Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Bardlerx Strictly average movie

StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Uriah43 "Gayle Richards" (Amanda Donohoe) is a successful high school teacher who comes home from work to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary with her husband. As she is preparing herself for the occasion she notices a picture of one of her female students in his jacket pocket. So, she tells her husband she has to go away for a few days to see her mother. That evening she catches him in bed with that same student. Feeling betrayed and ridiculed she ends up killing both of them and sets the entire house on fire. After that she leaves New York and drops out of sight for a year and then turns up in a small town in Minnesota under the name of "Laura Ellington". Unfortunately, she is still unable to come to terms with her past and not long afterward sleeps with one of her students named "Josh Wyatt" (Dalton James). Besides being inappropriate it also causes problems for both of them when she starts dating Josh's father, "Ben Wyatt" (Eugene Glazer). At any rate, because this film was a "made-for-television" production it goes without saying that some scenes were toned down to accommodate a general television audience. This caused the film to seem less intense than it could have been. Even so, it was still entertaining to a certain degree and probably merits an average score, all things considered.

borromeot A surprising, classy, if not perfect, melodrama /thriller/comedy of horrors. Amanda Donohoe is exceptional in a character tailor made for Bette Davis. Those smiles with a creepy underneath. She goes for it in a performance that it's as complex as it is fun to watch. This movie by the enigmatic Martin Donovan is a mix of extraordinary moments - cinematic, surprising, beautiful, frightening and funny as well a downright bad, amateurish moments - I'm trying to find everything Donovan has done. Not an easy thing, believe me. But for what I've seen so far, he is a welcome lyrical oddity. "The Substitute" uneven as it is, remains in my mind as if inviting me to see it again. I will, for sure. Mark Wahlberg makes his film debut here looking straight into the camera. I bet Donovan knew what he was doing. I highly recommend it for lovers of the strange and unique.

MarieGabrielle It has been awhile since audiences have seen Amanda Donohoe. (Remember L.A. Law?).She is actually quite good as a teacher with less than good intentions; she looks mysterious and menacing. It is surprising also that Mark Wahlberg (previously known as "Marky Mark") is in this film I recently saw him in "The Shooter" and he has come a long way.For a TV suspense film this is not bad. Dalton James ("90210") also has a part as Ben's son, who realizes Donohoe is capable of murder. There are a few scenes reminiscent of Psycho, when he is in the library collecting information about the teacher and her murderous history. Natasha Gregson Wagner also has a small part as a student and Molly Parker ("Intensity").All in all, not a bad film for a rainy day.

youngsteve I must admit, I am usually a bit dubious when looking at TV movies, as in most cases they are quite poor, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised. This was mainly due to the superb performance of Amanda Donaghue, who made a convincing & sympathetic psychotic killer (why is it every feature film has to have a British nasty? I know they are always good, but come on), which makes a change from the usual one diminsional characters. The rest of the cast played the part too, & were quite good, making you at least believe in them, though there was the usual nonsense of ancient pupils, who were in alot of cases not much younger than Amanda Donaghue. Ignoring this hilarity, the plot though not exactly thought provoking was at least adequate, & was everything else. So although the film had nothing that hadn't been seen before, it is not bad, & worth a look if only for Miss Donaghue. Now, why didn't I have a horny teacher like her when I was at school.