Tag Line : Evil has been summoned...again.

Following the relative success of "Wishmaster" came the inevitable sequel, this time written and directed by Jack Sholder. The film starts off with a raid on an art gallery where the statue from the first film, in which the Djinn is imprisoned, is currently on display. The thieves subsequently get into a shoot out with the security guards, and during the fighting the statue gets smashed, releasing the evil Djinn (played once more by Andrew Divoff).

The police arrive shortly after, where they find the Djinn in human form. Believing him to be one of the thieves he is arrested and jailed, where he goes on to wreak all manner of havok inside the prison granting the inmates wishes (the convict wishing his lawyer would "go fuck himself" being particularly memorable). It turns out that he needs to collect 1001 souls from granting people wishes, before he can unleash his fellow Djinn into the real world.

Meanwhile one of the art thieves, a young woman named Morgana (Holly Fields), finds out what she has released from the statue, and aided by a young priest named Gregory (Paul Johanson) attempts to stop the Djinn from unleashing the apocalypse. Unfortunately though, the Djinn escapes from prison aided by a Russian mobster named Tarrion (Bokeem Woodbine), and he is only too willing to help the Djinn in completing his tasks in exchange for furthering his position in the Russian mafia.

Whilst Andrew Divoff makes a welcome return playing the evil genie, the film is unfortunately a very poor follow up to the first. Whilst the first film had a stack of guest appearances by well known horror actors, this has nobody. The special effects (by SOTA effects this time) are very poorly done, and the film seems to totally twist the rules of the first, in part one the Djinn looked like Andrew Divoff because he took the face from one of his victims, whereas here the Djinn automatically looks like that for no reason. Also, in the first film it was established he needed to obtain 3 wishes from the person who released him to unleash hell, here he has to collect 1000 souls before asking them (Why?).

To be fair, the film is watchable, but pails in comparison to the first.

Overall Marks : 4/10.

Other Information.

• Director Jack Sholder also directed "Nightmare on Elm Street 2 : Freddy's Revenge" and the much under rated "The Hidden".
   

• The films budget was $2,500,000.
   

• The version released on video in Finland was cut by 38 seconds.
   

• SFX artists Sota effects also worked on the 1999 Brian Yuzna/Stuart Gorden film "The Progeny" starring Brad Douriff.
   

• Tom Lister who plays Tilover, the chief prison guard, was a former WWF wrestler before turning to acting. He also appeared in "Universal Soldier".
   

• Composer David C Williams also scored the music for some of the "Critters" and "Children of the Corn" sequels. He also composed the music for the 1979 Video Nasty title "Delerium" (aka Psycho Puppet).

Cast & Crew.

Buy the UK DVD.

Buy the UK DVD box set (parts 1-4).

Buy the US DVD (double bill).

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Other films in the series.

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