SPELLBINDER

US, 1988, 96 minutes, Colour.
Timothy Daly, Kelly Preston, Rick Rossovich, Audra Lindley.
Directed by Janet Greek.

Spellbinder is a horror movie about witchcraft in Los Angeles. For most of its running time, it seems an ordinary horror movie with touches of violence and sex. However, by the end of the film, we realise that it is much more neatly written and has quite good plotting with some twists. In retrospect it seems an above average example of its genre.

The film focuses on Timothy Daly as an earnest young man who wants to protect a most attractive girl, Kelly Preston. It turns out that she belongs to a coven - and is not as innocent as she seems. While there are a lot of expected sequences of rituals and sacrifice, and the film focuses on the yuppie types of California, it ends up as a satisfying enough thriller.

1. Entertaining horror film? Thriller? Witchcraft in Los Angeles?

2. Los Angeles settings, the world of the law, affluent apartments? Offices? Musical score and atmosphere?

3. The title, the reference to Miranda? Its irony?

4. The introduction, Jeff and Derek, sport, an ordinary evening, Miranda and her being attacked, the men to the rescue, Jeff driving her home, attraction towards her, the beginning of the affair, giving her shelter? Seemingly predictable?

5. Jeff, his career, the law? Derek and his friends? The party? Grace and her criticisms? His work? The relationship with Miranda, in love with her? Mrs White coming to the office? The threats against Jeff? The witchcraft and his car going into the air? The taking of Miranda? His wanting to hide her, rescue her? Brock and his eccentricity and his arsenal? Getting him to help? The disappearance of Miranda, his discussions with the detective? The investigations, pursuing her to the home? The address for Miranda's sacrifice? Going with Derek, going to the rescue - and the irony of Derek and the police being part of the coven? His being sacrificed - and the audience expecting that he would be saved?

6. Miranda, attractive, the clash with Aldye? Mysterious, her healing power with Jeff? Attractive at home? Her story about her mother, the coven? His protecting her? The party, the dish and the heat? Clash with Grace? Her being hidden, disappearance, Jeff to the rescue? The irony of the plan to capture him and sacrifice himself instead of her? The attractiveness and yet the evil?

7. Derek, his friendship with Jeff, the initial incident, at the party? Helping with the investigation? The irony of the truth and his sacrificing Jeff? The death of Grace, the discussion with the detective at the funeral? The irony of finding a friend and the process starting over again?

8. Aldye and his brutality, his magic? Mrs White, relationship with Miranda, the threats to Jeff, her performance in the building? The various members of the coven? The room, the symbols, the sacrifice at the beach, the rituals?

9. Grace, her alertness, her warnings? Her death?

10. The police, their investigations, being thwarted?

11. The plausibility of the plot? Such witchcraft and magic? The plausibility of the seduction, the relationship between men and women? The woman wanting to be protected, the gallant man? His chivalry leading to his destruction?