Spellbinder

First things first: I'd like to thank the makers of 1988's Spellbinder for providing me with several views of a young and leggy Tim Daly playing a sweaty game of basketball.

Thank you!

Furthermore,  I'd like to thank the film makers for providing me with several moments in which Mr. Daly is shirtless...

...Thank you!

thank you...

...and thank you!

Now that that's out of the way, on with the movie:  Spellbinder is your basic Satanic Love Story.  Boy meets witch, boy loses witch, boy has his heart torn out by witch's coven.

Kelly Preston plays the enchanting beauty who casts her spell on Daly, a yuppie lawyer living the fast life in Los Angeles.  The couple meet one evening when Daly discovers Preston being manhandled by a guy who is wearing a ton of mousse in his hair.  Faster than you can say, "Unhand that maiden, you brute!" our hero whisks the young lady away, and the couple have a whirlwind romance.  And then, one night, a strange fellow is seen stalking the couple...what's his deal?  Unfortunately, we will never know as the fellow is set upon by by some seedy characters who utter some kind of mumbo jumbo until the poor guy's head explodes in flame - don't you just hate when that happens?

One night,  Daly invites his friends over to meet the love of his life and everything is going aces, until Daly's secretary notices the hostess removing a turkey from the oven - barehanded...

...immediately, she realizes that this chick just aint right, and she calls her out on it and suddenly, Preston's character goes from Samantha Stevens to Endora and dismisses the portly clerical worker...

...but our gal Friday is not put off, "watch it, toots, I got my eye on you", she says (well she does not really say that, but she infers it).

The next day at work, Daly is paid a visit by an unstable woman (played by the fabulous Audrey Lindley - that's Mrs. Roper to you!) - and she warns him that they want his girl friend back!

Make no mistake, Lindley is the best thing in this movie...she does subtle crazy so well.

After the visit, Daly discovers that Preston has left and he starts searching for her.  Eventually he ends up at the police station where a detective seemingly spends an eternity checking out his ass (can you blame him)...oh you think I made that up, check out this picture:

...see! He's enamored by Daly's backside, I swear.  Anyway, turns out this gum shoe knows all about the  missing gal and her peeps.  He tells Daly that his sweetheart's clan are part of a huge, HUGE, Satanic cult, and are suspects in dozens of missing persons cases.   He just does not have any hard evidence.

Later on, Daly finds himself trapped in the parking garage at his office.  Remember that guy with the mousse in his hair?  Well he's back and he puts a spell on Daly's sport's car...

...cool, huh? and no CGI!

The next day, the episode with the floating car seemingly forgotten, Daly is shopping for Christmas trees with fellow yuppie, Rick Rossovich - and even though he's the office Lothario, he cant keep his hands off Daly...

...what a hot couple they would have made,  but I digress...

Finally, Preston reappears and tells Daly that she was raised by a coven of unstable witches who practice black magic.  She claims that if she can avoid them for the next 24 hours, everything will be fine, as long as she does not show up at their Winter Solstice observation...you see, they need a human sacrifice who will show up willingly at this event...get it?  The person must show up of his or her own volition.  That's important, don't forget that,  OK? 

Deciding that they should run away, they of course go back to Daly's to pack up (because the coven would never think to go by Daly's home, right?)...and guess what?  The evil witches are there!

YIKES!  Luckily, Preston knows a few spells of her own so she chant's something in Pig Latin and the evil doers are dispersed!

Temporarily safe, the couple fall asleep in a circle of salt (really) and when they wake up, they find that the witches have redecorated Daly's house...

...cool, Huh?

So blah, blah, blah, Preston hides out, Daly goes back to the office because he has this really big case he needs to work on, and once he's through, they will escape L.A. and fly far away to a witch free zone...well, not so fast, that crazy bitch is back!

This time, Lindley turns up the crazy to 100% and totally freaks out Daly, she even claims that her coven dug up his mother so that she could use the dead woman's bones in a spell!

Well, it does not look good for our boy - and once he finds the coven, and his beloved on the beach at Malibu, he senses that all is not well - especially when Preston starts dancing around like Stevie Nicks...

...now you do recall that the sacrificial victim would show up to the party of his own free will, right?

...at least we get to see Daly shirtless again.  Thank you!