Wish Upon (2017)

Directed by: John R. Leonetti | 90 minutes | fantasy, horror | Actors: Joey King, Ryan Phillippe, Ki Hong Lee, Mitchell Slaggert, Shannon Purser, Sydney Park, Elisabeth Röhm, Josephine Langford, Alexander Nunez, Daniela Barbosa, Kevin Hanchard, Sherilyn Fenn, Raegan Revord, Alice Lee

Practice makes perfect. A cliché, but like so many clichés it is true. Director John R. Leonetti has gotten better and better at his craft through years of training. Fortunately, because if he were to make even worse films than ‘Mortal Kombat: Annihilation’, it would be worrying. His perseverance resulted in the financially successful ‘The Conjuring’ spin-off ‘Annabelle’ in 2014. After that well-liked foray into the horror genre, the director got a taste for ‘Wish Upon’. To lift a corner of the veil: the film is better than ‘Mortal Kombat: Annihilation’…

‘Wish Upon’ revolves around Clare Shannon (Joey King). This teenager doesn’t have it easy. Her mother took her own life years ago, her father (Ryan Phillippe) is a garbage collector and she is bullied at school (for that). The situation changes when Clare’s dad gives her a wooden music box. Found in the dirt. The jewel has a Chinese proverb on it. The student discovers that she can make seven wishes and that the genie from the box makes them come true. However, there is a small ‘but’ to it. With every wish, someone close to Clare dies. What now?

Fans of brutal horror films in which limbs fly around, hardware store tools are misused and blood is only served in liter packs can stop reading now. ‘Wish Upon’ is an adolescent-friendly slasher in which few violent images can be seen. The violence remains within limits and the execution of this horror film is very well-behaved. They flirt with ‘Final Destination’, but Leonetti’s story never gets as extreme and over-the-top as that franchise. Too bad, because now the film remains a fairly flat and saltless affair. A little ‘gore’ would have done this slasher light well. As it stands, this is a pretty mushy horror for newbies.

Clare is one of the most boring main characters ever. This gray mouse is not for a moment empathetic and is very frumpy portrayed by King. She is rather unimaginative in her wishes and soon every cliche imaginable becomes reality (Clare successively becomes rich, beloved and the girlfriend of the high school hunk). When people die around her, it is rather bloodlessly put out of the picture. ‘Wish Upon’ is boring. Even the always decent Phillippe doesn’t feel like it and looks worn out. This film is only recommended to people who have never seen a horror film, but want it but find it too scary. Not a desirable situation for a horror movie, right?