Horror Movie Review: Wishcraft (2002)

Wishcraft is a slasher film that was directed by Richard Wenk, releasing in 2002. It follows a similar formula to the classic supernatural short story, “The Monkey’s Paw”.

Brett Bumpers is a regular high school student who receives a mysterious package one day. It contains a bull penis totem with a note explaining that it will grant him three wishes. His first wish is for Samantha to go with him to a dance. The next day, Samantha invites him to the dance. Samantha’s boyfriend Cody is the star jock at the school, and he is humiliated by Samantha’s decision.

After the dance, one of Cody’s buddies is murdered by a cloaked figure with a grotesquely disfigured face. When Brett drops Samantha off at home, she suggests that they should return to just being friends. Heartbroken, Brett makes his second wish that Samantha would become his girlfriend and actually fall in love with him. The next day, Samantha breaks up with Cody and initiates a relationship with Brett. Meanwhile, the cloaked figure continues to kill students at the high school.

There’s an incompetent police officer played by Meat Loaf who’s attempting to solve the murders as well.

Feeling guilty about wishing Samantha into a relationship, Brett confesses the truth to her. As Samantha is coming to grips with the truth, the cloaked figure attacks the pair. Will they survive?

Wishcraft is a generic teen slasher, it follows many of the conventions that you’d expect. There are the typical clichéd characters and so on. Still, it isn’t a complete waste. In fact, there are plenty of positives otherwise. Firstly, it has quite a refreshing take on the whole 3 wish concept. Basically, it attempts something different and it’s up to you if you like it. Personally, I thought the twist made a lot of sense.

One thing that always annoys me about these films is the main character blowing their wishes on trivial things. It happens in Wishcraft but it’s almost aware of it and at least acknowledges it. Brett uses his wishes to force Samantha to like him. However, he remains likeable due to his actions and the guilt he feels. It’s actually an interesting moral conundrum.

There’s definitely a sense of self-awareness to proceedings that is clearly inspired by Scream.

The kills that we do get are entertainingly inventive but limited and very tame in terms of gore. It purposely cuts away with a jarring, blinding white flash.

One thing I found quite hilarious was the totem being a bull penis, just why? It’s never explained at all and from what I’ve researched online it isn’t a thing, it’s very random.