They're Playing with Fire, A Sybil Danning Spectacular

Sybil Danning all oiled up in a skimpy bikini.  Sybil Danning is gratuitous shower scenes.  Sybil Danning in the throes of passion during extra-marital sex.  Sybil Danning in outfits that just seem to fall off her.  Sybil Danning in peril.  Today we may have Sybil Danning's Magnum Opus.  Yes...it is a horror film.  This may not seem like a horror film but that is because we won't mention the psycho Santa Claus or the masked man with the machete...or the mental asylum in Switzerland...we have too much other stuff to talk about when Sybil Danning graces the silver screen.  Today we look at 1984's "They're Playing with Fire," directed by Howard Avedis.

Diane (Danning) is an English Literature professor  at a southern California university. She teaches her students, sunbathes in skimpy bikinis, and has a lot of passionate sex.  She seduces a clean cut student, Jay (Eric Brown) to do her a favor.  See, Diane is married to an evil professor, the hunk Michael (Andrew Prine).  Diane and Michael want to off Michael's grandmother and sister so they can inherit the family wealth.  They tell Jay that they just need him to break in the mansion and scare them.  Why would Jay do this?  Please!  Diane uses deviant sex to persuade him.  Diane also hires Jay to do odd jobs on their yacht.  The odd jobs allow him to peek at Diane sunbathing, showering, and to have steamy sex with his professor.

Right!  Jay breaks into the mansion and nothing goes as it is supposed to.  Someone else in in the mansion and murders the grandmother and sister and tries to murder Jay.  Now if the cops are called, Jay will be the prime suspect.  Jay figures out Diane and Michael set him up.  Worse yet, a nubile babe in class, Cynthia (Beth Scheffell) blackmails Jay. She has taken pics of him screwing Diane and won't hesitate to show Diane's husband.  Unfortunately for Cynthia, she will meet the psycho Santa Claus. So sad.  Now to keep Jay interested and loyal to her cause, Diane has a ton more deviant sex with Jay and claims she is going to leave Michael.  Wait!  Is this really what is going on?  Twists and turns.  More steamy sex...more gratuitous showers...more murders...and in every part of it Sybil Danning is doing what Sybil Danning does best.

Did Michael and Diane really murder the grandmother and sister?  Is a life sentence in prison worth a lot of steamy sex with Sybil Danning?  Was Cynthia's brutal fate merely because she was on Santa's "naughty" list"?  This is an uber-erotic mystery thriller that becomes a slasher/horror film.  For gratuitous Sybil Danning, treat yourself and watch "They're Playing with Fire."