User Reviews

The previous reviewers had it right when they said this movie is a crappy combination of two far superior horror movies - "Wishmaster" and "Scream".

The movie is funny in terms of how awful it is, for instance the lead male character is supposed to be a high school boy, but he looks like he is in his late 20's or even early 30's! I swear I thought I saw a little grey hair in some shots. Its absurd. And most of the other supposed high school "kids" are also way older than they are supposed to be.

There is nothing more jarring and breaking of realism in a movie than characters where the actors don't fit the roles they are supposed to be playing. Also, the movie doesn't know what it wants to be, a cutesy teen romance or a violent slasher movie.

Note to horror fans, the kills are not good, there are very few of them, the gore is wanting, and a lot of the movie consists of silly dialogue and no action.

Even the basic premise is a rip off of the movie "Wishmaster", where the characters get three wishes. However, where "Wishmaster" had incredible special effects with an awesome creature and a intelligent, intriguing storyline, "Wishcraft" has none of the elements. ENDING SPOILER The main villain turns out to be not supernatural at all, but an old washed up history teacher at the high school.

The only bright spot is Alexandra Holden, who plays the hot cheerleader and the prettiest girl in the school who the male character lusts after. She is good in the role, and it is clear she actually has talent and a brain, and compared to the other actors she comes across as the only professional among a bunch of amateurs.

Not recommended even for the most die-hard of horror fans.

This is a really cool slasher movie. The main character Brett gets a bull's penis in the mail. Yes a bull's penis. attached to it is a note telling Brett he can make three wishes. He thinks it's a nasty joke and throws it into the trash. later he decides he has nothing to lose and takes the bull's penis out of the trash and makes a wish that the popular cheerleader named Samantha will asked him to the spring dance. She does and things go well. Once the dance is over Samantha goes back to her boyfriend. Brett decides to make a second wish asking for Samantha to be his girlfriend forever. This seems to be a dream come true for Brett until he gets to know Samantha and actually starts to feel guilty. There is a bigger issue at hand. There is a crazy madman slaughtering the rebels, jocks, and the cheerleaders and Samantha is next on the list.

I am surprised this movie didn't come out in the theaters. Alexandra Holden is pretty good as Samantha. She has been in a few Hollywood films like Sugar and Spice and The hot chick. She was also in the creepy straight to video Dead End. Michael Weston was in Cherry falls. He was actually pretty cute as geeky smart Brett. This film has some great jump scenes. Maybe not too much gore but it has a nice pace which is lacking in some of the recent slasher films. Sara Downing is a underrated actress. She plays one of the high school students. I hope to see more of her. so again I am scratching my head why this film went straight to video when other weaker films like Stay Alive and Cry Wolf get a theater release? Give this film a chance if you like a good slasher flick! Rated R

Last night where I live in the UK there was a big thunder storm & torrential rain. Great, I thought, thinking this was a perfect opportunity to watch a good horror & soak up the atmosphere it being a dark, stormy, rainy night. Unfortunately instead of a good horror I ended up watching the abysmal Wishcraft... Wishcraft starts with various moody close-ups of someone writing a letter on an old typewriter, writing an address out on a package & affixing a stamp to it, it turns out the package is for Brett Bumpers (Micheal Weston) the class dork at Martin Van Buren High School. Brett opens the package to find an old looking box in which is contained an ancient severed Bull's penis & the attached letter that says he can make three wishes which will come true, understandably Brett is highly sceptical & throws it in the nearest bin. Brett tells his best, & only, friend Howie (A.J. Buckley) who convinces him to give it a try & make a wish. Brett wishes that a blonde babe named Samantha Warren (Alexanda Holden), whom he has a crush on, would ask him to go to an upcoming school dance. The next day at school Samantha does indeed ask Brett to the dance which annoys her stud boyfriend Cody (Huntley Ritter). Brett & Samantha attend the dance together but when over Samantha tells Brett that they should go back to their normal relationship, also that night Jimbo (Charlie Talbert), a classmate of Brett's, is decapitated on a golf course... Brett uses his second wish to make Samantha fall in love with him which antagonises Cody even more & puts a strain on his friendship with Howie as Brett's life starts to spiral out of control, & the small matter of a psycho killer running around keeps rearing it's ugly head as more of Brett's classmates die & Detective Sparky Shaw (Meat Loaf as Micheal Aday) is determined to catch those responsible...

Directed by Danny Graves & Richard Wenk I thought Wishcraft was a pretty awful film. The script by producer Larry Katz is predictably at fault, whoever heard of a severed Bull's penis being able to grant three wishes? Both it's characters & story are incredibly clichéd too, the dork, the blonde babe, the school bully, the comedy relief friend & the usual investigating police officers. The friends who keep splitting up, a killer who is not as they first appear & all the good guys live to see a sickeningly happy ending while all the bad ones die, yawn. At first Wishcraft tries to convince the viewer that a demon of some sort is responsible for the killings but is revealed not to be the case during the incredibly lame 'twist' ending, the killers motives are worthless, bland & mean absolutely nothing in the sense that the killer more or less just 'felt' like killing some random teenagers as they have no real connection to anyone else for the majority of the film. The plot devices which connect the Bull's penis, the three wishes, the killer & Brett together are tenuous & very simplistic. Not much effort has been put into the important aspects of Wishcraft's story. At the end I felt that the supernatural elements just didn't work alongside the bog-standard teen slasher themes, they never really gel that well. I also have to mention the endings, first the 'exciting' climax when the killer is unmasked & the hero saves the day which is really bad & seemingly had very little thought put into it & the second 'true love conquers all' happy ending afterwards which goes on for a full five minutes, yuck. Wishcraft is also really slow & boring spending far too much time on Brett's magical relationship with Samantha, during these scenes I swore I could have been watch a Disney film as the school nerd gets to date the best looking blonde around & not quite know how to handle it. The gore is severely lacking with only three murders for an hour & twenty odd minutes, apart from Jimbo's death & the eventual demise of the killer there is no blood or gore at all & these two scenes apart Wishcraft is PG stuff all the way, in fact I thought on occasion that Wishcraft was deliberately going out of it's way not to show any of the red stuff at all. Technically Wishcraft is well made & is competent but at the same time it's just so bland, boring, uninteresting & forgettable. Director's Graves & Wenk fail to create any atmosphere, tension, scares, surprises or shocks & Wishcraft ends up having the look & feel of a TV film. The acting is OK for what it is but even Meat Loaf was embarrassed to be in this thing & hid behind an alias. A special mention goes to Alexanda Holden who is a bit of a babe so at least there was something decent for me to look at & she's probably worth an extra star on her own, pity she can't act though. Then again no ones perfect, right? Simply put Wishcraft is a terrible film, it's painfully slow, has no gore, violence or nudity, has instantly forgettable production values & is a blatant cross between Wishmaster (1997) & Scream (1996) which are both a hell of a lot better than this piece of crap. Definitely one to avoid, you'll probably be glad you did. Thank me later...

This is one of my favorite teen Slasher movies, that's extremely entertaining, with a really creative story, and fantastic performances!. All the characters are wonderful, and while it Didn't have tons of gore, it didn't really need it, plus Michael Weston and Alexandra Holden are simply amazing in this!. It's extremely well made and written, and the killer may not be as easy to guess as you think, plus Weston and Holden make one brilliant paring in my opinion. A.J. Buckley is very funny as Brett's best friend, and I found the plot to be fascinating, plus you care for the two leads in Weston and Holden because there so likable. Some of the movie's best scenes came when Brett's wishes were coming true, and Alexandra Hodlen is also incredible eye candy! plus the death scenes were cool if not very gory. this is unquestionably the best DTV slasher I have ever seen, and it is surprisingly mostly unpredictable throughout, plus this should be much higher then 4.9 in my opinion!.

The score is really good, and it actually has a few creepy moments as well, plus lots of humorous moments as well. Meat Loaf is pretty bad though(could have been worse though), and one part that made me laugh a lot was when Howie (A.J Buckley), wishes to become a bad ass like Steven Seagal, and ends up getting his ass kicked, and the ending always puts a huge smile on my face, plus one of the main reasons I was able to care for Brett's character is because in a way I'm very much like him. This truly is an extremely underrated gem, and I would love to see a sequel to this, as I think it could be just as good if done correctly, plus I think this could have had a decent theatrical run in my opinion (but that's just me!). I am proud to own a VHS cop of this at home, and some of the dialog was quite clever, plus Huntley Ritter is great as the jealous prick Cody. This is one of my favorite teen Slasher movies, that's extremely entertaining, with a really creative story, and fantastic performance, and if you haven't seen it give it a chance, you might end up loving it as much as I did, but not everyone will.

The Direction is wonderful!. Danny Graves and Richard Wenk do a wonderful! job here with fantastic camera work, awesome angles, adding some creepy atmosphere at times, and just keeping the film at an extremely fast pace.

There is a little bit of gore, lot of off screen stuff(mostly). We get some bloody stabbings, bit of slicing and dicing,knifing's,bloody impaling with sword,bloody corpses, decapitation (off screen),nasty hanging scene, Axe in the back of the head (off screen),fire poker in the eye (after the fact),sword in neck,someone's face is smashed in with a bowling ball (off screen), and some blood.

The Acting is is surprisingly fantastic!. Michael Weston is amazing here, he is extremely likable, reminded me a lot of myself, had outstanding chemistry with Alexandra Holden, was charismatic, had a geeky charm, and showed tons of potential, I hope he makes it big, because he's certainly got the talent! (Weston Rules!!!!). Alexandra Holden is also amazing here, she is incredibly gorgeous, extremely sexy, had outstanding chemistry with Weston, was extremely likable, showed that she could be a fantastic scream queen, and had a really cool character, I loved her! (Holden Rules!!!!). A.J. Buckley is hilarious as the best friend,he was childish but in a lovable way, he had great chemistry with Weston I loved him!. Huntley Ritter is great as the jealous dick Cody, and was very convincing. Meat Loaf is really bad here, although not as bad as he could have been, but that's not saying much, it was amusing to see him in this role though. Zelda Rubinstein basically has a cameo, but it's exactly like her character was in the Poltergeist movies, but it's not really welcomed here. Sara Downing is good as the goth chick Desiree I liked her. Rest of the cast are fine.

Overall if you haven't seen it please do so you might end up liking it, give it a chance!. ***** out of 5

"Wishcraft" is a decent slasher but nothing special.

**SPOILERS**

Trying to win Samantha Warren, (Alexandra Holden) the girl of his dreams, Brett Bumpers, (Michael Weston) receives a strange package in the mail that grants wishes. As they start a friendship, several friends in their high school are viciously killed. Detective Sparky Shaw, (Meat Loaf) is assigned to the case, and as more and more bodies pile up, the investigation shows that it's a supernaturally strong killer. As the killer turns to Brett, Samantha and their friend Howie, (A.J. Buckley) with the police on their trail, a secret about who sent the packages and why they're killing the students leads to a final showdown in the woods.

The Good News: This is a really competent slasher film with some rather nice examples of the genre. The best part is the killer, who is one of the more imposing killers around. The killer has decided to go with a black leather coat and a talisman mask. The talisman mask is pretty creepy and the fact that its covered with the hood gives it a little extra. Coupled with the different kills committed during the film, it's the definition of a great killer. The kills, while not being really original, are certainly fun. Having a bowling ball bowled at supernatural speed into a person's face, being strung up on a rope lynch over a streetlight, having a sword lodged in the neck from behind, sliced up with knives, and more in here, so there's some nice kills in here. Those scenes are easily the best part, setting up some really clever and much-needed suspense scenes. The attack in the car is by far the creepiest, using an axe to break windows during an escape, the time when the killer makes it to the car, and pretty much every other trick in the book to make it a really suspenseful scene. The stalking in the house at the end is full of suspenseful, with some great shots that drive up the tension and send it out with a really great high. This wasn't all that bad.

The Bad News: There's still some problems with this one. The main one is that the mixture of the genres in here. When it's a slasher film, it's really on, but when it focuses on the teen-anger aspect, then it becomes agonizing. Watching those scenes are a pain, and feel a little out-of-place in a slasher film. You don't want to waste over forty minutes of time dealing with a hokey-devised romance subplot when there's the knowledge that a killer is on the loose, especially since all the killings up to that point are all creative and exciting. The scenes in the school wandering through the hallways talking about their relationship and the small little insets here and there really could've been cut out and wouldn't have made any impact whatsoever. The killer's motive also could've used some work, as it's very clichéd and doesn't really do much to give them much of a back-story and it's just downright pathetic. It could've been fixed, and makes it all the more likely that it would've been decent.

The Final Verdict: When it's a slasher film, this really work ad works well, but it's interrupted by moments of boredom when the teen angle side is pursued. Incredibly tolerant slasher fans will be the most impressed with this, while those into the teen-romance angle might be bored stiff with it.

Rated R: Violence, Language and mild drug use

A nerd gets three wishes and he uses 2 of them to get a girl to like him. One wish was understandable, she's a gorgeous blonde. But he could've used his other wishes to end famine or for world peace or to give everybody in the world perfect health. But no the nerd has to be self-centered and think small and only care about himself.

Austin Pendleton, the world's weirdest actor, gets to ham it up as a crazy teacher who continues to teach even though he is rich (at least he used one wish smartly) and wants to kill his students for some ridiculous reason. Having a guy who looks like Robin Gibb play the bad guy inspires more laughter than terror. At the end the nerd remembers he has one more wish and could've used it to make the teacher die but then we wouldn't have a long drawn out cliched horror movie ending.

This movie is absolutely terrible.

Outcast but just not really popular student Mark recieves an anonymous package containing an old severed wish granting "bull's penis" (definitely didn't care for the implied animal cruelty..it should have been made something else) in the mail. At first he didn't believe it was real and threw it in the trash. But his best friend pressured him into making a wish.

Mark who has an unhealthy obsession with a cheerleader at his school uses the first wish to force her to ask him to the dance.

The next day she does.

At the dance she completely ignores him and then yet again friendzoned him, and let's Mark know she isn't romantically or any kind of way interested in him whatsoever...and that they should remain in the tutoring relationship that they have and that's it.

Apparently Mark doesn't like rejection and perhaps heard something different...sooo without her consent he makes a second wish taking away her complete freewill for the remainder of her life.

He wishes her to love him forever and to have a "natural" relationship...or in my eyes a natural facade appearance of a relationship.

Wish worked.

Throughout the remaining movie...it's mostly about his "magical" non consensual relationship. With the occasional killings of a masked killer killing apparently random "innocent" teenagers, and the lackluster efforts of an unequipped and under qualified police force assigned to the task of catching the killer.

They cared only when pressured...and they did half jazzed murder "investigations.". In an effort to be done with the case, they nabbed and jailed 2 innocent people.

Soo...Mark pretty much abandoned his only friend, and neglected everything else in his life including school to focus on his non consensual relationship.

Mark even non consensually (she didn't know what she was doing and was under a spell) uses her for physical intimacy.

He wrestles slightly with the idea of releasing her from the spell...but ultimately, never does.

He takes her to his friend's parents out of town vacation cabin...to allegedly break the news to Sam that she's under a love spell.

The bullies overhear in the public bathroom about the cabin. He tells his other bully friends about it one is sam's ex. They decide they're going there too, because basically Sam's ex wants his "property" back and wants to reach Mark a lesson about taking his "property" (Sam)

They go. Mark tells her. She gives an unbelievable performance of being upset and angry. (She was under the love spell still, so chances are she never could rationalize or logically think or ever see Mark as anything but "wonderful" ever again)

Soo. ..the masked killer turns out to be Marks favorite teacher and advisor. He tells Mark it was him who sent him the gift because he has no further use for it after killing his wife and inheriting a "large" sum of money allegedly to last him for the remainder of his days because he's going to "disappear" soon.

The teacher explains to Mark that he was bored and had reached his breaking point with rude, unresponsive, interruptive, non interested in education or learning, little "shizs" of terrible students year after year (25 years)...he puts up with this and the bullying and shaming of parents basically believing their children are angels and have done no wrong. That the teacher is to blame for everything.

So he basically used his last wish for super human strength, and abilities to use to basically get rid of the rotten students.

So before he decided to go on a murder spree, he decides to pass the gift of 3 wishes to Mark, his absolute favorite and prized student.

He quickly gets upset with Marks usage of it. Making his wishes geared towards a "bimbo" and getting a girl to like him.

He thought Mark would have used it for better things ..(teacher is a hypocrite. He used 2 of his wishes geared towards killing his wife and collecting insurance money from her death.)

He tells Mark that basically the girl is his problem and Mark can do better..that basically he's going to do Mark a "solace" and get rid of her ..so that Mark can finally come to his senses. So that Mark can know his true worth.

Mark doesn't take kindly to the news of having to give up his "play thing" and superficial non consensual relationship that most of the rest of the movie is spent trying to kill his teacher (like 5 to 10 minutes or less)

Mark tells his teacher that he has used his last wish to be stronger and faster than his teacher to defeat him.

During the fight, we clearly see that Mark is fibbing.. and the teacher pretty much gets the best of him just about every time.

Mark is labeled as a "small town " hero who put a stop to it..... even though he was only able to get the ultimate upper hand in his teacher because he basically lucked out.. He was being killed by his teacher but lucked out

He was able to grab the weapon (sword)on the ground near him and was able to impale him in the neck... killing his teacher instantly.

Mark then basically manipulates and lies to Samantha giving her a skewed truth (she's not really that bright)..

He tells her that they're "stuck" like this for the remainder of their lives because allegedly he's used his final wish to save them instead of freeing her.

The words of the teacher enlightens Sam about how the one who was gifted the gift, can gift the wishes to someone else.

So she tells Mark to give her the gift. He agrees.

Apparently at the end of the film everything is okay and they allegedly had true love so after graduation they're traveling the world together.

Which they never had true love the entire movie.

In my opinion Mark never used his third wish. He lied and just lucked out in killing his teacher.

Since Mark never used his third wish, the bull's penis can't ever grant anyone any wishes untill all of the previous owners are used (the teacher used all 3 before passing it on to Mark. He studied it and had prior knowledge)

So Mark intentionally gave Samantha who is under his love spell for life the non working bull's penis knowing that her wishes wouldn't be granted....even if somehow they could be granted she wouldn't ever wish to be free from Mark because the love spell is for the remainder of her life. She's still under the influence and infatuation. She wouldn't wish him away... She will always for the remainder of her life think that she's in love with Mark.

Instead she "wishes" them to be together traveling after graduation ... Aka probably gave his parents money and conned them into letting him go away with her.

The end.

No lessons, no morale, no consequences and repercussions..

They live

Falsely

Unhappily ever after.

He was probably was saving his last wish to truly get away from her permanently when he tires of her .

Poor Sam. She is treated like "property" and objectified the whole movie.

Never had an identity. Never will.

Even if Mark freed her, she'll always be under some guy because she doesn't know how to love without being with a guy.

A teen horror movie with a limited budget and a lot of over-the-hill TV and movie stars, this movie should be unbearable. Oddly, it is quite enjoyable. It will never win any awards and it does not have the rich mythos of many other B-movies, yet it manages to tie many well-worn clichés from "Halloween", "Scream", "I Know What You Did Last Summer", and a long string of other teen scream movies into a coherent whole.

Some of the scenes are done extremely well and provide real shocks, usually without resorting to blood. The film is smart enough to turn to camp when it wants to show a little blood, saving it from being one of the frequent bloodfests we are so often assaulted with.

Here a few comments that are spoilers, but which can be enjoyed before or after the movie: SPOILERS AHEAD****************************** First, you just HAVE to see Michael Weston's makeup in the first half of the movie. It looks like it was done by his mother in order to conceal some acne for the prom. The base starts at his hairline and then stops quite abruptly at his beardline. Quite mesmerizing, it gives the impression of someone who was wearing a surgical mask while he was getting a tan.

Second, as usual, people who receive three wishes are SO unimaginative in using them, and the main character is equally clueless in this movie. When I was a kid (and completely clueless about the real world,) I often thought about what I would wish for, if given the chance. (I also thought about what I would do if I were the last survivor of a war or plague. Perhaps this explains my personality.) In "Wishcraft" the wishes are for the main character's secret love to "go the Spring Blast with me"; for this secret love to "be madly in love with me"; and for the main character, when confronted with a life-threatening situation, to be "stronger, faster, and tougher" than the villain. Come on!! Get imaginative kid! I'll forgive the first wish, since you were just testing the waters, but you could have wished to "be irresistible to all women," or to have "a magic wallet that is always filled with money," or "to be able to turn invisible anytime I wish"; or to "have the powers of Superman." (In the final showdown, the main character turns out NOT to be "stronger, faster, and tougher" than the villain, who basically cleans the floor with him. I have not figured this part out yet...it is quite inconsistent.) Third, Meat Loaf is just great as the scenery-chewing, comedic relief. He's over the top, but thoroughly enjoyable.

Finally, Zelda Rubinstein is just hilarious as the coroner. If I were the detective, I would have been investigating HER for the murders in about two minutes. I really hope that Ms. Rubinstein does not talk this way in the real world.

END OF SPOILERS******************************** So, check this out if you have a free rental. Surprisingly, there is no nudity in this movie and the lead actress never shows her you-know-whats. In fact, nobody ever shows any, including her female sidekicks.

I give this *** out of *****

Wishcraft is funny, enjoyable and at times quite tense. It's a slick well made movie that will appeal greatly to anyone in to teen Horrors. The dialogue is snappy, the characters are funny without being too cheesy or caricatured, and the plot is well written.

However, some of the movie didn't sit right. For one someone obviously took offence at one or other of the incredibly tame death sequences (most in fact cut away ages before anyone dies anyhow) or the fact that someone gets called a 'mother****er' at one point because it got an 18 certificate despite a sum total of about only 10 or 15 seconds of on screen violence and one swear word. I've seen harder 12s. I feel a lot of people will avoid it imagining it to be more hardcore than it is, or buy it expecting a horror-show and be disappointed.

That's part of what happened to me. I saw 30 seconds of this on Sci-Fi one night, which was enough to make me check it out, and as a movie I enjoyed it greatly, but I felt the horror element was way too light to really think of it as much more than a teen comedy with horror elements. Most of the movies I normally watch are a lot more intense than this, and I was under the impression from the part I saw that this would at least sit next to Scream in terms of scariness and horror, if not going the full Halloween/Fri 13th slasher hog, but it really is much more comedy thriller than slasher movie.

As such it's really entertaining, but I can't help feeling that it'll disappoint those seeking anything more. I don't think it helped I watched The Convent the night before which is just as funny but delivers hardcore gore, less asinine teens and real scares to boot. Wishcraft's a cool film, and firmly recommended to the more relaxed horror fan, but those who crave insanity will probably find it slow-paced and too user-friendly.

I watched this movie late at night. The concept sounded promising, you get your wishes, but there will be a price to pay. The price to pay, was paid by the victims of the killer, me, and everyone who saw it from start to finish and considered it garbage.

SPOILERS: I should have heeded the first alarm when the "skull mask" was shown during the very first kill. I'd have preferred the faceless killer as long as possible.

And it wasn't even a mythical force, just a psychopath teacher. I did sit through the movie, wondering why the "Grim Reaper" went after this person or that person with such.. 'mortal' means. Bowling balls? Samurai swords? (very subtle, the sword). And the movie lied to me. It claimed the popular people was being picked off one by one. Desiree was one the popular, I take it.

As for the price the whining kid (already forgot his name, the main character) had to pay? Seemed he could care less about those who died, and probably wouldn't have cared until the killer made it clear he would go after main char's beloved Sam. Which brings me to the end of the movie.

Couldn't Whiner have wished himself back in time, or that the totem never was found in the first place? Would have stopped the teacher, would it not? And as for Samantha.. seriously? Horror/comedy movie or not, I will not root for a guy that has sex with a girl when she's under a love spell of his (no matter how big jerks the rest of the ensemble turns out to be), and then gets her in the end.

Apparently main char getting the girl on his own would be boring. Instead, we have a nice little love spell, sex (or a mental rape, if one could call it that, would she have done it without the spell at that moment?), the confession, all "bad" kids dealt with and forgotten, everything is forgiven once **** hits the fan. Killer dealt with, love spell revoked, new wishes to manipulate people being made. I wonder what the heck those two will do when they can't wish their way through life anymore. "No promotion? Aww, and I used my last with for a good present in the cereal packet yesterday.."

I hoped and prayed that the killer (despite the evidence to the contrary) would be a true Grim Reaper, and that Main Char would pay the final prize in return for all those killed to return. But alas, my wish wasn't granted.

If you like horror movies, save yourself the trouble, and wish for a better movie to enjoy. But if you can handle bad "horror" movies, go ahead and watch it. You've been warned.