Spellbinder

Timothy Daly and Kelly Preston enjoy a romance and grapple with cultists in SoCal

A lawyer in Los Angeles (Daly) helps a woman (Preston) abused by a mysterious man. As they develop a relationship, he discovers that there’s a secret group of people who don’t want him to have her.

“Spellbinder” (1988) is occult-oriented thriller/horror in the vein of “The City of The Dead” (1960), “The Wicker Man” (1973/2006), “Race With The Devil” (1975) and “Bay Coven” (1987). Thankfully, the story is more compelling than the original “Wicker Man” and “Race With the Devil.” I’d put it on par with “Bay Coven” albeit with slightly better production values since it had a limited theatrical release.

Daly makes for a likable protagonist while Kelly never looked better. The flick is comic booky and is reminiscent of Marvel’s Werewolf By Night from the 70s.

While readily available on streaming now, it was hard to find for decades. Travolta evidently used his Sciencefictionology connections to make the film disappear since Preston, his wife since 1991, appears top nude and the story revolves around a dubious cult. (Kelly unfortunately passed away in 2020).

The film runs 1 hour, 39 minutes, and was shot Los Angeles, Santa Monica YMCA and El Matador State Beach in Malibu.

GRADE: B

"Spellbinder" draws most of its inspiration from the undisputed genre classic "The Wicker Man" (1973) and it manages to add a few extra touches of its own (the satanists making a blood sacrifice). It also draws some additional inspiration from Dennis Wheatley's classic "The Devil Rides Out" (1968) with the satanists relentlessly pursuing Miranda (Kelly Preston) after she has gone missing. However, this film also expertly misleads you throughout until the very end - the police arrive on the scene during the climatic action of the denouement, but not to arrest anyone. No, they are actually here to actively participate in the sacrifice of Jeff Mills (Timothy Daly) - and the director Janet Greek has done a splendid job and she has delivered a well paced and thoroughly engaging film.