imagine; he does not have a personality that makes one understand who he is, appears in very few sequences, and is taken off the scene halfway through the film without having completed his mission; the only mission he completes is making the viewer laugh at seeing him fight against the "terrifying" Djinn. One will therefore witness duels so ridiculous that they seem to want to evoke the old "Power Rangers." But the most pathetic idea that could be thought of for this film is to create an intrusive and fake love story between the Djinn and the young Lisa, a love story so out of place that, although it passes into the background in several points, it remains decisively irritating. In conclusion, we can consider this "Whishmaster 4 – The Cursed Prophecy" the worst episode of a series that should have died after the beautiful first installment directed by Robert Kurtzman and that manages to make its two ugly predecessors reappraised. Avoid.