What a curious yet delicious dish of cinematic 80s stew this is! The title and cover image, and the first ten to fifteen minutes, raise the impression that "They're Playing with Fire" is a typically early 80s naughty comedy - like "¨Porky's" or "Joysticks" - with the perfectly cast Sybil Danning in the role of her life as teacher/cougar seducing her empty-headed & hormone-overloaded students. Danning, as the feisty Mrs. Diane Stevens, lures lucky lad Jay to her yacht and shows him a piece of heaven, but obviously she and her sneaky husband have a secret agenda. Jay must scare the husband's mother and grandmother in their own house, so that he and Diane can take over the ginormous estate. Things go wrong. They always do...
When Jay tries to accomplish was Mrs. Stevens physically persuaded him to do, the film abruptly turns into a vicious slasher! A rather brutal one with Italian Giallo-characteristics, I may add, because the first two murders are quite nasty. After that, the plot bounces back and forth without a clear direction. New characters and sub plots are added, only to get killed again, and the end-twist is ridiculously simple to guess. In fact, there's only stable factor in the whole film: Sybil Danning takes her clothes off at least once every ten minutes, whether to toy around with Jay or to randomly jump into the shower. And it is irrelevant information, I know, but her body a masterpiece on itself.
By no means great cinema, but very entertaining and warmly recommended to fans of 80s pulp. "They're Playing with Fire" has a corny title-song, dim-witted supportive characters (including chubby classmate and blockhead gas station owner), and a French Poodle who thinks he's a Doberman. The killer is also a unique piece of work, I must say. He/she dresses up like Santa Claus even though there's nothing else to indicate that the film is set around Christmas, and at a certain point he/she starts talking with the voice of a cartoon figure for no apparent reason. Only in the eighties!
According to IMDb - and IMDb never lies - this is a loose remake of writer/director Howard Avedis' own 1974 flick "The Teacher". I have that one laying around in my collection as well, and will give it top priority now.
When Jay tries to accomplish was Mrs. Stevens physically persuaded him to do, the film abruptly turns into a vicious slasher! A rather brutal one with Italian Giallo-characteristics, I may add, because the first two murders are quite nasty. After that, the plot bounces back and forth without a clear direction. New characters and sub plots are added, only to get killed again, and the end-twist is ridiculously simple to guess. In fact, there's only stable factor in the whole film: Sybil Danning takes her clothes off at least once every ten minutes, whether to toy around with Jay or to randomly jump into the shower. And it is irrelevant information, I know, but her body a masterpiece on itself.
By no means great cinema, but very entertaining and warmly recommended to fans of 80s pulp. "They're Playing with Fire" has a corny title-song, dim-witted supportive characters (including chubby classmate and blockhead gas station owner), and a French Poodle who thinks he's a Doberman. The killer is also a unique piece of work, I must say. He/she dresses up like Santa Claus even though there's nothing else to indicate that the film is set around Christmas, and at a certain point he/she starts talking with the voice of a cartoon figure for no apparent reason. Only in the eighties!
According to IMDb - and IMDb never lies - this is a loose remake of writer/director Howard Avedis' own 1974 flick "The Teacher". I have that one laying around in my collection as well, and will give it top priority now.