Def By Temptation (1990)

"Evil has never been this sexy"


PLOT

An evil succubus is preying on black men in New York, and all that stands in her way is a minister in training, an aspiring actor, and a cop that specializes in cases involving the supernatural.



REVIEW

Def By Temptation is a horror film Starring/Directed by James Bond III and co starring Kadeem Hardison(A Different World), Bill Nunn (Do The Right Thing).  The movie revolves around strange happens in New York that begin with a beautiful woman simply known as Temptress (Cynthia Bond) she sits alone at the bar of a local club, where a lot of hookups are occurring, no one gets to hook up with Temptress as the night goes on, until she allows the bartender (John Canada Terrell) to go back with her back to her place.

As things really get going between the two in her bed, suddenly the fangs come out(literally) The bartender tries to escape but fails and is killed. we don't know exactly what Temptress is as we see her pick up a few other victims one she kills during sex and another she lets live but she disfigures him and it leaves him ashamed for cheating on his wife.

One night in the club K (Hardison) goes into the same bar and notices Temptress sitting alone, before he is able to approach her he is warned by frequent club goer Dougy (Nunn) about Temptress, but K decides to take his chances anyway, and moves in on Temptress who flirts with him but things doesn't really go anyway and lives K shocked by this.

K friend Joel(Bond III) arrives in town and tries to talk K into getting back into the church and leading a better life but K doesn't want to hear any of that, Joel himself has been dealing with dreams of his dead father (Jackson) who was a Minister and who might have been killed by Temptress years ago.

Def By Temptation is probably one of the better in quality of films released by Troma Films, despite it being a low budget film, its is very well made. the subtle social community that is threw out the movie is very good especially dealing with sex and the risk you take meeting strangers.

The only real problems with this film is that James Bond III shouldn't have cast himself as Joel. he does a good job as director and writer but lacks very much so in the acting department, If there was a better actor casted in his role I believe more sympathy would've been with him from any viewer.

Kadeem Hardison does a fine job as K and is something different from his best known role of Dwayne from A Different World, anytime I watch the movie I always wonder how it wouldn't turned out if he was cast as Joel instead.

Bill Nunn is good for a lot of laughs threw out when he is trying to pick up women in the club and a lot of his lines seem improvised because I doubt anyone could've written most of what he says.

If you are expecting to see Samuel L. Jackson a lot in this movie then you will be disappointed even though the DVD cover suggest that he has a bigger role, he's on screen I believe no more then 3 minutes tops and most of that comes near the end of the movie. I would've liked to have seen more of his character not only because its Samuel L. Motherfucking Jackson but because the backstory between him and Temptress I felt should've been shown more then what is shown in the movie.

The real star of the movie is Cynthia Bond (Temptress) not only is this woman beautiful  and sexy, she plays the role perfectly and hits all the right notes about the character and of all of them seems to be the best developed character even though the character origins is least known. Is she Vampire or Demon?

Singers Freddie Jackson and Melba Moore makes cameo appearances, Moore also performs the song that plays during the ending credits.

There are some good gore effects threw out the movie most notable a character get sucked into a tv and is eaten and blood and guts are spit back out onto the floor.


All in all Def By Temptation is somewhat of a forgotten black horror movie that should be viewed more and if you're a fan of these type of horror movies then I highly recommend it, even if your not I still think it should be watched and enjoy it for what it is.


MY RATING

6/10


CAST

James Bond III- Joel
Kadeem Hardison- K
Bill Nunn- Dougy
Cynthia Bond- Temptress
John Canada Terrell- Bartender # 1
Melba Moore- Madam Sonya
Freddie Jackson- Himself
Samuel L. Jackson- Minister Garth