Up Against Amanda (Amanda) (2000)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	109:53
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Michael Rissi
Studio Distributor	Imagine Entertainment	Starring	Justine Priestley David DeWitt Karen Grosso
Case	Click
RPI	Rental	Music	Mladen Milicevic

    Amanda is a cheap and cheesy pastiche, served on a pretty ordinary DVD.

    The plot for this movie is a collection of hammy movie clichés. The script is wholly derivative of genuine movie thrillers, such as Basic Instinct, Poison Ivy, Fatal Attraction, Single White Female, and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. Dreadfully written and directed, poorly acted, badly lit, crudely shot and edited, this shot-on-video production resembles a High School student production more than the movies it slavishly imitates, and aspires to.

    The story is very familiar: A young saucy babe, Amanda, with a history of psychiatric problems, is discharged from a mental institution, and moves next door to a very ordinary, young couple. Amanda (Justine Priestley), stops taking her medication, and is instantly smitten with her new neighbour, Richard (David DeWitt), and she begins stalking him. When Richard's wife, Laurie (Karen Grosso) leaves town for a few days, Amanda pounces, and seduces poor Richard. Of course the usual happens, and in true Fatal Attraction (and now Swim Fan) style, the 'other woman' will not be ignored, or be easily dispensed with. Obviously having seen The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, in her deranged state, Amanda believes she can neatly dispose of Richard's wife, replace her, and play 'happy families'. Of course the audience knows better, we know that the now contrite hubby will reject her, we know that there will be a violent show down, as the now-loving husband, and his forgiving wife, do battle with the crazy vixen. We also know that the police will be of no help, and that the vixen must die for the couple to resume their ordinary life. Oh dear . . . *yawn*

Video

    The transfer is only slightly better than a VHS tape.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which is very close to its original aspect ratio. Thus, the pan & scan treatment is slight.

    The sharpness is okay, but it lacks detail and clarity. The shadow detail is poor throughout.

    The colour is often drab and murky.

    In regards to MPEG artefacts, the image appears to suffer from a little pixelization throughout, for example, consider the scene at 64:12. Posterization is also visible in some scenes, such as at 53:16.

    There are no film-to-video or film artefacts.

    There are also no subtitles on this single layered, single sided disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The only audio option is English Dolby Digital Stereo.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are mostly okay, but sometimes the sync is slightly out, such as at 30:48.

    The musical score is credited to Mladen Milicevic, and it is mainly comprised of synthesiser based chords, peppered with a few blues songs written by Karen Lawrence.

    There is no surround presence or subwoofer activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The only extra is the trailer.

Menu

    An animated menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Theatrical Trailer (1:30)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

    Amanda was released on DVD in Region 1 in December 2001. There is very limited information about the R1 version, but the R1 and R4 appear to be the same.

    Amanda is paint-by-numbers, derivative, dross. Rent or buy this title at your own risk.

    The video quality is slightly better than a VHS tape.

    The audio quality is very flat and ordinary.

    The extras are not worth mentioning.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall