A side note to anyone unfamiliar with the film, 'Djinn' are creatures condemned to dwell in the void between the worlds inhabited by angels and man. When someone awakens a Djinn, they are granted three wishes. Once the three wishes have been granted, the unholy legions of the Djinn are let loose on Earth. The story goes, there's only one thing to fear....The Djinn.

Wishmaster opens in 12th century Persia, where a King has been granted wishes by the Djinn (Divoff) and he asks the Djinn to astonish him and show him wonders, so the Djinn grants the wish and the people in the castle are put through some horrific transformations....a woman appears to become a tree, a man is made one with a wall, another man appears to become reptilian and one man has his skeleton rip through his outer body and begin to attack other unfortunates. Needing just one final wish from the King to set loose his fellow Djinn, Djinn continues to bait the King to ask for one final wish, to have the King end the suffering of his people, will actually give the Djinn more power to wreak further havoc on the world. A Sorcerer warns the King to ask for one final wish will be the end of the world as he knows it and the Sorcerer then produces a fiery red gem, utters three words and the Djinn is trapped in the gem....

We move ahead to present day USA and Ed Finney (Rami) and Raymond Beaumont (Englund) are overseeing the unloading of ancient artifacts for Beaumont's museum. Unfortunately for Finney, a dock-worker operating a crane has been drinking and manages to drop the huge crate on Finney, breaks the statue and the gem, which had been placed inside the statue is loose. The gem is discovered by the dock-worker responsible for the accident and he sells it, the buyer then turns around and offers the gem to Nick Merritt (Lemmon) who senses the gem is worth a great deal. He asks his employee, Alexandra (Lauren) to appraise it and while she does agree it is probably quite valuable, she also feels there is something wrong with the piece.Alexandra takes the gem to a friend of hers and asks him to run some tests on the jewel to see just what the value is and if there is a flaw in the piece. Later that evening, her friend is running some tests on the jewel and the Djinn does break free from the jewel, destroying the lab and killing Alexandra's friend in the process. Once the Djinn is released from his imprisonment in the jewel, he begins making his presence known and begins granting wishes in a very twisted and macabre way. Knowing he needs to change his appearance that will grant him the ability to walk among the population, he 'lifts' a human face from a cadaver and becomes, Nathaniel Demerest. As Alexandra is the person who actually awakened him and began the process of his release, he seeks her out to grant her the three wishes needed to bring his fellow Djinn back to Earth. Along the way, the Djinn/Nathaniel grants single wishes, here and there among the populace on his way to meeting up with Alexandra, but Djinn/Nathaniel has his own unique twist on granting wishes...you may get what you wished for, but in a roundabout way that is truly horrific and not really the wish you'd hoped for. Can Alexandra be forced to make that third wish or will she have the strength and knowledge needed to defeat the Djinn/Nathaniel at his own wishing game?

 Some interesting bits of trivia associated with the film:

-Several crew members, including director Kurtzman, had small roles in the film and at times, appearing in different scenes as different characters.

-Characters named Finney, Beaumont and Demerest are all references to science-fiction writers of the 1950s.