James Bond III's ambitious "Def by Temptation" has entertaining characters, is done with style, and its theme is pretty universal; it doesn't necessarily have to apply just to religion. It deals with the challenges one faces on their way to finding their purpose in the world and the battles they fight with themselves.
The writer / producer / director also stars, as Joel, a divinity student from North Carolina who's uncertain of his future and thinks that visiting his brother 'K' (Kadeem Hardison), a film actor, in NYC will really do him some good. He finds that the city is, in his own words, a "wild" place. He won't find a better example of this aspect than the super sexy form of a predatory barfly, known only as Temptress (Cynthia Bond). She targets the horny men around her, and is in actuality a demon who knows that her greatest achievement will be the corruption of a pure soul such as Joel. 'K' comes to realize that this lady is bad news and tries desperately to save his brother.
The movie is enhanced by the moody and striking lighting schemes courtesy of the talented Ernest Dickerson, who of course went on to be a fine director in his own right, although Dickerson would have to leave the production early, forcing Troma boss Lloyd Kaufman to step in. Bonds' movie is equal turns gory, atmospheric, comedic, and erotic, and is overall an impressive effort.
Bond himself is admittedly quite low key in the lead role, but is inherently likable and one does want to see this guy rise to the challenge he's facing. Hardison lends his strong comic energy to his role; one particularly funny scene has Joel modelling various choices in clothing. Cynthia Bond is extremely alluring in the antagonist role; we can see that she would be pretty hard to resist. Bill Nunn is highly amusing as barfly Dougy whose attempts to pick up the ladies too often don't work out. It turns out, though, that Dougy has a surprise in store for characters and viewers alike. Melba Moore has a fantastic cameo as Madam Sonya, and it's likewise great to see Samuel L. Jackson as Joels' minister father, although fair warning to those who want to watch this movie for him: his screen time is quite limited.
There's a lot of blood splashed around for all of us gore hounds watching; an early scene where the red stuff pours out of a shower faucet is visually powerful; the eventual demon makeup is not too bad although Bond never does stress the horror elements of his movie too much. There IS a fun moment where a character is yanked into a TV, and that's certainly one of the highlights.
Those looking for B genre pictures that are above the norm would be advised to give "Def by Temptation" a look, as it really is nicely done.
Eight out of 10.
The writer / producer / director also stars, as Joel, a divinity student from North Carolina who's uncertain of his future and thinks that visiting his brother 'K' (Kadeem Hardison), a film actor, in NYC will really do him some good. He finds that the city is, in his own words, a "wild" place. He won't find a better example of this aspect than the super sexy form of a predatory barfly, known only as Temptress (Cynthia Bond). She targets the horny men around her, and is in actuality a demon who knows that her greatest achievement will be the corruption of a pure soul such as Joel. 'K' comes to realize that this lady is bad news and tries desperately to save his brother.
The movie is enhanced by the moody and striking lighting schemes courtesy of the talented Ernest Dickerson, who of course went on to be a fine director in his own right, although Dickerson would have to leave the production early, forcing Troma boss Lloyd Kaufman to step in. Bonds' movie is equal turns gory, atmospheric, comedic, and erotic, and is overall an impressive effort.
Bond himself is admittedly quite low key in the lead role, but is inherently likable and one does want to see this guy rise to the challenge he's facing. Hardison lends his strong comic energy to his role; one particularly funny scene has Joel modelling various choices in clothing. Cynthia Bond is extremely alluring in the antagonist role; we can see that she would be pretty hard to resist. Bill Nunn is highly amusing as barfly Dougy whose attempts to pick up the ladies too often don't work out. It turns out, though, that Dougy has a surprise in store for characters and viewers alike. Melba Moore has a fantastic cameo as Madam Sonya, and it's likewise great to see Samuel L. Jackson as Joels' minister father, although fair warning to those who want to watch this movie for him: his screen time is quite limited.
There's a lot of blood splashed around for all of us gore hounds watching; an early scene where the red stuff pours out of a shower faucet is visually powerful; the eventual demon makeup is not too bad although Bond never does stress the horror elements of his movie too much. There IS a fun moment where a character is yanked into a TV, and that's certainly one of the highlights.
Those looking for B genre pictures that are above the norm would be advised to give "Def by Temptation" a look, as it really is nicely done.
Eight out of 10.