Review of Spellbinder (1988)

Spellbinder is a devastatingly bad film that fails on all counts. Essentially, it takes the idea of luring a vulnerable male into a sacrificial ceremony, where everyone around him has plotted against him, and amps up the eighties cheese-on-toast factor. It's basically Robin Hardy's The Wickerman (1973) transplanted to L.A. in the 80s. But, and there's a huge but......it has none of The Wickerman's atmosphere or brilliance. Instead it's a campy, tedious, idiotic film that's neither strange nor unsettling. And don't get me wrong, I do appreciate some cheese-on-toast when the mood is right but this is lowest quality cheese.