This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Blistering performances.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This film plays like a B-Film Noir from the 1950s coupled with the steamy erotica of the late night cable channels with some Dr. Giggles thrown in the mix. Needless to say, it was entertaining but in a cheesy, not too high-brow kind of way.Sybil Danning plays a sexy college professor married to another professor (Andrew Prine)who stands to inherit a sizable sum of money from his mother once she kicks off. The two espousers decide they can't wait for the dough so Sybil urges her obsessed student Eric Brown to assist them in gaining their inheritance. To persuade the young student, Sybil offers him two famous vices: sex and money.Their plans backfire when mommy proves too much for Eric and chases him off the family estate with a shotgun. As soon as Eric is gone, however, someone else blasts mommy. Eric feels that he is being setup for murder when Prine accuses him of foul deeds, but he can't separate himself from the case due to his attachment to the buxom Miss Danning. The film, which begins as an erotic thriller, then descends into the slasher genre as Eric and Sybil track a masked killer who just might be Sybil's hubby.STORY: $$$ (Nothing special here--just middle-of-the-road. The characterization could have used more work, as well as the overall plot. There are plenty plot devices that just don't make any sense, like their initial plan to have Eric scare mommy by breaking into her house. I mean, you don't read a will for a frightened dame, so what was going on there?) ACTING: $$$ (Nothing special here either. Eric Brown seemed out of place in his scenes with Sybil. Not much of an actor, Eric tries to get by on his grin, but fails miserably. Prine does a fine job as Sybil's odious husband while Miss Danning is in good form as the femme fatale).NUDITY: $$$$$ (This is really the main draw for this film, since it is Sybil at her most obliging. She has a couple shower scenes and three sex scenes. Had there been a better check and balance between the story and Sybil's breast exposure, this could have been a better erotic thriller).

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.

Lucky guy, this Eric Brown. First, he gets de-flowered by Sylvia Kristel (Emmannuelle herself) in "Private Lessons", and then is floored by the charms of Sybil Danning in this movie. Talk about being born under a lucky sign.Observant people will tell you that only Danning's scenes give this flick any merit. And they're right: as predatory as ever, Danning exudes sex and sensuality as a college professor (only in Hollywood) who tricks student Brown into killing a relative so she and he can run off with her inheritance. Of course, someone else is knocking off everybody left and right....I'm sorry, you care about the plot? Well, don't. This is not a plot-driven story, as if you haven't figured that out already. If you can't figure out who is doing the killing, get a new hobby. Or better yet, just concentrate on Sybil. Maybe even think about how lucky that Eric Brown guy is.One star. Anyone who is a Sybil Danning fan will tell you: fast-forward through everything else but her in "They're Playing with Fire". Otherwise, you'll get burned.

Some of the Database comments on this movie are mind-boggling. In this movie, Danning conspicuously displays what she's best-known for, and it sure ain't her thespian skills, buddy.Her three sex scenes in the movie are unbelievably enthusiastic and should send most slobbering males to the fast-forward button to find the next such scene. The rest of the movie is a dreary slasher thriller that, most incredulously, even manages a happy ending. You know what level the movie's at when the student whom Danning is deflowering tries to carry on a mundane conversation while this busty vixen is on top