There are films that redefine a genre, films that inspire generations, and then there are films like Def by Temptation—a cinematic séance that tries to summon erotic horror but instead conjures the ghost of a confused after-school special. Written, directed, and starring James Bond III (no, not the spy, though watching Roger Moore fight a succubus would’ve been infinitely better), this 1990 “black horror” curiosity is remembered less for its thrills and more for making Samuel L. Jackson’s résumé look like he’ll literally accept anything if it gets him on screen.
This is a movie where a succubus prowls New York City nightlife, preying on men with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the fashion sense of a Soul Train rerun. It’s not scary, it’s not sexy, and it’s not even unintentionally funny—it’s just the cinematic equivalent of someone reading you bad poetry while you’re trapped in a Greyhound bus bathroom.
The Plot: “Christian Youth Retreat, But Make It Sleazy”
The story follows Joel (James Bond III), a minister-in-training with the charisma of wet cardboard, who visits his childhood buddy K (Kadeem Hardison) in New York. Joel is disillusioned with Christianity because… well, the script says he is. K, now a struggling actor, drags Joel into the nightlife scene, where a mysterious temptress (Cynthia Bond) is busy seducing men and then draining them of life.
If this sounds like Vampire in Brooklyn’s less-talented cousin, that’s because it is. Only this movie doesn’t even have the budget for rubber bats. Instead, we get half-hearted moral lessons about AIDS, fidelity, and temptation, all wrapped in bargain-bin lighting and dialogue so stiff it makes televangelist sermons sound Shakespearean.
The Temptress kills a bartender, a married man, a gay man, and presumably the audience’s will to live, all while Joel stares earnestly into the middle distance, looking like he’s waiting for his agent to call back with better offers.
James Bond III: Triple Threat, Single Talent
Let’s start with the man behind the mess. James Bond III decided to write, direct, produce, and star in this film—because apparently no one in his circle had the courage to stage an intervention. As Joel, Bond is about as compelling as a church pamphlet left in the rain. His entire performance consists of furrowed brows, confused stares, and the occasional limp shout of “No!” He’s supposed to be a man torn between faith and temptation, but he delivers his lines like he’s torn between sleep and the craft services table.
Behind the camera, Bond fares even worse. The film is lopsided, clunky, and riddled with tonal whiplash. One scene tries for sultry eroticism, the next stumbles into slapstick, and the third drags you into an unwanted morality play. It’s like he tried to cram three films into one and failed at all of them.
Cynthia Bond: The Succubus Nobody Ordered
Cynthia Bond plays the Temptress, who should, by definition, be magnetic, terrifying, and impossible to resist. Instead, she struts around like a disgruntled lounge singer who lost her dressing room key. Her seduction scenes have all the erotic charge of a dental cleaning. When she kills, it’s supposed to be shocking, but most of the time it looks like she’s just annoyed someone spilled a drink on her shoes.
The script gives her nothing but clichés to chew on, so she delivers lines like, “You can’t resist me,” with all the conviction of someone reading a grocery list. Imagine a vampire who shops exclusively at Contempo Casuals, and you’ve got the Temptress.
Kadeem Hardison: The Only One Who Seems Awake
Kadeem Hardison (best known from A Different World) is the lone bright spot. He plays K, Joel’s skeptical, wisecracking friend, with actual energy. He’s the only actor who looks like he knows he’s in a horror film, even if the script sabotages him by eventually sucking him into a television set—yes, you read that right. Def by Temptation kills off its best character by having him literally swallowed by a TV. Symbolism? Social commentary? Nope. Just a dumb idea executed badly.
Samuel L. Jackson and Bill Nunn: Blink and You’ll Miss Them
Samuel L. Jackson shows up briefly as Joel’s father, delivering sermons with that trademark Jackson intensity, which feels like it was air-dropped in from a better movie. Bill Nunn plays Dougy, a supernatural cop investigating the Temptress’s murders, and his performance is serviceable—until the film turns him into an incubus for reasons the script can’t be bothered to explain. It’s almost impressive how a film can waste two actors of this caliber so thoroughly.
The Horror: More PSA Than Scares
If the Temptress had simply been a supernatural predator, that might have worked. But Bond’s script tries to fold in clumsy moral lessons about AIDS, infidelity, and homosexuality, and the result is insulting at best, tone-deaf at worst. The married man gets AIDS as punishment, the gay man is dispatched with disdain, and the Temptress feels less like a monster and more like a walking abstinence lecture.
The kills themselves are laughably staged: cheap lighting, awkward camera angles, and practical effects that wouldn’t scare a toddler. There’s more gore in an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? than in this entire movie.
The Pacing: Death by Boredom
Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, Def by Temptation somehow feels like three hours of sermon notes padded out with bad nightclub scenes. Long stretches of dialogue drag on, punctuated by limp attempts at horror. The editing is so lethargic that you can practically hear the film yawning between cuts.
By the time Joel finally “rebukes” the Temptress with a cross, you’re not cheering for his survival—you’re cheering for the credits.
The Ending: Sunday School Special
The climax is a wet noodle of a showdown: Joel’s grandmother shows up, Joel waves a cross around, and the Temptress is defeated in what looks like a high school drama club’s attempt at stage fog. Then Joel hugs Grandma, and the movie expects us to feel uplifted, as if we didn’t just waste 90 minutes watching one of the least threatening succubi in cinematic history.
The final twist, with K and Dougy becoming demons, feels tacked on, as though Bond thought he was setting up a sequel. Spoiler alert: there was no sequel. Audiences already felt like they’d been punished enough.
Final Thoughts: Def by Temptation or Death by Tedium?
Def by Temptation is a fascinating failure—too earnest to be campy, too incompetent to be scary, and too self-important to be fun. It tries to mix social commentary, erotic horror, and supernatural thrills, but ends up as a Frankenstein’s monster of clichés and clumsy metaphors.
James Bond III aimed to create a horror movie with substance for Black audiences, but instead he delivered a dreary sermon wrapped in cheap neon lighting. It’s not “def” by temptation; it’s death by boredom, with a side order of cringe.
