The Wisher (2002)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Gavin Wilding

Writer:

Ellen Cook (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 December 2002 (Canada)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Cut to your worst nightmare.

Plot:

In a small town, the teenager Mary is obsessed and addicted with horror movies. Further, she is sleepwalker...

Plot Keywords:

Nightmare | Wish Fulfillment | Thong | Female Nudity | Topless

Cast

Ron Silver	...	Campbell
Liane Balaban	...	Mary
Drew Lachey	...	Brad
Siri Baruc	...	Debbie
Billy Morton	...	Earl
Wendy Anderson	...	Kelly Ryan
Iain MacLean	...	Jake Ryan
Ariel Bastian	...	Beth Ryan
Jared Van Snellenberg	...	Shane Underwood
Andrea Runge	...	Kara Genero
Rob van Meenen	...	Jimmy Winters
Melissa Repka	...	Mandy Newbel
Jody Peters	...	Driver
Levi James	...	Ethan
Camille Devine	...	Ariel

Also Known As:

Spliced (Canada: English title) (DVD title) (USA) (video title)
À froid (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for horror violence, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

Spain:83 min | Argentina:90 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Germany:16 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:13 | Argentina:16 | Italy:VM14

Filming Locations:

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada

Company:

American World Pictures (AWP)

Trivia:

When Mary is surfing the Net looking for info, she reaches a page that reads "Movie Makers Tap Into Twisted Myths and Modern Technology to Manipulate Audience". In it, there's info about the movie-within-the-movie's cast and crew, showing it as directed by Gavin Wilding and starring Mark Reid (the movie's producer), Dean Evans (the editor) and "Brenda Schener" (costume designer Brenda Shenher). Also, it has a 3 stars rating (pressumably out of 5), a R-Rating by MPAA "for strong violence, language and some sexual content" and its running time: 01:40.

Quotes:

Mary: I wish you would crash the car.

Movie Connections:

References The Fear: Resurrection (1999)

Messy and Incoherent Plagiarism of Other Movies

In a small town, the teenager Mary (Liane Balaban) is obsessed and addicted with horror movies. Further, she is sleepwalker, has frequent nightmares and her father has forbidden her to watch horror movies. However, when the top at the box office "The Wisher" is screened in her town, she goes to the movie theater with her two best friends, Debbie (Siri Baruc) and Kara (Andrea Runge), and leaves the session before the end, vomiting and impressed with the scary story. Mary notes that her wishes comes true wounding people and she sees the character The Wisher stalking her everywhere.

"The Wisher" is a messy and incoherent plagiarism of other horror movies, mainly "The WIshemaster", "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Swimfan" and "Scream", blended with the exposition of the beautiful naked body of Melissa Repka. The result is a movie that begins with a supernatural story, but with an awful conclusion where the killer is a deranged and humiliated student. Therefore, most of the situations become unreasonable, like for example, the death of Mary's father in a car accident. Anyway, this forgettable movie entertains and in the lack of a better option, is watchable. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "The Wisher – Desejos Mortais" ("The Wisher – Mortal Wishes")