Wishcraft is a 2002 American slasher film directed by Richard Wenk and starring Michael Weston and Alexandra Holden.
Brett is a high-school outcast who doesn’t run with the in crowd, unlike Samantha, the cheerleader he tutors and on whom he has a desperate crush. One day he receives a mysterious package that contains a totem—a bull's penis—that can supposedly grant him 3 wishes. His first wish is for Samantha to go to the spring dance with him. The next day she asks, to her own bewilderment and that of her boyfriend Cody. When she drops him immediately after the dance, Brett wishes for Samantha to love him forever, and she does, although after a while her affection starts leaning toward obsession. Then murders start occurring in the school, which Brett gradually starts to connect to the totem. Now it's his responsibility to save their lives.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Samantha is called "Sam" frequently by her friends or boyfriends.
- Alliterative Name: Protagonist Brett Bumpers.
- Caught in a Snare: Desiree is snared by a steel cable while crossing the street, and then suspended from a traffic light by the killer.
- Chained to a Bed: Samantha wakes up after being captured by the killer to find herself chained to a bed and the killer using her as the target girl in an impromptu Knife-Throwing Act.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The killer has been murdering students for being, at worst, assholes who didn't pay attention in class enough.
- Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: Brett's wish causes Samantha to fall in love with him and they have sex the first night after it's made. Given she only wanted to because of the wish's effect however it wasn't truly consensual. Howie does gradually realize what he did (with the wish overall, though including this) was wrong, though neither he nor the film treats it as really rape due to a magical wish affecting her mind. Sam does immediately break up with him in anger on hearing what he did, though she never says this was rape.
- Eye Scream: The killer murders Cody through stabbing him in the eye.
- False Confession: A man arrested for simple assault confesses to all three murders, which makes the police think he was the killer at first until his fingers won't fit a recovered bowling ball that was the last murder weapon.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: The killer wears glasses, while murdering his own students for very petty reasons.
- In the Hood: The killer wears a grotesque mask and a black hooded cloak.
- Jerk Jock: Samantha's boyfriend Cody is the captain of the football team, and the school's star jock. He and his jock friends bully the outsiders like Brett and Howie.
- Knife-Throwing Act: The killer has Samantha Chained to a Bed and amuses himself by throwing axes at her so that they bury themselves in the bedhead around her: explaining that it is an old Viking pastime.
- Motive Rant: The killer, after being revealed, tells Brett at length about why he did the murders and how, while noting apologetically how he's giving a speech.
- Off with His Head!: The killer subjects Cody to a Sand Necktie and then knocks his head off with a bowling ball.
- One-Word Title
- Portmantitle: 'Wish' + 'Witchcraft'.
- The Reveal: Mr. Turner, the school history teacher, is the killer.
- Sand Necktie: The killer buries Cody up to his neck and murders him by rolling bowling balls at his head.
- The Stoner: Brett's best friend Howie is convinced he has done enough to pass, and is happy to spend the rest of his final year getting high. (And hitting on the school's grief counselor.)
- Super-Strength: The killer has this due to his final wish so he could take on young and muscular male victims with ease. Brett however uses his final wish to be tougher, stronger and faster so he'll stop the killer.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: The killer is Mr. Turner, a very ordinary looking, bespectacled middle aged man who teaches history in high school.
- Unwilling Suspension: Desiree gets suspended from a traffic light after been Caught in a Snare by the killer.
- Weaponized Ball: After burying Cody up to his neck, the killer murders him by using his head as a target for bowling balls.
