History Film / Wishmaster

* BalefulPolymorph: Usual effect from Djinn's wishes.

* KarmicTransformation: Since the titular genie takes the {{jackass|Genie}} title and cranks it until the dial falls off, this is his favorite form of BalefulPolymorph, because it makes it suck that much more.

* AdaptationalVillainy: In the series, Djinn are an AlwaysChaoticEvil supernatural race. In fact, Djinn are supposed to be as morally varied as humans are- good, evil, neutral, whatever. While there are some sources that suggest they are a universally bad lot regardless, the films, needless to say, turn them UpToEleven.

* KarmicTransformation: Since the titular genie takes the {{jackass|Genie}} title and [[UpToEleven cranks it until the dial falls off]], this is his favorite form of BalefulPolymorph, because it makes it suck that much more.

* VillainDecay: The Djinn was scary and so much of a threat in the first film because he was [[AlwaysChaoticEvil utterly evil beyond redemption]], [[CompleteImmortality completely immortal]], his powers knew almost no bounds, and he would bring about hell on Earth if he got his three wishes. What stopped him from being an InvincibleVillain was that the entire plan hinges on granting wishes, so the protagonist could technically stop it by not wishing at all and had to be constantly wary of saying anything that could possibly be interpreted by the evil Djinn as one. In the second film, he suddenly has to collect 1000 souls first, and much of the plot placed him in prison, where he was significantly less menacing as a villain. The third and fourth films continue the process by making the Djinn killable, and having to pursue romance with a woman.

Not to be confused with the album and song by Music/{{Nightwish}}.

* SssssnakeTalk: The Djinn tends to gradually [[OneWingedAngel drop his human act]]. The first stage consists of him starting to talk in a deep hissing voice with [[LipLock elongated stress]] on some syllables.

* ImmortalityHurts: In the first film, the heroine wishes for the evil djinn to blow his own brians out. He promptly pulls out a revolver and does so. The Djinn quickly heals from this and informs her that he's immortal but adds that "if it's of any consolation, that hurt like hell!".

* FoeYay: Although the interactions between the Djinn and Alex are not many, he often makes certain comments to her that are just full of foe yay. He calls her a delight and caresses her hand (disguised as Wendy), calls her 'sweet Alex' and after she has made two wishes, tells her they are 'so connected now'.
* When he breaks the window of her car, for an instant, you can see him leaning towards her with a teasing expression and almost touching her with his claw.

* EverybodyLives: [[spoiler:Due to the ResetButton ending. With the exception of the people in the prologue, everyone who dies from Ed Finney on is brought back to life due to the [[ResetButton wish that Torelli hadn't been drunk on the job]].]]

In the first film, a drunken accident while a statue is being transported results in the discovery of a jewel containing an ancient Djinn, imprisoned since the days of ancient Persia, who is unwittingly released by a young art appraiser. As the Djinn begins to harvest the souls of the unwitting people around him by granting their wishes -- [[JerkassGenie usually in the most malevolent, cruel and gruesome way possible]] -- the appraiser must figure out a way to imprison him once again without using up the three wishes he is bound to grant her... and dooming all of humanity in the process.

In the first film, a drunken accident while a statue is being transported results in the discovery of a jewel containing an ancient Djinn, imprisoned since the days of ancient Persia, who is unwittingly released by a young art appraiser. As the Djinn begins to harvest the souls of the unwitting people around him by granting their wishes -- [[JerkassGenie usually in the most malevolent and painful way possible]] -- the appraiser must figure out a way to imprison him once again without using up the three wishes he is bound to grant her... and dooming all of humanity in the process.

* FaceStealer: The Djinn from the first, third, and fourth movies. In the second he used the same human form he had in the first, a corpse from the morgue. In the third and fourth it gets worse as he skins living people, a hapless college professor and a lawyer played by Michael Trucco, respectively.

* LogicalWeakness: the Djinn has a single law that bounds his (otherwise unlimited) power: he can only use his magic to fulfill wishes, and he ''must'' deliver a wish as requested even if he does not want to or somehow unable to.
** This becomes a plot point in the first and fourth movie; as well as a piece of comedy when a guard tells he wants Demerest to leave, making the Djinn visibly struggle as he is forced to turn around and walk away against his will. The guard, however, [[BullyingADragon decides to mock the Djinn]], and his words turn out precisely what Demerest needs to count bragging as a wish.

* LogicalWeakness: The Djinn has a single law that bounds his (otherwise unlimited) power: he can only use his magic to fulfill wishes, and he ''must'' deliver a wish as requested even if he does not want to or he's somehow unable to. This becomes a plot point in the first and fourth movie, as well as a piece of comedy when a guard tells he wants Demerest to leave, making the Djinn visibly struggle as he is forced to turn around and walk away against his will. The guard, however, [[BullyingADragon decides to mock the Djinn]], and his words turn out to be precisely what Demerest needs to count bragging as a wish.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The Djinn in this series are largely merged with much of the folklore about demons. They are one of three entities made by God (the others are Angels and Humans) while demons are not stated to exist as separate beings, the wish-granting is identical to a DealWithTheDevil since the Djinn's prize is the wisher's soul, and their home dimension is almost identical to FireAndBrimstoneHell, where the souls he collects are gathered to suffer eternal torture.
* OurGeniesAreDifferent: The djinn in this series are some kind of byproduct of God's creation of the universe and [[AlwaysChaoticEvil are all inherently evil]] and as such were banished to some Hell dimension. The main one is [[SealedEvilInACan trapped in a red jewel]] on Earth and if he successfully grants his summoner's three wishes he can free his brethren and get rid of whatever it is that's restricting his powers so that they only activate for wishes. He also collects souls and has a [[JackassGenie very loose definition of what exactly constitutes as a wish]].

* StupidEvil: In a big way. The JerkassGenie actually has motivation for his job: once the person who releases him makes three wishes, genies will be freed from the hell-dimension they're trapped in and rampage across the Earth. He time and again proves not just to be ObviouslyEvil, but also a unique combination of StupidEvil and ChaoticStupid. He could simply ''trust'' that the person who released him would have three things that they wanted to wish for (and odds of that are pretty high), but instead, he insists on causing mayhem and destruction whenever someone makes a wish (particularly random people who ''aren't'' the person who can free the genies with three wishes), and playing sadistic mind games with the person who set them free, ensuring that whoever actually ''did'' free him will never '''want''' to make their three wishes in the first place.

* LogicalWeakness: the Djinn has a single law that bounds his (otherwise unlimited) power: he can only use his magic to fulfill wishes, and he ''must'' deliver a wish as requested even if he does not want to or somehow unable to.
** This becomes a plot point in the first and fourth movie; as well as a piece of comedy when a guard tells he wants Demerest to leave, making the Djinn visibly struggle as he is forced to turn around and walk away against his will. The guard, however, [[BullyingADragon decides to mock the Djinn]], and his words turn out precisely what Demerest needs to count bragging as a wish.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: the court wizard who single-handedly beats Demerest and imprisons him in the magical gem is listed in the credits as Zoroaster himself (the prophet of the religion named after him). However, not only he is presented as a powerful sorcerer here, but also alive in year 1127 (accounts differ on when the real Zoroaster lived, but it was definitely ''before'' the birth of Christ).

'''Guard:''' Well, in that case you will have to walk through me, and that is something I'd love to see! (cue the grinning Djinn turning the guard into a stained glass and shattering it as he walks through it)

* MetaphoricallyTrue: The Djinn claims that he can't kill anybody. While he certainly isn't able to directly do so, he is responsible for much of the carnage brought on by whatever his wishers ask of him, seeing how he can alter reality just enough to suit their desires.

* BodyHorror: Numerous, numerous examples.

* AchillesHeel: The Djinn has one main weakness: he can only use his powers in the service of wishes, which annoys him quite a bit ("Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have unlimited power, and only be able to use it when some worm asks you for something?"). Without a wish, he's not a threat--he doesn't even use physical force to push past people. Getting ''everyone'' to stop wishing is next to impossible, however.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The tagline of the first movie

* FlayingAlive: In the Djinn's palace in Hell, he is having one of the souls he collected tortured by slicing off the skin on the man's torso and stretching it out with hooks to expose all his innards.

* ImmortalityHurts: In the first film, the heroine wishes for the evil djinn to blow his own brians out. He promptly pulls out a revolver and does so. The Djinn quickly heals from this and informs her that he's immortal but adds that it "hurt like hell!"

* LiterallyShatteredLives: In the first film, the Djinn fuses [[Creator/KaneHodder a security guard]] to a glass door, then shatters it.

* AchillesHeel: The Djinn has one main weakness: he can only use his powers in the service of wishes, which annoys him quite a bit ("Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have unlimited power, and only be able to use it when some worm asks you for something?"). Without a wish, he's virtually powerless except for his NighInvulnerability. He doesn't even use physical force to push past people. Getting everyone to stop wishing is next to impossible, however.

* TheWorfEffect: Played with on a meta level. The evil Djinn's victims include people played by horror film icons such as Creator/RobertEnglund (Freddy Krueger from ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''), Tony Todd (the eponymous ''Film/{{Candyman}}''), and Creator/KaneHodder (Jason Voorhees from ''Franchise/FridayThe13th''). It's a little hard to believe that this casting was not deliberate.

* TakesTenToHold: The Djinn possesses a petty crook who always got away with his crimes to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy shoot up a police station]], as the officer the Djinn was talking to wished for "something easy, with every god damn person as an eyewitness". Not even five policemen are enough to restrain the guy, as he breaks free and even ''rips one poor officer's lower jaw out''.