Overrated

One of my all time favorites.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Spellbinder is a movie that I didn't mind at all. It looks and feels like a cheap T.V movie, and that's essentially what it is, but it has a fair amount going for it. It's derivative of other films, but despite that, I still managed to have an OK time with it. Devil cult films started getting big around the 60's and 70's, but I highly doubt any of them had such a gorgeous female lead like Kelly Preston. This was before she was solidified as a star, so I highly doubt she'll look back fondly at this one. My only real problem with this one is that I figured out where this was going in 25-30 minutes into the movie. I knew how it was gonna all boil down. Predictability isn't always a bad thing. I'm just saying I knew where it was going to head. It delivers some decent suspense for a T.V film, though. Despite the predictability of the finale, it was still rather intense. I don't mind predictability at all if it manages to be effective. Kelly Preston is spellbinding herself. Her beauty is near untouchable, but she's also a very solid actress. Her unpredictable show is rather unheralded in my opinion. Tim Daly is OK, but he was pretty wooden at times. I didn't really buy him as the lead, but he was tolerable at least. Rick Rossovich is solid as per usual as the supporting friend. Audra Lindley is absolutely chilling. Let's just say she has one scene you won't soon forget. Final Thoughts: Not bad for a low budget film. It's quite derivative, and doesn't feature many surprises, but I still had a decent time with it. If you manage to find it on V.H.S (It's not on DVD as far as I know) or on the net, I would give it a look. 5.5/10

In Los Angeles, the successful lawyer Jeff Mills (Timothy Daly) plays a basketball game after hour with his colleagues. When he comes to the parking area with his friend Derek Clayton (Rick Rossovich), they see a stranger hitting a young woman and Jeff and Derek protect her. Then she explains that her name is Miranda Reed (Kelly Preston) and she lives with the man named Aldys (Anthony Crivello). Jeff brings her home and they have one night stand; but she moves to Jeff's apartment and they start living together. When Aldys finds Jeff, Miranda vanishes and he seeks the police department to report the disappearance of Miranda. Lieutenant Lee (Cary- Hiroyuki Tagawa) sees the photo of Miranda and asks him about her necklace. Soon Jeff learns that it is the symbol of a satanic sect that worships the devil. Out of the blue, Miranda reappears and explains to Jeff that her mother is a witch that introduced her to her coven. She is trying to leave them and she needs to miss the next solstice, when they will gather at a beach to sacrifice a human being that will spontaneously participate of the meeting and take his heart. When Miranda is abducted by the worshipers, Jeff decides to seek her out. "Spellbinder" is a spooky, sexy and underrated horror movie with a flawless story in the style of "Rosemary's Baby". I saw this movie three or four times in the 90's and today I have just watched it again on VHS. The plot convinces mainly due to Kelly Preston, who is lovely gorgeous and sexy and capable to seduce the lonely Jeff Mills like she does in the story. The final twist is absolutely unexpected and surprises the viewer. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Enfeitiçados" ("Bewitched")Note: On 03 September 2015, I saw this movie again.

Warning: This review contains spoilers!I recently watched this movie via Netflix and I have to say that I am thoroughly disappointed. The tag-line and the summary SOUNDED good so I watched it. The beginning was okay and the acting was decent, but the writer of this story needed to seriously check their facts before putting this one out. It is no wonder that with a movie like this out there Pagans and Witches get a bad wrap for being Satanists. Witches and Pagans WERE NOT Devil worshipers!! That was the stigma that the Christian church put on them to cause fear and panic to help weed them out so that the Christian church could take over as the dominant religion. Neither did they sacrifice humans or animals, though the Christians often did both - see the sacrificial lamb and Jesus for examples along with the Witch 'Trials'. I find it irritating when things like this are misrepresented.

Some of the commentators have ragged on this movie for it being predictable, and some parts of it are, but some parts of the ending really surprised me. Again, I saw this movie originally when I was about 19, so maybe what would be obvious now weren't so obvious to me back then. Anway, given the context of the late 80ies when Spellbinder was made there was all this talk about Satanism, most of which later proved to be just urban legend type of stuff, probably made the movie for me a little more spooky in the 80ies then say if someone just randomly saw it now. Anyways, the movie I thought had a pretty cool plot that had some surprises, the acting was good, Kelly Preston was hot, and the movie freaked me out a little back in the day, so I'm giving the movie 8 out 10 stars. I haven't found it on DVD yet, if I did I would buy it and add it to my collection.