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.

Though I'm not sure if that's a badge of honor or not. Lloyd Kaufman (Mr. Troma himself) says in an intro video to the movie, that this is the best movie Troma has done ... ever. That might be saying more about the other movies than this one I guess ... But seriously though, I remember this from the first time I watched it and when I did re-watch it recently it did not age that badly. Especially if you consider the fact that it has no budget and many things that were "in" in the 80s, but look ridiculous now!

Don't be fooled by Samuel L. Jacksons face on the cover. Yes he is in the movie, but of course not really that much. The star of the movie is someone else. The dialogue seems crazy at times, but one particular dialogue is almost enough to rate this a "10" (no I haven't but the scene is really hilarious!) -> Reply being "we've got to do all that ...". You'll know it, when you hear it! I'm looking forward to listen to the audio commentary.

This cheap and cheesy all-black horror film is about a female demon in human form who goes around killing sexually promiscuous men. It's as simple as that, and a plot that's not necessarily bad given the right treatment. A pity, then, that the execution is all wrong in this often laughable amateurish effort, which was unsurprisingly distributed by the team at Troma.

Everything about this film is bad, from the dated attempts at stylish direction to the rubbish acting (the possessed woman goes way over the top) and the even-more awful gooey effects. I used to see this film around on VHS and DVD back in the day although I never got around to purchasing it, and now I can see why.

Really, the only reason anyone would go out of their way to watch this film these days is to see a few famous actors in early roles. Bill Nunn (SPIDER-MAN) is here as an erstwhile hero while Samuel L. Jackson plays a preacher. Kadeem Hardison (DRIVE) is also present. The blame for this film's failure can be laid at the door of writer/director/star James Bond III, who definitely bit off more than he could chew. As a blaxploitation horror film, it's a dog.