Wishcraft

Rating:
Summary: Hi-Class Sexy Horror Thriller
Review: A greatly entertaining, extremely well-made movie about a love-stricken teenager (played by Michael Weston) who receives a strange totem in the mail, sent annonymously, that will supposedly grant its owner three wishes. Ready to just toss it, he only makes a wish on it as a lark at the prodding of his friend; a wish that quickly comes to fruition. Unfortunately, the wish also seems to set into motion a series of regrettable and sometimes gruesome incidents. With Alexandra Holden doing a great job playing Weston's dream girl Samantha, "Wishcraft" is smart, very sexy, and has a nice cast of characters worth caring about. It also successfully explores some of the comedic potential of its premise without making a fool of itself and killing its own status as plausible horror movie. To top it off, this has far and away one of the greatest endings in all of movie history, not just horror movies. Nine out of ten.


December 14 Revision - the above is my original review from October, where I gave it four stars. As time goes by, though, I find this is more and more one of the movies that cements itself deeper in my memory as something really tremendous. Some parts are merely good or very good instead of excellent, but the ending makes up for any minor shortcomings. I can no longer justify keeping this at anything less than a full 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: How many more teen horror movies do we have to put up with?
Review: "Be careful what you wish for". What an original catchphrase for a movie.
School geek Brett Bumpers (with a name like that it's hardly surprising) is in love with the Prom Queen, Samantha. He tutors her but of course she doesn't have the time of day for him because he's a loser who drives a wimpy... moped and she's a cheerleader.
But one day Brett arrives home from school to find a package containing a strange artefact which will grant him three wishes. Naturally he wishes for Samantha to fall in love with him, but soon things start getting stranger than usual and Brett's enemies start falling victim to a cowled and hooded ax murderer... who soon sets his sights on Samantha. As for the rest, you know the drill; or in this case, ax. Still, it's not a bad movie for killing time. The production values are good but if I had three wishes one would be for no sequels to this movie to get made. Just look at the PUPPET MASTER and WITCHCRAFT movies (at least 11 of them!!) for examples. (No relation to WISHCRAFT, but could that be a bad omen?).
The actual unmasking of the killer is pretty daft and the killers explaination for his (or is it her?) actions will have viewers chuckling. The movie even goes so far as to steal the voice changing gadget idea from the SCREAM trilogy. No prizes for originality there. The conclusion is also more drawn out than it needed to be.The movie's highlight would have to be the death-by-bowling-ball scene. Meat Loaf co-stars as a sheriff under the name Michael Aday (I thought his name was Marvin?) and squeaky voiced Zelda Rubinstein from ANGUISH appears as a coroner who has the intelligent line: "Jimbo was alive when the killer took his head off".(Really?).

Rating:
Summary: Rather Surprising
Review: I didn't know what to expect when
popping this movie into my dvd player.
I heard some good things about it,
but good word of mouth does not a good
movie make. But in this case, it made a good
movie.....IMO.

It comes off as a teen romance comedy,
with slasher elements.
The one death scene, that stood out for me,
was the Hanging Scene. Seriously,
how it was done, was beyond words, and majorly cool,
in how they pulled it off.
The two gripes I had with this movie, was with
how some of the kills were more offscreen.
Where the kill would come, but then they cut away
so as to protect our fragile eye's...
The production values were grade A, in that it
was something that didn't appear to be a STV movie.
The killers motive, was average at best,
but compared to the one let out by the killer in
The Pool, it was far better then expected.

Give it a shot.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Movie! Worth Every Penny Spent..
Review: I have see off beat Teen/Slasher movies in the past and did not like them much. But this movie was a complete surprise! Very Real looking Effects, and a very good cast. Alexandra Holden was super, and I might add, very cute in here Undress, Pink Panty Shot!... It was one great movie to watch and add to my collection! Hope you feel the same...

Rating:
Summary: Best teen horror movie of all time!
Review: I was very impressed with this movie. It has both good plot and good acting. It is even a little bit scary at times. It all starts out when Brett, a ugly unpopular out kast, recieves a...well i think it is a bull wiener....and it can grant wishes. He thinks its a total load of poopie and throws it away. His friend talks him into using it and he wishes that the most populare girl in school will go out with him. and she does. soon enough people start dying...some of them are quiet brutal...anyways the movie ending definatly suprised me! this movie is definatly worth watching if not buying.
Rated R for violence and language.

Rating:
Summary: *yawn*
Review: it's bored the daylights out of me. i never even finished watching it. kept falling asleep. i'd recommend renting, before buying.

Rating:
Summary: good movie
Review: suprisingly good movie - i thought this one might be like the other teen slasher flicks but i was wrong. it was a unique film .i thought the killings were clever in the way they had diff ideas and it wasnt just ur average killing with knife like in most horror movies the killings were creative and the special effects were cool, the killings actually looked real and the story was pretty cool idea, the whole plot and the charcters were also good. The movie is about this guy who gets sent a mysterious (( totem )) sent to him in the mail and he takes it to a shop to find out what its worth and what it is and in the process learns some information about the powers it holds. When he goes home he makes 3 wishes and it leads to a series of events and mysterious killings start happening and noone knows who is doing the killing and you never think it is that person that is actually doing it- i was suprised at the end. so this is a unique film its dif than ur average teen slasher like i said-its very creative , unique original film and i recomend it- it was fun to watch.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good!!!
Review: This movie caught my eye in the video store!!! The cover was really interesting!!!And I was going to put it back because it was never out in theathers, and so I thought that it was going to suck! But on the other hand, It didnt!!! Its like 1996's "The Craft" meets 1999's "The Faculty" The cast are great, the story is excellent, and the directing is stylish!!! I dont know why this wasnt released in theathers! But it should of been out in theathers!!! This movie is a MUST-SEE!!!

Rating:
Summary: wears thin after a while and its predictable until the end
Review: This movie is about a not so popular kid who, one day recieves a gift in the mail (its a ancient bull penis). so he grants a wish that he wants to go to the spring fling with this cheerleader and the next day it happens. So then he asks the magical bull thing to make her be his girlfriend and that happens and all the while jocks and goths are being slaughtered. Being hung on a street stop sign, being beheaded by a bowling ball and a recognizable Charlie Talbert(hes the fat kid in the movie Angus) gets killed by a samurai sword. some things weigh it down and some things spark it up. it's not the greatest of all movies but it aint the worst either. Meat Loaf Aday plays a cop named Sparky Shaw and the old lady from the Poltergiest movies pop up as a doctor. the kids best friend is hilaroud when he tries to wish he was Steven Seagal or where he fakes grieving over the dead jock just to get to see the hot councler and the part where they are in lunch and they talk about how that kid got some from the cheerleader who wore the pink underwear. and the bad guy at the ending sort of got me as well

Rating:
Summary: IT'S A BULL THING
Review: WISHCRAFT is a well crafted entry in the teen slasher horror flick, with a smart and unpredictable script and a real surprise at the killer's identity. It also features the incomparable Zelda Rubinstein (Poltergeist dwarf) in a small role as the town's medical examiner.
Michael Weston plays Brett, the nerd who is pining after his classmate Samantha, played by the fetching Alexandra Holden (Purgatory Flats). He receives a strange gift in the mail, which turns out to be a totem (actually a bull penis) that will grant him three wishes. We know what his wishes will be...but coinciding with this are the brutal murders of some of Brett's classmates, and the viewer is left wondering how the two storylines will interconnect. This is the surprisingly original twist writer Larry Katz has invented to separate this from so many of the routine straight to video thrillers. Danny Graves also directs with a kinetic style and keeps the visuals interesting. The supporting cast featuring Austin Pendleton, Michael "Meatloaf" Aday and A. J. Buckley are likewise effective. A very surprising slasher.