Spellbinder 1988

Derek Clayton and Jeff Mills are two Los Angeles lawyers who rescue Miranda Reed from an abusive boyfriend. When Miranda has nowhere to stay, Jeff offers his home, and a tentative romance blooms between them even as unsettling whispers of danger begin to surface. Jeff invites his coworkers to a party to meet Miranda, and while most of the staff warm to her, Grace Woods, Jeff’s secretary, senses something off. Grace notices odd details, from Miranda calling the winter solstice a “holy night” to her calmly handling a turkey with bare hands, and she cautions Jeff that Miranda feels “weird” and is “trouble.” > Grace warns Jeff that Miranda is “weird” and is “trouble.”

The uneasy feelings intensify after Mrs. White confronts Jeff in his office and pleads, “return her to them,” forcing Miranda to disappear. Lieutenant Lee warningly points out a necklace Miranda wears, a sign linked to a satanic cult that has been linked to local murders and disappearances. Lt. Lee arrives with a stark message, and the tension rises as Jeff and his colleagues try to make sense of the strange occurrences surrounding Miranda.

Miranda eventually reappears and drops a chilling revelation: she belongs to a coven led by her ex-boyfriend, with a dark past tied to her induction into the group by her own mother. She takes Jeff to her old house, where ritual traces lurk in the shadows. She explains that she wants out of the coven, but the trio of mysterious events surrounding them is the coven’s ongoing plan to pull her back in. The coven’s winter solstice ritual culminates in a human sacrifice on a secluded beach, and Miranda believes the ultimate target could be her own fate. If the coven hasn’t claimed her by the solstice, she would be free—though she fears the police would doubt her story, or that the coven would simply hunt her down again.

Jeff agrees to help Miranda escape for 24 hours rather than going to the police. He hides her with his client Brock, a reclusive man who lives in a self-made fortress, while he continues with work. But the coven closes in, and Brock is killed before Jeff can act. Frantic, Jeff breaks into Miranda’s old house to coerce the current coven members into revealing her whereabouts, and he and Derek race to Towers Beach to save her. Derek insists he called Lieutenant Lee, who sends local officers to assist, then Jeff slips toward the beach while Derek keeps watch over the retreating coven.

The ritual is already underway when Jeff is spotted and captured. Miranda is tied up as the sacrifice, and Miranda’s ex-boyfriend lunges at her, but, shocking everyone, he cuts Miranda free rather than harming her. Miranda then dances around Jeff with a seductive smile, confusing him, and within moments he is gagged and bound where Miranda once stood. Miranda dons a ritual robe and joins the coven, while Derek arrives with two officers who remove their hats and join the ceremony. The truth erupts: Miranda has been the coven’s bait all along, and Jeff was the real target all along. Derek is the coven’s true leader, with Miranda as his co-conspirator, aiming to force Jeff into a voluntary sacrifice as the ritual demands.

Jeff’s heartbreak is complete as Miranda taunts him, admitting she knew he would come for her. The final revelation comes with Derek’s cold wit and a fatal turn: Jeff is killed, his heart removed, and Grace’s funeral earlier that day feels like a grim foreshadowing of the carnage. Lieutenant Lee presses Derek about Jeff, but Derek feigns ignorance, claiming Jeff vanished on a trip to Mexico with Miranda. The film closes on a cruel, cyclical note: Miranda and Derek replay the same ritual with a new victim, suggesting the coven’s malevolent ritual will continue with another unwitting target. Grace’s death remains a haunting backdrop to the twisted dynamic at the heart of the coven, underscoring the danger of crossing a circle that feeds on fear and sacrifice.