Def by Temptation (1990)

Def by Temptation (1990)

starring James Bond III, Kadeem Hardison, Bill Nunn

directed by James Bond III

Joel (James Bond III) travels from North Carolina to New York City to visit his friend K (Kadeem Hardison) who moved there years before to pursue an acting career. Joel's straightlaced nature sticks out like a sore thumb in the Big Apple. K does what he can to help his friend fit in to his new surroundings.

A rift develops between Joel and K after a woman (who had previously shown an interest in K) now gives him the cold shoulder in favor of Joel. K starts to suspect that there is something supernaturally evil about the woman. K's worst fears are confirmed by Dougy (Bill Nunn) an undercover cop who clues him in to the fact that any man who goes home with her is never seen again.

K tries talking sense into Joel but it isn't until Joel experiences first hand a taste of the woman's evil ways that he realizes that he is dealing with a supernaturally evil force. He calls on his training as a minister to save himself.

Thoughts

One of the tag lines for this movie reads "A Terrifying Tale of Vampires and Lust" but there are no vampires in this movie. There is some lust.

The woman's name is Temptation although that isn't revealed until a ways into the movie. She was played by Cynthia Bond who as far as I can tell is not related to the star / director of the movie. 

Samuel L. Jackson plays the part of Joel's father, who was also a minister. He appears only in the first ten and last ten minutes of the movie. I've seen him in lots of movies, probably at least a couple dozen. The last movie I watched in which he appeared was Shaft (2000).

Kadeem Hardison I know best from A Different World, the Cosby Show spinoff. I don't think that I have seen him in any movies prior to now.

I've seen Bill Nunn in several other movies. The last couple films I watched in which he appeared were Mo Better Blues (1990) and The Last Seduction (1994), both of which I watched in Dec 2021.

I'm not crazy about this movie, in part because it is a monster movie but mostly because I felt like the ending was wrapped up a little too quickly.