Crude but vigorous blaxploitation horror picture. A handsome bartender strikes up a conversation with a beautiful customer (Cynthia Bond); to his delight, she invites him to her place. The look of her apartment--candle-lit, dominated by a huge bed shrouded with gauzy curtains--leads him to
expect an evening of exotic delights. Exotic it is: as they shower together the water suddenly turns to blood, and soon the bartender has been slashed to ribbons by his sexy date. Referred to only as the Temptress, this stunning beauty is an incarnation of pure evil. Resuming her place at the bar,
she focuses her seductive charms on a succession of unwitting victims. More than anything, however, she wants to corrupt and destroy Joel (James Bond III), an aspiring minister.
Produced, written, and directed by first-time filmmaker James Bond III, who also stars as Joel, DEF BY TEMPTATION is a promising film. Its story is conventional and there are problems with the pacing--the whole business drags on far too long--but the accomplished visuals (cinematographer Ernest
Dickerson's credits include Spike Lee's equally low-budget SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT) and sure performances suggest that Bond is genuinely talented. Like many young filmmakers, he's at his best when depicting extreme situations; the Temptress's fatal seductions and the horrifying vision of a bar filled
with her victims play flawlessly. However, Bond's expositional passages and those scenes intended to develop his characters are more uneven. leave a comment
