One thats been on my ‘to watch’ list for longer than it really should have been. I’ve owned ‘Def by Temptation’ on VHS, DVD and Bluray over the years, and not one copy i’ve owned has ever left its cellophane…until tonight, when I finally DID pop my lovely crystal clear ‘Vinegar Syndrome’ copy in, and im SO glad I did.

The film follow cousins ‘Joel’ and ‘K’. Joel is the last surviving member of his families bloodline, and has decided to enter ministry, as his grandma has told him she foresees a time when he’ll become a world famous reverend who’ll change the world. Joels a country boy used to a slower, simpler way of living, and as his training draws to a close, he decides he wants to ‘test’ himself by going to visit his cousin ‘K’ in New York.

K fully embraces the headonistic lifestyle of a 20 something in downtown NY, he drinks, chases women, parties, blows LARGE quantities of money on fashion and pursuing his dream of being a famous film maker, but first and foremost, hes almost like a brother to Joel. And wants to ensure that his first visit to the big apple is a fun, but safe one.

Enter ‘Temptation’; a vampiric, succubus demon from hell, who stalks the dive bars around NY preying on horny, vulnerable men to enhance her strength and life energy. Temptation is capable of horrendous things, things that she personally enjoys tremendously. and after pulling a few cheaters, adulterers and skeezy types, she eventually finds K, who is VERY much about to become her next victim…until he tells her he has to go home early for the night because of Joels visit the next day…She understands. but keeps that information in mind.

The next day, Joel arrives, and its a fun time for all as K tries to better integrate Joel into the city lifestyle…he even suggests they hit a bar, promising the ‘Tee Total’ Joel that he can just grab a milk if he really wants…they head to the local, and while K sorts some things out, Joel heads in and almost immediately hits it off with a woman who manages to utterly captivate him…that woman, is Temptation.

K laughs it off, thinking Temptation and Joel are pulling some kind of prank on him…but it quickly becomes apparent when Temptation essentially pretends shes never met K and REALLY goes all in to seduce Joel, that these two arnt messing around, and K is simultaineously confused and angry. He tries to vaguely tell Joel this is a bad idea, but he just assumes K is jealous and continues to fall down the rabbit hole…

And after a confrontation between K and Temptation reveals she’s DEFINITELY not of THIS earth…K seeks help to try and vanquish the demon, stumbling on a man named ‘Dougie’ who may hold the key to vanquishing the evil, before she claims her next victim…

I suppose my only disclaimer for anyone getting into this film is, if that particularly aggressive form of late 80s, early 90s fashion and culture is an irritant to you (and I know MANY people for whome Vanilla Ice, The 90s super mario bros movie, MC Hammer and that whole casual minimalist 90s fashion movement is an allergen) you’ll probably be turned off this movie HARD. because its SO steeped in that specific times aesthetic as to be all consuming. Im hit or miss with it, but for me it fell just on the right side, but I could easily see folks being turned off by that alone.

If you do persevere though you’ll find a pretty rock solid film that I went in pretty much blind to and came away largely surprised by.

The scripts a little bit patchy in places, I really enjoyed the core premise, It was kind of what I imagined ‘Fright Night’ was going to be before I watched ‘Fright night’. I like the idea of two people with minimal experience in the unknown, attempting to save someone from that unknown and getting WAY in over their heads on it. but I suppose the biggest issue I have with this one is simply that its quite slow going to begin with.

We spend a lot of the opening of the film getting a feel for ‘Temptation’, who she is, what she does and why she does it. and while I think showing that once or twice in the first act is a good way to set up the threat K and Joel are going to be dealing with, I feel the film goes overboard on it, showing 3-5 killings that are prolonged and, while they’re very well handled, I feel like the film would have benefitted to spread them out a bit more across the runtime because, these arnt brief sequences…They run on for a while, and combining those scenes with a LOT of overexplanation on who everyone is, why they’re doing what they’re doing, while also setting up some of the second act elements, left me kind of struggling to stay focussed on the film because it felt like it was getting itself into a bit of a cyclical rut.

Mercifully; once that first act clears, it has a good momentum going and it hits the ground. RUNNING! blasting through its second and third acts with absolute ease and relishing the story its trying to tell. The pacing past that first act is tremendous, giving the audience just enough to keep it guessing, but never fully giving the whole game away, and I think thats one of the best qualities an ‘unknown evil’ style film can do.

The films absolutely a dark horror piece, but they do throw in some really nice grounded comedy moments here and there. Nothing too overt, but just subtle moments that make you feel like these are real people dealing with something they have no idea how to percieve…So yes, they will use comedy to deflect from the absolute terror from time to time…and I think that offers a really nice contrast to the bleaker moments here, helping to better shape out the script and keep the audience from flavour fatigue.

the characters are all fairly well rounded. everyone involved gets a decent chunk of backstory, they all feel fleshed out enough that you can be invested in them, and care when bad things happen. with even the side characters getting at least SOME history to work with, which I think is a really nice touch. The dialogues Solid too, with a naturalistic flow with only a few scarce moments where I felt like these characters were given lines that, I felt played against type. Joel seems to get the biggest share of dialogue that didnt quite sit right to me personally, but Im not sure if those moments were just because the character is a little bit prone to playing against what we’re introduced to, or if he was just the more likely to get lines that explain things as a result of rewrites.

all in all? barring a slow first act, this is a very nicely crafted, solid piece of work that feels like it had a lot of attention and thought put into it, that kind of surprised me, because it didnt have to be as well written and solid as it ultimately has ended up being.

The directions pretty solid too, James Bond III (Roger moore…) has done a phenominal job bringing a very unique vision to the screen, we have a grungy, colourful and often woozy feeling production on our hands that I think tells the story in a way only James ever could have. I dont feel like a studio grade director or a bigger budget would quite be able to nail that kind of sincere tone that James has managed here with his vision. it showcases 1989 New York in a very distinct way and James clearly worked VERY closely with the crew and cast to ensure that this landed EXACTLY how he wanted it to. its superb in my opinion, and the fact that this was his first AND ONLY film. is just…insane to me. Its WAY too high quality to be someones first attempt at feature making, this should have been a decades long career launching moment. and the fact it wasnt is astounding to me.

The cine is razor sharp, distinct, and uses lighting and smoke play very heavily to really help cement that distinct grungy NY vision. Red is a colour in heavy play here (for obvious reasons) but its used so intensly throughout that it becomes a motif of the film almost immediately. composition is for the most part rock solid, with only a couple of cutaways kind of failing to cut the mustard for me. the effects, for the most part, are absolutley incredible given the budget. Though, I will say there are some particular effects (not to get into too much detail here but its monster effects) that were the only ones to fall totally flat for me, which is a particular shame given that those effects are supposed to be the showstopping ones…instead rather than going ‘oh god! thats terrifying!’, I went, ‘oh god! thats terrible!!!’ Which…which is not the reaction you want for your finale…

Outside of that though, the edits superb, strong cuts, decent understanding of subtext and an attempt at putting meaning across through the medium of cuts and transitions over just telling the audience is a good starting point. Is it the best edit i’ve ever seen? no. but again, its sturdy and more than does the job.

Performance wise, I found myself with a bit of a mixed bag, Kadeem Hardison as ‘K’ I thought was an incredible choice. he really nails that ‘guy in over his head, trying to do the best for the sake of his cousin’ performance about as well as it could be done. he brings a real energy to the performance that I feel only he could deliver, playing the character as nonchalant, but just keeping that intensity of the character rumbling away in the background until the right time to pull it out.

James Bond III as Joel by contrast…im still not 100% sure about, I think he really nails the sincerity of the character, But Joel as a character is quite a complex one, a naive, but sincere ‘best intentions’ type, who over the course of the film strikes out at the fact hes so clealry naive that he tries to front as a totally in control character, who then has to come to terms with the fact that, that isnt really him and channel that naivity and and sincerity into a strength rather than a weakness.

I feel like James struggles to layer that performance, for me; when he ‘strikes out to be confident’ its…not that much different than the tone he gives when he’s trying to play the sincere version of himself. quiet anger is one of the harder performances to give if your not natrualistically that way, and I feel James struggles in his confrontations with K to bring the required energy. thats not to say he doesnt try! but it just kind of results in a more flat, distant performances than one that reads like a character being angry, but unsure of how to channel it. when he nails the deliveries and mannerisms, he ABSOLUTELY nails it…but when he doesnt? its bad. SO bad.

Theres a brief cameo from Samuel L. Jackson here, though, the promo material would have you believe he’s the whole point of the movie. He’s here for about 5 minutes collectively, and he’s fine…this is pre ‘pulp fiction’ and ‘Goodfellas’ but its a bit of an unremarkable turn for him.

The real star of the show for me? is Cynthia Bond as ‘Temptation’ who is able to play mysterious, alluring, and pure PURE evil just…incredibly. the power she puts out on screen makes you feel every venemous line delivery, every scratch, stab, punch, like it was happening to you. a whirlwind performance, and one that I STILL cannot believe did not lead to more horror roles, shes superb in this and worth checking this film out for just her performance alone if nothing else.

And as for the soundtrack? a heady mix of late 80s and very early 90s R&B and Rap, some jazzy tones are thrown in as well, it really helps define the film and the era its playing from, but it is VERY intrusive on the film. I opened with the disclaimer that if you averse to that specific 1989-1991 era of fashion and culture, you may be put off this? this is one of the big reasons why. I dont always think the score suits the film honestly, sometimes its a little to heavy for its own good. But when it does work in the films favour, it really helps give the film a lifeline.

I came away from ‘Def by Temptation’ very pleasently surprised. admittedly, given it had been featured on SO many of those ’20 horror movies’ box sets in the 2000s, my bar for this was on the floor. Which was probably why I was so blown away by just how well made, entertaining and interesting this film was. and how strong I believe the rewatch value on this could be! definitely worth checking out, I could see this pairing up quite well with something like ‘Fright Night’ or maybe as a NY Double header with ‘Jason takes Manhatten’. A fun and intelligent piece. its self aware, and has NO trouble putting across what it wants to say.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/def-by-temptation/