Centuries ago, an evil Djinn
(or genie as it were), was imprisoned inside an opal gem stone, which was then sealed inside a statue.
Flashing forward to the present day, and the statue in damaged whilst being shipped to a wealthy antiques
collector in LA.
The gem is recovered from the rubble by a light-fingered employee and eventually ends up in the hands of a young gemmologist, Alexandra (Tammy Lauren), who unwittingly unleashes the Djinn when her friend Nathaniel (Andrew Divoff) tries conducting some laser experiments on it.
Taking on the appearance of her now dead friend, the evil genie goes off in search of Alexandra, who he requires to make 3 wishes, which will allow him to release his fellow Djinn's into the real world. Along the way, he amuses himself by granting wishes to several unwitting people with grim, but highly amusing results.
A security guard is turned into a plate glass door after saying "I'd love to see you try and go through me", a chemist shop owner suddenly dies after a passing tramp wishes him to "get cancer and die" and a store assistant gets turned into a statue after remarking "she'd like to remain beautiful forever", along with many other evil jinks besides.
Andrew Divoff is perfectly cast as the evil Djinn, and the exceptionally good looking Tammy Lauren is suitably distracting as the beautiful Alexandra. Though the Djinn's evil high jinks provide the films more amusing moments, particularly the scene in the police station.
Although only moderately successful at the box office, the film is actually very enjoyable and IMHO recommended viewing. It was certainly popular enough to spawn 3 direct-to-video sequels. Look out for fellow horror veterans Kane Hodder, Tony Todd and Reggie Bannister who have guest roles alongside Robert Englund.
