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They're Playing with Fire

  • 1984
  • R
  • 1h 36m
IMDb RATING
5.1/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
Sybil Danning and Eric Brown in They're Playing with Fire (1984)
A married college professor decides to seduce her student, whom she hired as a handyman for her yacht. The hesitant student succumbs to his buxom professor, but their romance is interrupted by her corrupt husband and a masked murderer.
Play trailer1:26
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Serial KillerSlasher HorrorCrimeHorrorThriller

A buxom college professor seduces her student to make him the fall guy in her husband's inheritance scheme, but genuine romance and a masked killer complicate matters.A buxom college professor seduces her student to make him the fall guy in her husband's inheritance scheme, but genuine romance and a masked killer complicate matters.A buxom college professor seduces her student to make him the fall guy in her husband's inheritance scheme, but genuine romance and a masked killer complicate matters.

  • Director
    • Howard Avedis
  • Writers
    • Howard Avedis
    • Marlene Schmidt
  • Stars
    • Sybil Danning
    • Eric Brown
    • Andrew Prine
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.1/10
    1.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Howard Avedis
    • Writers
      • Howard Avedis
      • Marlene Schmidt
    • Stars
      • Sybil Danning
      • Eric Brown
      • Andrew Prine
    • 26User reviews
    • 25Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:26
    Official Trailer

    Photos109

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    Top cast18

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    Sybil Danning
    Sybil Danning
    • Diane Stevens
    Eric Brown
    Eric Brown
    • Jay Richard
    Andrew Prine
    Andrew Prine
    • Michael Stevens
    Paul Clemens
    Paul Clemens
    • Martin 'Bird' Johnson
    K.T. Stevens
    K.T. Stevens
    • Lillian Stevens
    Gene Bicknell
    • George Johnson
    Curt Ayers
    Curt Ayers
    • The Bartender
    Dominick Brascia
    Dominick Brascia
    • Glenn
    Bill Conklin
    • Preacher
    Terese Hanses
    • Pub Singer
    Greg Kaye
    • Dale
    Suzanne Kennedy
    • Janice
    Violet Manes
    • Jenny
    Alvy Moore
    Alvy Moore
    • Jimbo
    Joe Portaro
    • Professor
    Beth Scheffell
    • Cynthia
    • (as Beth Schaffel)
    Marlene Schmidt
    Marlene Schmidt
    • Gas Station Customer
    Margaret Wheeler
    • Lettie Stevens
    • Director
      • Howard Avedis
    • Writers
      • Howard Avedis
      • Marlene Schmidt
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews26

    5.11.5K
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    Featured reviews

    7pacmann

    A Sybil Danning sensual tour-de-force

    Since her start in the late 1960's, Sybil Danning has been called upon to use her sensuality and statuesque physique to bail out many a "B" movie. No exception here, as the stunning Danning plays a college professor/seductress. The victim is gullible Eric Brown (who's acting abilities resemble those of a 4th grader). The highlight of this movie is the seduction of Brown by Danning in the yacht. Great camerawork and Danning's sensuality in her strip give a scorching rating to a scene that will be relived in the minds of red-blooded males. Her other sex scenes were Brown are equally erotic but that is as good as it gets with this movie. The plot is predictable and the suspense...well...is just not there. A must for all Danning fans though, so you can drool at the sensual charms of this erotic goddess who seems to have saved the face of many an aspiring "B" movie director with her presence.
    3bkoganbing

    ...and the audience gets a burn

    That Eric Brown, what a lucky dude. First in Private Lessons with Sylvia Kristel and then in They're Playing With Fire with Sybil Danning the boy is doing well with the cougars.

    However other than those titillating sex scenes there's not much to recommend either film. Danning seduces Brown but that's at the behest of her husband Andrew Prine. They're both tired of sitting around and waiting for his mother and grandmother to die. They want Brown to break in and just scare the two women so they might sell the old mansion and give them some of the loot.

    But then some hooded individual comes along and murders the two women and hides the bodies. A few more deaths follow before we learn the truth.

    If it weren't for Sybil Danning's body and those two weapons of mass destruction she has interest would be minimal here. If that's your thing go for it.
    5busterbuff61

    Sybil Danning's bod; everything else bad

    I have what I call "The Adrienne Barbeau Theorem," which is as follows: Big breasts, in and of themselves, are not enough reason to watch a terrible movie. Ironically, there are two movies that strongly test my theorem, and one of them is Adrienne Barbeau's "Swamp Thing." The other is an abysmal '80s slasher flick titled "They're Playing with Fire." Sybil Danning plays an English professor (so much for realism) who seduces one of her young students (Eric Brown) in order to make him a patsy in a murder plot in which she's involved. Despite its familiar ring, this plot line is several generations (not to mention quality points) removed from "Double Indemnity" and its ilk. In fact, the movie's slasher motif is so sordid, even for this genre, that it's painful to watch. The movie would be deservedly forgotten, were it not for Danning's astounding sex scenes.

    These scenes, particularly the first one, are as jaw-dropping as anything you're likely to see in a mainstream, R-rated movie. While not as anatomically graphic as your average porn video, Danning in the altogether amply displays enough, er, enthusiasm to get her point across. In fact, she's so enthusiastic, you lose any sympathy for the kid she's seducing. Here's this gorgeous, buxom blonde twisting the night away on top of him, and he can't think of anything better to do than *make conversation* with her! Obviously, the kid needs an education in more than English.

    Other than the all-too-brief scenes in which Danning demonstrates why a date with her would fetch a small fortune on an auction block, the movie's only element of interest is in seeing Alvy Moore, who played Hooterville county agent Hank Kimball on TV's "Green Acres," hitting a career low as a gas-station manager who's dumb enough to hire and re-hire the kid as an attendant even after he's dumped the job on the promise of some loot from Danning's English professor. The only thing that could have made this movie more bad-memorable would be to pair Danning with fluttery Hank Kimball: "Welcome to Hootersville, I mean Hooterville! Sorry, I was blinded by your headlights, I mean my car headlights. The car is strangely stacked, I mean built, I mean..."
    6acidburn-10

    80's Trashy fun

    After recently viewing this somewhat forgotten 80's trashy movie. That's part mystery thriller, part slasher movie. The plot is quite interesting we get a student named Jay Richards who has an affair with his teacher Diana Stevens (Sybil Danning), but that's not all she and her husband want him to break into his elderly mothers house to scare them and of course that goes wrong when grandma pulls out a rifle and the young student runs away, and no sooner a masked stranger is already in the house ready to kill.

    Okay this movie lacks logic and the storyline doesn't really make much sense, but the who dunnit angle does actually work, and I was geniually surprised when the killer is unmasked at the end. And the chemistry between Eric Brown and Sybil Danning was actually believable and spot on, and the sex scenes were probably the best thing about this movie. But there are several bad points to this movie, like for a start the pacing is quick enough and I did find myself getting bored at times and a lot of the performances were awful and the death scenes simply weren't up to scratch, they lacked imagination like the scene where the girl gets hit with a baseball bat, was just painful and not for the right reasons.

    But there are a few small blessings in this movie, like Sybil Danning is just simply beautiful and has a gorgeous body, and one of the only cast members to make an actual effort and Eric Brown was okay he had the innocence wide boy routine rather well, despite some rubbish dialogue.

    All in all "They're Playing With Fire" is not a terrible movie, in fact I found it quite fun and stupid at the same time, but I couldn't help that feel that if this movie was in more capable hands, then this could have been a hell of a lot better.
    7blanbrn

    A clever plot a cat and mouse game of drama, and suspense yet the eye candy treat is the knockout Sybil Danning!

    This film "They're Playing with Fire" is really a pretty decent B movie as it does have a story and plot twist that's filled with drama and suspense and it's topped off with eye candy and cake icing with erotic scenes from the sexy Sybil! The story is that of two college professors the female being(Sybil)and she seduces one of her young innocent students(Eric Brown)as part of a plot to frame him for the murders of her well to do in-laws. Yet this plan and plot doesn't go as planned it's now a tangled web of deceit, nothing and no one is who they appear.

    Along the way despite the blood and violence the screen is spiced up with plenty of skin and sexy nude scenes and love making bed encounters with the sexy B queen goddess miss Sybil(also she's stunning in a black bra!). Overall well done film that's carried by Sybil so if it's your thing give this a watch.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Sybil Danning talked about her view of nudity in this and most of her other films in a recent article. Danning's uninhibited sexual confidence aroused a fair amount of criticism from those who viewed nudity as nothing more than exploitation of women. Danning disagreed. "People have asked, 'Does a strong woman take her clothes off? Aren't you being exploited yourself?' I think being a strong. intelligent woman takes a level of maturity, which includes experience and independence," explained Danning. "That doesn't mean I have to run around in pants and a shirt buttoned up to my neck, wearing glasses. I'm a woman And being a woman means being sexy beyond everything else I've mentioned. I don't think there's a woman in the world who doesn't want to be sexy. If she says she doesn't, she's being untruthful with herself."
    • Goofs
      In a scene where Diane has finished her shower, she steps out, grabs a towel and dries herself. In the next scene where we see her husband and we see her in the mirror, she is inside the shower again with the towel.
    • Quotes

      Diane Stevens: [to Jay] Look, maybe you panicked and accidentally killed them.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: They're Playing with Fire/Beat Street/Ghostbusters/Les Compares (1984)
    • Soundtracks
      Playing With Fire
      Performed by Arnetia Walker

      Music and Lyrics by John Cacavas and Bonnie Becker

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    FAQ13

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • July 5, 1984 (Australia)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Playing with Fire
    • Filming locations
      • Surfridge, Los Angeles, California, USA(Diane drives with Jay south on Vista Del Mar. Surfridge can be seen across the street.)
    • Production company
      • Hickmar Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 36 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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