Up Against Amanda

2000 "Sometimes the beauty is the beast"
4.4| 1h42m| en
Details

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

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
JohnHowardReid I'm amazed this movie received so many bad reviews. I thought the film was extremely gripping and so well made that the fact it was put together on a small budget, didn't even occur to me! The script was tight, the situations both really believable and highly suspenseful, and the acting simply superb. I will admit that all the players were unknown to me. So, for me, they were all fresh faces. I found all but one of the actors thoroughly convincing. And the actor I thought was just a little too grotesque, had such a small (if essential) part that it didn't really matter. Super sexy Justine Priestley delivered a gripping, totally charismatic performance in the title role, while David De Witt was also most believable as Amanda's "victim". I thought writer/director Michael Rissi did a marvelous job, not only with the players but with the script. The way he built up suspense was simply brilliant! Available on an excellent New Concorde DVD. (Although this fact is not mentioned on the cover, the movie's DVD has excellent Spanish sub-titles).
roxannebabyy It was extremely low budget(it some scenes it looks like they recorded with a home video recorder). However it does have a good plot line, and its easy to follow. 8 years after shooting her sexually abusive step father Amanda is released from the psychiatric ward, with the help of her doctor who she is secretly having an affair with. The doctor ends up renting her a house and buying her a car. But within the first 20 minutes of the movie Amanda kills him and buries him in her backyard. Then she see's her neighbor Richard sets eyes on him and stops at nothing until she has him. She acts innocent but after another neighbor Buzz finds out that Amanda killed that doctor and attempted to kill Richards wife Laurie (this is after Amanda and him get it on in the hot tub). Then she stops acting so Innocent and kills Buzz and later on attempts to kill Richard whom she supposedly loves and cares for. And you'll have to rent the movie to find out if Amanda dies or not. Overall good movie, reminds me a lot of my life you know the whole falling for the neighbor and stopping at nothing until you have him part.
Xapora 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).
scoobson So another crazed stalker movie arrives. Well, this one gives some background explanation at least for the demented behavior of its titled villain, AMANDA, played convincingly by Justine Priestley. If fact, despite the low budget and Roger Corman as distributor (apparently he picked this up after it was chosen by some lesser known festivals) the credits on this are actually pretty good. Acting is pretty good and behind the scenes directing, music, etc., much more nuanced than your average slap it together Corman pic. Not for everyone. Budget limitations obvious, but makes the most of its limited scope in fairness.Hope to see more of Priestley, rest of cast and curious to see what filmmakers do next.