After leaving work one night, Los Angeles attorney Jeff Mills and his colleague rescue a young, beautiful woman from an abusive boyfriend. Jeff soon becomes romantically involved with her and embroiled in the web of intrigue that follows her, despite a string of ominous happenstances and repeated warnings from his secretary.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Jeff Mills: Tim Daly
• Miranda Reed: Kelly Preston
• Derek Clayton: Rick Rossovich
• Mrs. White: Audra Lindley
• Lt. Lee: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
• Grace Woods: Diana Bellamy
• Aldys: Anthony Crivello
• Ed Kennerle: Roderick Cook
• Edgar DeWitt: Stefan Gierasch
• Herbie Green: Kyle T. Heffner
• Tim Weatherly: Julian Christopher
• Brock: M.C. Gainey
• Marilyn DeWitt: Sally Kemp
• Simmons: Bob McCracken
• Mona: Karen Elise Baldwin
• Receptionist: Cynthia Steele
• Sgt. Barry: Richard Fancy
• Barry: Peter Schreiner
• Brad: John DeMita
• Woman in Coven: Diane Racine
• Pamela: Alexandra Morgan
• Phil: Christopher Lawford
• Frye: Dale Cummings
• Man: Harold Diamond
• Steve: Don Woodard
• Alice: Marisa Redanty
• Priest: Thomas F. Maguire
• Young Witch (uncredited): Melodee Spevack

Film Crew:

• Director: Janet Greek
• Associate Producer: Tracy Tormé
• Producer: Joe Wizan
• Co-Producer: Todd Black
• Director of Photography: Adam Greenberg
• Editor: Steve Mirkovich
• Production Design: Rodger Maus
• Original Music Composer: Basil Poledouris
• Stunts: Eliza Coleman
• Stunts: Doug Coleman
• Producer: Brian Russell
• Casting: Ellen Meyer
• Casting: Sally Stiner
• Executive Producer: Howard Baldwin
• Executive Producer: Richard Cohen
• Co-Producer: Kate Benton
• Co-Producer: Mickey Borofsky
• Co-Producer: Steve Berman
• Unit Production Manager: Robert Doudell
• First Assistant Director: Craig West
• Second Assistant Director: David Kelley
• Set Decoration: Tom Bugenhagen
• Set Designer: Roland E. Hill Jr.
• Music Supervisor: Lionel Newman
• Music Editor: Tom Villano
• Sound Mixer: Joe Kenworthy
• Camera Operator: Philip D. Schwartz
• First Assistant Camera: William Brao
• Second Assistant Camera: Echol Marshall
• Chief Lighting Technician: Jono Kouzouyan
• Best Boy Electric: Jack Yanekian
• Key Grip: John Murray
• Script Supervisor: H. Bud Otto
• Property Master: Frank Irving
• Assistant Property Master: Catherine Wilshire
• Boom Operator: Steve Birkett
• Special Effects: Burt Dalton
• Special Effects: Pat Lee
• Special Effects: William A. Klinger
• Hairstylist: Bridget Cook
• Makeup Artist: Tony Lloyd
• Makeup Effects Designer: Rick Stratton
• First Assistant Editor: Timothy Alverson
• Assistant Editor: Lisa Dorney
• Supervising Sound Editor: Michael Hilkene
• Sound Editor: Andre Bacha
• Sound Editor: Jeremy J. Gordon
• Sound Editor: Val Kuklowsky
• Special Sound Effects: Eric Lindemann
• Sound Editor: Christopher T. Welch
• Assistant Sound Editor: Charles Davis
• Assistant Sound Editor: John O. Wilde
• Foley Artist: Jerry Trent
• Foley Artist: Joan Rowe
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Steve Maslow
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Rick Kline
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Gregg Landaker
• Stunts: Melodee Spevack
• Stunts: Georgia L. Wells
• Stunts: Steve Vandeman
• Stunts: Linda Fetters Howard
• Stunts: Randy Vantine
• Stunts: Kerry Rossall
• Stunts: Frank James Sparks
• Stunts: David D. Darling

Movie Reviews:

• Wuchak: **_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
• kevin2019: “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.