The Wishmaster

by Peter Atkins, Ramsey Campbell (Introduction)

"Wes Craven presents 'Wishmaster,' written by Peter Atkins." The poster campaign for this Hollywood film credited the writer alonside the producer. "Wishmaster" became America's most successful independent theatrical feature of 1997. So here is your chance to read the original screenplay and to let your own directorial imagination work on the script.

And alongside his imaginings for Hollywood, Peter Atkins writes short stories where genres overlap, and he sidesteps our expectations with a smile. In this collection he shows us: the strategies of a man for dealing with his fear of flying; how dangerous it may be to challenge the power of old fairy tales; the saturnine Doctor Arcadia at his work; and how a man may react to the shock of a new possession.

Genres: Horror

255 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

PETER ATKINS is the author of the novels Morningstar, Big Thunder, and Moontown and the screenplays Hellraiser II, Hellraiser III, Hellraiser IV, and Wishmaster. His short fiction has appeared in several award-winning anthologies and has been selected eight times for one or more of the various 'Year's Best' anthologies. His collection, Rumors of the Marvelous, was a finalist for the British Fantasy Award, and his new collection, All Our Hearts are Ghosts & Other Stories, will be published next year. He blogs at peteratkins.blogspot.com and can be found on Facebook under his own name and on Twitter and Instagram as @limeybastard55.

Reviews

[Richard Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come for the Script, stay for the shorts

Last night i sat and watched the first two Wishmaster films and, when I'd finished, i decided to pick up the book which contains Peter Atkins original script for the first film (as opposed to watching Wishmaster 3 or 4. I may like horror but I'm not that much of a sadist).

For anyone who hasn't read this before, 2/3rds of the book is made up of the script for Wishmaster and the rest is a collection of short stories and, while i chose the book for Wishmaster, I ended up enjoying the shorts much more.

For anyone who has seen the film that was made based on the script, you'll know what to expect as what made it onto film is very close to what's written here. All the best scenes and lines are present and accounted for and, for anyone whose not seen the film, you're in for a treat. The script reads well and is fast paced, inventive and very memorable.

It was the shorts that really surprised me though. I remembered the Wishmaster film as entertaining, but cheesy and disposably enjoyable and it set my expectations accordingly for the shorts. I was interested to note they leaned more to the literary. Highlights, like the fairy tale inspired Here comes a Candle, or the body horror of Eternal Delight, are not short on horror or violence (not surprising from the man who also wrote on the early Hellraiser films) but also have layers and deeper meanings that touch on themes of escapism and identity and touch on fears of change and lack of control. My favourite story of the bunch (Adventures in Further Education) is a short, brisk two page story with a gut punch of an ending that will stay with you in the same way that Stephen King classic The Jaunt has with me.

Overall, if you can track down a copy of this book (which i believe is long out of print) i highly recommend it. Great shorts in here that deserve to be rediscovered.

[Jonathan Irvine · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the Wishmaster script is good, the real joys of this book come from the other short stories included within, I highly recommend checking out more of Peter Atkins works.