Nerds That Geek Movie Review – ‘Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell’

Written by Scott Edwards

Knowledge can most definitely be power, if, of course it is used in the right way. With so many people burying their noises in books while at school, most of them learn the material, but only some are able to utilize it for something more. While grades are the most important thing at school, actual learning takes a back seat to them which is a flaw in the system. Being able to understand the material rather than just being able to cram it into your head to take a test, most people forget everything that they learned while going to school and only hold on to what is actually important in the real world. 

Diana Collins is still suffering from the dream that has plagued her life since losing her parents in a car crash. Knowing that there was nothing that she could have done to have prevented it, she still feels guilty and cannot get over that terrible day. While she has a great support group around her with best friend Katie, Katie’s boyfriend Billy and her own boyfriend Greg, she can continue on, but there is still something missing in her life.  eing one of the top of her class, Diana has many more opportunities to do something great with her future, but that does not seem to be enough for the here and now. 

With her top marks in class, Diana is invited to help Professor Barash at the museum with some new artifacts that have just arrived. Waiting for the professor to show up, Diana gets bored and starts looking at the new finds that have been shipped in, but an old Persian box has caught her eye. Looking at it while her vision is slowly starting to blur, she sees the Eye of God that is the hidden locking mechanism and gives it a push.  Revealing a secret chamber to the box and a large red opal inside of it, Diana is impressed with her find and shows it to Professor Barash when he shows up. Being proud of his student for her find, he offers a celebration dinner, but he appears to be looking for more from the girl. Diana declines the invite to be with her boyfriend and while Barash is upset, he understands and goes to work on deciphering the markings on the box, but getting an uninvited visitor, Barash’s night is about to take a turn for the worse.

The Djinn has returned to Earth and needs to find the person that woke him up and while Barash tries to protect his favorite student, he is no match for the ancient evil that has been unleashed before him. As the Djinn has been able to secure a new face to start his hunt, Diana is privy to seeing visions of people dying around the campus. Knowing that something happened to the professor, Diana tries to explain to her friends about what she has seen, but they believe that she is making it all up and that this is all some kind of a game. Being able to convince Katie and Greg to accompany her to the library to do a little more research on the Djinn, the two are starting to believe that she is telling the truth, but when Professor Barash shows up at her room, they know for sure that Diana is not crazy and they need to leave the campus as soon as possible. Being thrown into a game to which she does not know the rules, Diana is told to give the Djinn her three wishes so the world can be taken over by new management, but not wanting the end of the world to be her fault, Diana is forced to watch those closest to her be punished for her sins. 

The third installment of the Wishmaster series has changed up the story a bit and I can see why some people do not like it as much as its predecessors. The Djinn in this movie is more to the point than in the previous movies and does not play games with his new batch of souls, he just wants the one who woke him to make her wishes so his kind can take over the world. Using a religious attack on the Djinn, Diana sees in the old stories that God created the Angels and Man while Fire created the Djinn and believes that the Angels could defeat the vicious wish granters. Calling down the Archangel Michael to help her defeat the Djinn, she finds out quickly that there is more to the story than she could ever find in the books about the subject. Watching how Diana had to put her fears in the backseat to battle the Djinn was the highlight of the movie, but I am actually kind of a fan of the no nonsense Djinn that was put on the screen. No fun, no games, just wishes and death, and some graphic ones at that. Stay Scared.

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