Parents' Guide to

Wish Upon

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Uninspired horror movie has shallow characters, few scares.

Movie PG-13 2017 90 minutes
Wish Upon Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 15+

Based on 6 parent reviews

MLS404
MLS404 Adult
December 4, 2022
age 17+

Bad Message to Teens

Gruesome storytelling of a hapless plot made worst but using a teen cast to suggest there is a moral to the story.

This title has:

Too much violence
Chill226
Chill226 Adult
July 24, 2019
age 15+

Missed sexuality in reviews

None of it was mentioned in the official parent guide but there is talk of foreskin/clitoris in a pretty graphic manor and “tit pics”
See all 6 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In WISH UPON, miserable high schooler Clare Shannon (Joey King) lives with her junk-scavenging father (Ryan Phillippe) and suffers from nightmares about her mother's suicide. One day, her father presents her with a weird box. Clare makes a wish that the pretty blonde school bully will "rot," and it comes true. Curious, she then wishes that the school hunk will fall in love with her, and it happens. Soon Clare and her father move into a mansion, and their money troubles are over. But all around her, people -- and her beloved dog, Max -- start dying. With the help of childhood friend Ryan (Ki Hong Lee), Clare begins to translate the box's Chinese symbols and discovers that there are high prices to pay for her wishes. But can she stop?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (6):
Kids say (16):

This modern-day, teen-centric take on W. W. Jacobs's classic horror story The Monkey's Paw is a not-scary dud that suffers from both uninspired scares ad extremely shallow, annoying characters. "What's wrong with you?," characters keep asking Clare -- and viewers are likely to be wondering the same thing. Screenwriter Barbara Marshall (Terra Nova) and director John R. Leonetti (Annabelle) fail to paint Clare as a truly desperate character: She's cute, she has two best friends, a home, a loving father, and so on. Her life isn't terrible enough to risk everything on deadly wishes, and it's hard to root for her.

Frankly, it's pretty easy to despise her, especially when she goes on a materialistic shopping spree while family, friends, and neighbors are dying all around her. And while those scenes could have been clever, Final Destination-type moments, full of menacing surprise, instead they're dumb exercises in waiting for the inevitable. Wish Upon vacillates between asking us to care for its characters and inviting us to enjoy the scary stuff, and that inability to take a stand gets it nowhere.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Wish Upon's violence. Are the killings shocking, or do they make you want to laugh/squeal? How does the movie achieve this effect? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of scary movies?

  • Is Clare a good person, or is she selfish and shallow? Why does she make the decisions she makes? Are there any role models here?

  • If you'd found the box, would you have wished for anything? Would your wishes have been for yourself or for others? What does "be careful what you wish for" mean?

  • What role does technology play in the teen characters' lives? Do they use it responsibly?

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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