DEF BY TEMPTATION (1990) Young minister-in-training, Joel (James Bond III), while visiting his childhood friend, K (Kadeem Hardison), in New York City gets caught up in sinful desire in the form of a demonic seductress known as Temptation (Cynthia Bond). When K realizes Temptation doesn’t cast a reflection, he and a friend (Bill Nun) seek help from a spiritualist in an effort to release Joel from her lustful grip. This feels like a Spike Lee take on the blaxploitation movies of the ’70s, with a solid, if not entirely successful, merging of cheesy horror theatrics and religious symbolism. Bond III (also the director) is somewhat miscast as Joel – the more animated Hardison might have been a better choice for the role – and the film gets a bit too arty at times (the color red is an obvious metaphor for evil). This is still interesting stuff, even if it builds to a predicable, Good vs. Evil ending. B–
DISTURBING BEHAVIOR (1998) After the death of his brother, Steve (James Marsden) and his family move to the quiet seaside town of Cradle Bay, where the high school is lorded over by a group of letterman jacket-wearing goodie two-shoes called the Blue Ribbons. Viewed by the burnouts and skaters as just an uncool club for the privileged, Steve, and new friends, Gavin (Nick Stahl) and Rachel (Katie Holmes), realize the Ribbons were former maladjusted misfits who’ve been implanted with microchips, reprogrammed by a Dr. Caldicott (Bruce Greenwood), and transformed into outstanding citizens. But, when the robo-teens get sexually aroused, their wires short circuit, turning them into uncontrollable psychopaths. A sort-of cross between The Stepford Wives and the terrific 1981 Australian chiller, Dead Kids, this was a victim of massive pre-release cutting and re-editing by distributor MGM, resulting in a lesser version of what was intended. This is still a good little flick with likable characters and a quick pace by director David Nutter. William Sadler steals the show in a scene-chewing performance as the school’s janitor who speaks in a thick Maine accent. B
ENDANGERED SPECIES (1982) When the mutilated bodies of cows start littering the farms of a small Colorado town, speculation of everything from aliens to a Satanic cult fuel the flames of panicked locals, especially when human bodies start to follow. Ignored by the town’s bigwigs, the sheriff (JoBeth Williams) joins forces with an out-of-town ex-cop (Robert Urich) to find out the truth, and soon discover a renegade branch of government performing germ warfare experiments in an abandoned missile silo just out of town. An interesting cross between a conspiracy thriller and sci-fi/horror film, Endangered Species is often difficult to follow and feels like it would have benefited from being an hour-long X-Files episode. Williams is good in a role that’s a nice change of pace from Poltergeist, while Urich (of TV’s S.W.A.T. and Vegas) doesn’t get a whole lot to do but act like a jerk. A moderately entertaining flick, but I just wish there had been more meat to the screenplay. C+
THE FLY II (1989) This bigger, but less complex, sequel to David Cronenberg’s masterpiece has the son of Seth Brundle, Martin (Eric Stoltz), being raised in an advanced government science lab by the man who funded Brundlefly’s teleportation experiments in the first film (Lee Richardson). When Martin’s dormant fly DNA catches up with his accelerated growth rate, he slowly turns into his father’s son, metamorphosing into a monster and seeking revenge on the scientists who’ve wronged him. This one was unfairly criticized for not measuring up to Cronenberg’s first, which is an unreasonable comparison on almost every level. Director Chris Walas – who also oversaw the first-rate make-up FX – does his best with the material, delivering a solid flick with interesting characters and some gory, icky moments that could give the Brundlefly a run for its money. If simply viewed as an old-fashioned monster movie, The Fly II works surprisingly well. B