After childhood abuse by her step-father and eight years in a juvenile psychiatric lockup, Amanda Lear is released. Her shrink is also her lover, who surreptitiously pays her rent on a nice house for a year. She moves in, takes one look at her neighbor Richard, and dispatches her doctor. To cover her tracks and to begin her seduction, she gets Richard's help with a security system. Soon she's bugging his calls and spying on him with hidden cameras, taking advantage of a rift between Richard and his wife who's in Nashville cutting a record. Amanda will stop at nothing to get Richard's exclusive attention. Will this good neighbor wise up before the hot tub overheats?
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Reviews
Best movie ever!
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
For the record, this film is intriguing but its hardly original. Back in 1998 a movie starring Talia Shire called The Landlady had almost the exact same plot but with younger characters.The story is Amanda Lear has had a bad life, abusive father, horny doctor, mental homes, etc. She's finally released from the happy home under the guidance of her perverted doctor...who she anally abuses and kills the poor guy. (now THAT was original) The doctor had financed a mansion for her before she killed him and buried the sucker in the backyard. After moving in she falls in love with a stud named Richard, who just happens to be married to a blues singer. If you've seen The Landlady you know the rest, she kills or tries to kill anyone that gets in between her and Richard (including a roadie).Much of the idea's came from the previous movie, same idiot sidekick that sticks his nose in, same spying on the guy with a bowl of popcorn, same flying a bodypress. It did have some original material, the beer bottle thing was brutal. The highlight of the movie was Amanda's beautiful breasts in the hot-top scene. Somewhat of a ripoff but not a total waste of time.4 out of 10
This really is quite a tacky movie but it can be forgiven its foibles thanks to a few redeeming features. Justine Priestley is beautiful so all the boys will love seeing her strut around in next to nothing. And hey girls, need hairstyle ideas for your prom? Look no further. The hairstylist on this movie had a field day; Amanda sports an elaborate new hair-do in practically every scene. Amanda is also quite an ingenious little thing. She gives MacGyver a run for his money with a bit of break & enter followed by the installation of fibre optics in a roof. She has gadgets galore (scanner, model dressed like her attached to a light timer, TV hooked up to David's house watching his every move) and a great line she shoots at Buzz when he complains about second-hand smoke: "It's not the smoke that kills you, it's the smoker". Ah Buzz, second-hand smoke is the LEAST of your worries! This was never gonna be an Oscar winner. It's a cheap little "thriller" with a few (unintentional) laughs and Justine is fantastic as the evil bitch posing as the All-American girl-next-door. What guy could say "No" to this babe? David certainly couldn't and ... well, you can guess the rest. 2/5 stars (for effort).
I got this movie because I worked at a movie store so I got free rentals. It came in, and the cover made it look alright. Hot chick, carrying a weapon, alright, I'll check it out.Oh man, bad move. This was so horrible, I spent half the movie watching in fast-forward to get to the nudity, which was minimal. I think MAYBE three scenes of partial nudity.Cheesy dialogue, crappy violence, poor excuses of characters. I feel bad putting this movie down, because I know it was made on a cheap budget, but so was "Clerks" and it became a cult classic and a franchise.2/10.
As one other IMDB reviewer has remarked, this movie starts a bit slow, but gets considerably better as it goes along. Yes, it is released by Roger Corman, and yes, it goes over some of the same thematic ground as much higher budget predecessors such as FATAL ATTRACTION and POISON IVY. However, the juxtapositioning of the wife's career as a rising blues singer against the husband's gathering loneliness and his almost Freudian need for filling the emotional and physical "void" or "hole" while she's away along with the clever use of minimal effects and settings is nicely done. Utilizing a very small number of locations and characters, and also using water in almost every scene both as a cleansing and drowning metaphorical symbol throughout, this movie, though clearly suffering from a minuscule budget, reminds me in many ways of the more fully realized and more recent scenario, namely the French film "SWIMMING POOL" which it seems to me at least may have borrowed liberally some useful ideas from "UP AGAINST AMANDA." With a smaller tool set, UP AGAINST AMANDA maintains its suspense with a rudimentary, fatalistic view of surrendering to ones occasional lustful temptations, but accomplishes this as well or better as other films in this genre. The twist of the stepfather abuse of Amanda in the past (again, very Freudian) is also very unique in this genre and interesting. I agree with other viewers about the unexpected and sympathetic reaction for Amanda's plight this aspect of the story elicits. The cast is excellent I think.