Customer Reviews

Def By Temptation [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As an avid fan of movies from the vampire genre, I wasimmediately drawn to this one based on the detailed review of AndrewWright of Amazon.com. However, to my surprise, the movie is not about vampires, but instead about the eternal struggle that men are confronted with--temptation. Bond portrays a minister "to-be" who comes from a long line of ministers. Struggling with the question as to whether there is more to life than the ministry, he visits his childhood friend, Hardison, who is a struggling "B" movie actor in New York. Little did he know that he would encounter a demon temptress named, you guessed it, Temptation, who, like the reviewer stated, is single-handedly destroying the men from a local "pick-up" joint.

What makes this movie interesting is also what makes it a little campy. The seductress plays on the main sexual deviations of men: each concluding with real, and relevant, endings to the perpetrators. The real storyline poses the question, "Can you resist Temptation in this life to do what God requires of you?" This is a question which is posed bluntly, and those who answer no, meet gruesome ends.

Overall, the storyline is good, the acting decent, and Cynthia Bond as the temptress is hot. This is overall a good movie and well worth viewing.

This movie is one of the best horror films. The plot is original, the actors believable, the sets very visual... even the soundtracks pretty good! The special effects are fair. The plot involves an attractive womans quest to destroy cheating men in general and in particular, a young man who hopes to become a minister. Alas, he is the last of his line. Whats her deal? Buy it and see! Several known performers in this film: Melba Moore, Hardison, TWO Jacksons (one famous Samuel, oh and Freddie) The climax of the film is intense, the ending is excellent. Bored with other horror films because they're all clones? Buy this one then.... it's a standout!

Very interesting and underrated vampire blaxplotation thriller from writer-director-producer-star James Bond III. What works in this movie is a good storyline with some sex and violence around, the movie was released by the popular independent studio known as "Troma" in theaters and has gained a small cult following. The acting is very good. The dialogue is good. And there's also some great cinematography.

This is a very old movie but it made a deep impact on me because it's very spiritual. This movie teaches how temptation can be deadly. I always like movies that leave you thinking and this one definitely does that. It's sexual in some parts and in other parts it's exciting and filled with suspense. I love to show this movie to my friends because most of them have never seen it before. I would recommend watching this movie on a dark stormy night. :)

The demon from hell that looked like a woman is praying on single she meets in bars in New York. Everytime she takes a man home with her while she having sex with them she starts to kill them. It takes a christian boy from the south to stop her evil deads.

Samuel L Jackson, vampires, and Troma.

Need I say more?

This is a delightfully crazy vampire movie set in Brooklyn, with all the sex, blood, and tromatic splendor you would expect. The effects are very good in this movie, and I would consider it one of Troma's best.

'Def by Temptation' is the tale of a young preacher-in-training (James Bond III, who also wrote and directed the flick) who takes a break from his studies to spend time with his childhood friend (Kadeem Hardison) in NYC, obstensibly to get to know a little about the world. He gets a little more than he bargains for, as he gets caught in the web of a demoness who is single-handedly depopulating a pick-up joint. (The demon preys on human weaknesses, such as lust and greed.) The big question: Will the young preacher remain pure and alive, or will he join the demon's list of victims?

Pacing- and story-wise, this is a standard B-Movie. It's a touch more upscale/serious than a typical Troma release, but it still has its share of humorous moments. The cinematography and lighting is above average... and there's actually a bit of acting going on in a number of scenes! (James Bond III is not one of the highlights, unfortunately.) There are a number of confused moments in the storyline, but none are fatally distracting, so, all in all, this is a fun romp.

Note for Samuel L. Jackson fans: Jackson's character is actually rather important to a number of the elements of the plot, but its hardly 'truth in advertising' to list him among the film's stars. The minutes he spends on screen can be counted on one hand.

I'd seen this movie on cable a while ago but I rented it recently for the extras. Unfortunately, the DVD info listed here is wrong. There is no commentary on the DVD. Michael Gingold and Mike Mayo just appear on a separate feature where they each talk for a few minutes (and have nothing interesting to say). The other extras are pretty lame too, so as a DVD this sucks but the movie itself is good fun. It has a healthy blend of humor and gross-outs, though the gross-out stuff is definitely tame by Troma's standards. I have to give credit to Cynthia Bond, a typically 'beautiful' woman, for allowing herself to uh... go to hell with the part. Actually, I bet she had a lot of fun doing it! The movie also fits well in the domain of vampire mythology while still being fresh (in more ways than one). Overall, it's not a great film but it's a fun evening's entertainment, and the TV scene near the end is definitely DEF!

This movie brings back the good old days for me. It ranks up there with Vamp. The main character was extremely cool. She wasn't overacting or cheesy like some blacksploitation moves were. She was smooth and it was the first and last film that I have seen her in. You can tell it was a fledglings first film, but he had a lot of rising new stars in it. It was well written, comical on some levels, and definitely not for young children. It taught a good lesson in my eyes. The lesson was , "All the glitters is not gold." I just love vampire movies. I always have, well before Twilight. This is the female version of Blackula and Cynthia Bond is excellent.
Vickie V.

When a pure and innocent young man on the road to becoming a preacher visits his actor friend in the city, the two discover an evil succubus is preying upon men at a local bar. With the help of an undercover agent, they must work together to defeat the creature before it destroys them as well. From the notorious Troma studios and released in 1990, "Def By Temptation" is probably one of their better films, but it still is overall a clearly amateur effort. Not bad, but not great, and I felt it dragged a lot here and there. It's considered noteworthy as the first all black horror film since the "blaxploitation" era, and it's not as campy as that stuff was, but a little more humor or other form of excitement might have been helpful I think, because at times it seems too slow and tedious to me. As something touted as a Samuel L. Jackson vehicle, that may seem hard to believe, but the truth is, he is hardly in the film at all. Even Kadeem Hardison isn't the main character, as that role goes to the film's creator/director, James Bond III. Also starring in this one are Bill Nunn and, as the evil temptress, Cynthia Bond. And, as for the man-eating demon creature she portrays, when the film is talked about, she is sometimes described as a succubus and often as a vampire. Personally, I have never understood a succubus and a vampire to be the same creature. Even in this film, this creature didn't really come off as a vampire to me. The film is all about temptation and having the strength to resist it. That is definitely what I understand succubi to be all about, and I really have to disagree with the idea that this film is a vampire film. Like "The Devil's Nightmare", I believe the creature in this film is a succubus demon and NOT a vampire. Anyway, overall, this film is okay if you don't mind super-low budget stuff. At its core, it's a decent story. Seems like most of the scenes take place in three locales though, so it feels a bit claustrophobic. There's the bar, there's the succubus's apartment, and there's the apartment of Kadeem's character. This kind of adds to the feeling that the movie is a little tedious.

The DVD from Troma has some decent extras, if nothing very meaty. You do get the theatrical trailer, along with other trailers, and there's an intro by Troma President Lloyd Kaufman. The commentaries mentioned on the case by Mike Mayo and Michael Gingold aren't feature commentaries, just brief footage of the people in question commenting about the film. There's a Troma trivia game as well, and stills, and some advertisement type stuff. One of the most interesting extras is "Scenes from the Tromaville Cafe TV Show", hosted by a pretty cute character named Melvina. For such a low budget feature, this is a pretty decent release, though it is also a fullscreen release and not super great quality or anything, but I have no clue how this film actually is supposed to look at its best, so... maybe this is as good as it gets.