Wish Upon

A woman's hair is yanked forcefully enough to snap her neck. Clare's father, Jonathan Shannon, is decapitated by a dropped chainsaw, with the bloody results shown just outside camera view. Clare's mother's suicide by hanging is a traumatic event Clare witnessed as a child. Clare's friend Meredith dies when an elevator plummets 30 floors, impaling her on glass and metal debris. Another friend, Gina, slips and is impaled head-first on a pointed object. A teen, Paul, slashes his wrists in a suicide attempt, though he survives.

The film includes one 'f-word', three 's-words', and uses of 'a--', 'd--n', 'h--', 'b--ch', and 'b--tard'. Additionally, Jesus' name is exclaimed twice, and God's name is misused over a dozen times. One source notes "more than 27 obscenities and profanities" in total.

The core of the story is a 'magical Chinese music box' that grants wishes but is cursed by a 'demonic Yaoguai spirit' that demands a 'blood price' for each wish. The box's origin is tied to a historical curse involving revenge and sacrifice to this demonic entity. Clare's mother was a previous owner of the box, and her suicide was a direct consequence of its dark influence, highlighting the pervasive and destructive power of the occult artifact.

The film opens with a traumatic scene of young Clare witnessing her mother's suicide by hanging. The deaths caused by the wish box are often elaborately staged and disturbing, with comparisons made to the 'Final Destination' franchise, relying on suspenseful, Rube Goldberg-style accidents. Clare also experiences 'constant nightmares' as a consequence of her actions and the box's influence.

Clare uses the wish box to exact revenge on her bully, Darcie, wishing she would 'just go rot,' leading to Darcie developing a horrifying disease. Despite witnessing numerous gruesome deaths of friends and family members directly linked to her wishes, Clare struggles to part with the box, demonstrating extreme selfishness and a lack of remorse, even when her friend June questions her morality, asking, 'Aren't you a bad person if you keep it?'.

The central conflict involves a 'magical Chinese box' that draws its power from a 'demonic entity' (Yaoguai), which demands 'blood sacrifices' in exchange for wishes, promoting a pagan and occult worldview. Movieguide specifically criticizes the film's 'abhorrent pagan, occult worldview where evil is victorious' and notes the absence of any depiction where 'the demonic evil could be defeated, especially if it could be defeated by biblical means'.