SPELLBINDER

PLOT SUMMARY

Jeff Mills, a young and successful lawyer, is playing basketball after work. He gets slammed against a wall; he has some back pain but is not seriously injured. Walking to their cars, he and Derek Clayton, a colleague, see a dark-haired man arguing with a woman across the parking lot. When he slaps the woman, they step in. Although the man draws a knife and cuts Derek's palm, they force him to retreat. Jeff offers her a ride home, but she says she has nowhere to go except her abuser's place, and he lets her stay at his place. "Hey, it's all right," he says. "I'll sleep on the couch."

The scene is set for some hot lovemaking. But that happens the next night. On this night, the woman — Miranda Reed — gets him to disrobe and lie face down on the bed. She makes passes over his back with her hands while murmuring an incantation and, lo! The pain is gone.

The next day at work, his friends razz him for not taking advantage of the situation. Soon, Jeff and Miranda are an item. They throw a party at which all his friends take to Miranda. His secretary Grace Woods is another matter. She becomes suspicious on touching Miranda's hand, and her suspicions are confirmed when she sees Miranda remove a turkey from the oven with her bare hands, unharmed. The next day she confronts Jeff, but he dismisses her concerns.

And indeed things go fine for a time. But then someone calling herself Mrs. White shows up unannounced at his office to deliver a warning: "We want her back." He calls Miranda at home. On hearing Mrs. White's name, she runs away. Unable to find her, Jeff goes to the police with her picture. Lt. Lee informs him that she wears an unusual necklace with the symbol associated with a satanic group.

Eventually she calls Jeff, saying she's in trouble. He picks her up and gets the full story. Her mother became part of the group of Satan worshippers that now wants her back for a human sacrifice to take place on the winter solstice at a place called Powers Beach. Using a protective spell, she fends off their attack at Jeff's home. But later they capture her. Abandoning a court date, Jeff goes looking for her again. He finds her at Powers Beach just as the ceremony is getting under way.

Capsule review: We have here a taut thriller with one extended erotic scene. Although in my opinion its effects are a bit over the top, I can recommend it for fans of horror.