Def by Temptation

Taking a page out of the Spike Lee guide to filmmaking, writer/director/producer/star James Bond III has made an effective horror-fantasy with an all-black cast, which is definitely a few cuts above similarly-themed "blaxploitation" films of the 70s (Blacula, etc.). Bond stars as Joel, a North Carolina divinity student who suddenly gets the urge to see the world. He calls his childhood friend "K" (Kareem Hardison) in New York, and asks if he can come visit him in the Big Apple. "K", it turns out, is smitten by a mysterious woman (Cynthia Bond) who hangs out at the local bar. After a wonderfully comic interlude in which "K" upgrades Joel's dress code, the pair hit the town. When they find the "mystery" woman, she takes an immediate shine to Joel, and pretends that her and "K" have never met. Because the film opens with a couple of sexual trysts turned supernatural murders, we already know that this woman is indeed bad news. She's a succubus, and she wants Joel's innocence. The theme is not terribly new, but the treatment is refreshingly humorous. When "K" teams up with Dougy (Bill Nunn), an undercover agent who's been tracking the woman, they con the bartender into slipping some holy water into the succubus's drink. While the music becomes sinister and the succubus's face writhes in pain and anger, the scene switches to the fearful vampire killers waiting outside, where Dougy says: "Any second now, she's gonna start gaggin', fartin', vomitin', and all that shit." Crude, to be sure. But, in context, quite hilarious. Def By Temptation works for several reasons, but mostly because it successfully manages to maintain the eeriness of a good horror flick (Bond, especially when she speaks in the guttural tones of the succubus, sends chills up your spine) while at the same time deflating the genre's sense of seriousness (Dougy, for example, is worlds away from Stoker's solemn Van Helsing). Likely to be skipped over as just another "B" movie, Def By Temptation will appeal to both horror and comedy fans--particularly adults. Recommended. (R. Pitman)