#wishupon

“Wish Upon (2017)” is about a 17 year old girl who finds a magic box that grants all her wishes at a deadly price. When this was announced, I was probably the only one who was looking forward to watching it. Probably because of the concept of wishes - i’m naturally drawn to it. Fairly Odd Parents, Aladdin, Wishmaster .... Kazaam… 

All these were things I couldn’t stop myself from checking out, and that probably because deep down I’m obsessed with the very idea of having all of my desires fulfilled by a simple command; anyone would be. But unfortunately, nothing in life is free, and the same goes for our protagonist, Clare Shannon.

Clare is a unpopular teenager whom the popular kids pick on. Now she’s living with her dumpster diving father after witnessing her mother’s suicide as a child. This should already give you an idea of Clare’s character, life, and psychology. Since she rides a bicycle to school and her father is a dumpster diver you can assume they’re poor. This also seems to be the root of the bullying as Clare isn’t “ugly” or really even nerdy per se. All these elements already gives you a person with everything to want and a life that can be so much better.

Next let’s talk about the box, I’m sure you’re curious what it is and how it works! Our Wish Box is based on Chinese Wish Pots, where someone writes a wish and puts it inside (which is also explained in the movie). However, our Box is from 1910 where a family was placed inside of a train car under suspicion of having the Black Plague, with most of them dying inside from heat stroke. The Sole survivor was a woman who prayed for vengeance using her music box. Inside the box is actually a Yaoguai (a general term for a Chinese demon) which grants the holder 7 wishes at the cost of the 7 lives; 6 of the people closest to you and finally your own. 

When we learn this, I was hoping we would see an actual demon at some point in the film, but unfortunately all we see are figures and statues as the box only takes lives via “Final Destination”-style. Effective, but a bit of a let down. But the box does grant you ANYTHING you want. Clare’s sixth wish was that her mother never died, which it does, giving her a both her mother and father along with a little brother and sister. This is before the price of her father’s life of course. But this does show that the box’s power can transcend time and space. The only sure-fire way to stop it is to destroy it (which proves pretty difficult) or throw it away, after which all the wishes will be undone but the lives will not return.

So now that we have our main character and our “monster”, but how do they correlate with the rest? Well despite her rough life, she actually many close friends and family. Her neighbor, Mrs. Deluca, seemed very close to Clare and even her mom. In the first scene where Clare is a child riding her bike, it is Mrs. Deluca who offers to watch her while her mom does “other things” (preparing her suicide). She has her dog, Max, which was the last gift from her mother. Her father is also an interesting character because he almost appears to be a full-time dumpster diver, if he does have an actual job it isn’t clearly stated. But it can be inferred that he previously wanted to be musician but it didn’t work out, leading him to poverty. From such a negatively reviewed film, I really appreciate how there are things that aren’t outright stated and are shown not told. Honestly I expected him to be a violent drunk or poor father in some shape or form, but aside from being rather down on his luck, and possibly somewhat of a hoarder, he is portrayed as an excellent father. This is a decent surprise from a somewhat predictable movie.

Next on our list is our Rich, Crazy-not-so-Crazy Uncle August. He is credited as “August Shannon” which tells us that he is her father’s older brother or uncle (considering his age). Clare is told by her father that she is not to make contact with him and that he is crazy, but is he really? His only real scene was in the beginning where Clare rides by his house on her way to school and offers to pick up his newspaper. Even though she is almost hit by her school’s popular kids/bullies, he even asks if she was okay, showing a bit of concern. Other than that, all we know is that he evaded his taxes for 10 years, but this may have been just an effect of the box. So it stands to reason that Clare’s dad simply has bad-blood with Uncle August, probably involving money, and wants Clare to stay away out of spite. Clare also has 2 close, and her only, friends, June and Meredith. Meredith is more spicy, active, and verbal while June is quiet, soft, and sentimental. In their own way, they both really care about Clare. And last but not least, we have Ryan, our quirky skateboarder who has an obvious crush on Clare and nothing more than to help her.

“So now that you’ve told me everyone who the box targets in this movie, how does the box decide who to kill and how?”

Initially I thought that the box kills in matters of importance to the holder from least to greatest, but that is not correct. It simply kills in matters of convenience. As aforementioned, the box kills “final destination”-style meaning it kills people in a way to look like an accident; pure misfortune. This is confirmed during her fifth wish where the box targets 3 lives using multiple methods.

First is June where it attempted to have her crushed and burned under a large bonfire statue. Second is her father who was going out of town for a music gig until he got a flat tire. It tried to crush him under the car, get him run over by street racers, and hit by his own flying, spare tire bumped by another car; all attempts which failed. It wasn’t successful until Clare’s other friend, Meredith, got into an elevator which broke at a high altitude. This is probably the most suspenseful scene in the movie. All of that can’t happen by pure chance and Clare does not care for her friends and father on the same level. The box may also kill in matters of self-preservation. The victim of the fourth wish was strangely Ryan’s Cousin, Gina, whom Clare only met once when she was trying to decipher the box. They weren’t close and it wasn’t until she found out the box’s hidden meaning that Gina died. Clare does eventually find out through Ryan its meaning, but this does earn the box a few days for Clare to make the fifth wish beforehand.

“Wow, this all cool and interesting and stuff, but this is hella long. So is the movie bad or not!?”

Haha, that’s up to you. Despite the negative reviews, I’m glad I saw the film. Things pick up and tension really rises after Clare’s fifth wish. It isn’t until here that she realizes that everything that’s happened was because of the box and that her wishes were real.

“Really? Just now?!”

I know right? Even after she confirmed the wishes were real, people die, and the box is evil, she can’t bring herself to get rid of it. She’s had a taste of its power, and at the very least wants to keep everything she’s gotten so far. All Clare has ever wanted was a normal life, so when she becomes wealthy, and idolized and accepted by her peers, this becomes too much to give up. It isn’t until after her father’s death that she is utterly and completely done with the box. Her seventh and final wish to go back to the day she got it so she can bury where no one will find it. Interestingly she asks and trusts Ryan with this task ask. This probably because, even after all of this, she doesn’t trust herself to resist its power. However, the box still claims her soul as she is hit by a car; her bully’s car. 

Some people found this ending to appropriate, as it was what she deserved. Others, thought it was too much as they believed she was redeemed. After much thinking about this movie (as you can clearly see), I take the middle ground. By the fifth wish, a smart person would’ve realized there’s nothing else to do but end it, but Clare’s greed made her continue. Yes, I do wished she lived, but the ending just makes sense. By going back in time, she kept all her memories of past events, meaning in a way, so should the box. Like I said, the box’s power transcends time and space and the price of a wish must still be paid, one way or another. This movie isn’t scary but it does keep you on your toes and makes you really appreciate the small touches and details put into it. Well done, Barbara Marshall.

“Will there be sequel?”

Really that’s up to the directors. The movie did make 20 mil on a 12 mil budget, so they got their money back meaning it was successful, but it was poorly received meaning people won’t go see a second if they didn’t like the first.

Either way, let’s play with some hypotheticals. After the credits, we see that Ryan tries to bury the box but opens the bag and reads the part of the box that says it grants 7 wishes, teasing the idea that he uses it. At first I thought that there was no way he would, and even if he did, he’d eventually and stop much faster than Clare. Plus we know that his character is more wise and honest, and even if he did make a wish, his cousin would help him and probably get rid of the box. But then I started to think. What would Ryan actually wish for? You wish for things that are difficult or impossible to have or obtain. How willing would he be to depart from it? If he’s in Chinese Class with Clare then he probably knows about as much. What if Gina dies first, how many wishes will it take for him to realize and figure out everything he doesn’t know? Playing on these questions would make for an interesting sequel.

The other idea is a prequel on Clare’s mom. At the beginning of the film we realize that she throws away the box and commits suicide. Clare’s dad believes that she had secrets and that the weight of those secrets were too much to bare. What are those secrets? How many wishes does Clare’s mom make and what are they? After the sixth wish, Clare finds a painting of the box as she begins screaming that it’s all her fault. All we know about her is that she has a husband, a daughter, she was an artist, and lived in regular normal house. These are all normal, basic things. Similarly to her daughter, her last wish (or the last one that she made) must have involved returning things to normal. How long she’s had the box is unclear so it’s hard to speculate her relationship with the box, but that’s why it’s so interesting.