Lethal Seduction (2015 TV Movie) User Reviews

There Are Sharks in the Water!

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 13 July 2015]

Handsome blond high school graduate Caleb Ruminer (as Mark Richards) is looking forward to attending Princeton University in the fall. The summer before moving away from possessive single mother Amanda Detmer (as Tanya), young Ruminer has a fateful meeting. In the local hardware store on an errand for mom, Ruminer meets sexually arousing older woman Dina Meyer (as Carissa Kensington). She asks Ruminer to help her select and install a new shower massage head. Ruminer and Ms. Meyer are quickly steaming up every room in her house...

The fantasy-fulfilling relationship is great for both Ruminer and Meyer. She like her boys tied up in their boxer shorts, and he's willing to go along for the easy sex. However, there are growing problems. Meyer eventually asks Ruminer to move in and consider skipping college, which makes mother Detmer furious. And, this being a "Lifetime TV Movie", Meyer does not know how to take "no" for an answer...

Meyer wants her boy toy, or else...

This story been rehashed several times by producers at the Lifetime TV network. However, it does feature some nice touches, by director Nancy Leopardi and her crew. The sex quotient is very high, for US television. We see a collage of Ruminer and Meyer celebrating their sexual stamina, there is an extensive scene showing Ruminer handcuffed in his boxers, and Meyer is almost shown stroking the goods...

On a more artistic level, scenes are inter-cut from an aquarium where Detmer's neglected boyfriend Brian Smith (as Randy) works. The sharks are cleverly named and effectively symbolize Meyer's threat. She's a shark, of course, and one of many Ruminer must manage as he makes his way into his "real world" aquarium. The harpooning was a great idea and the performances are quite nice, but choppiness spoils some of the fun. "Lethal Seduction" would rate higher if we knew, for example, how Ruminer goes from hung up to laying down in the sauna room.

***** Lethal Seduction (2015-07-11) Nancy Leopardi ~ Caleb Ruminer, Amanda Detmer, Dina Meyer, Brian Smith

Lust has no bounds

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 2 December 2015]

****SPOILERS*** It all started out so innocently at the local hardware store when young inexperienced, in making it with the opposite sex,as well as a bit naive 18 year old Mark Richards,Caled Ruminer, helped 40 year old sex-pot Carissa Kensington, Dina Meyer, pick out a shower cap and before he knew it Mark was taking a shower together with her. That was only the beginning of the "Nightmare" that he was to go through with Carissa who soon got him under her control and made poor Mark her personal boy-toy to play with as she liked. It's Mark's mom Tanya,Amanda Detmer, who saw through Carlisa's act and tried to save her son Mark from a fate worse then death itself but only ended up being held hostage by her in her overheated-up to 135 degrees-steam room together with her son Mark being steamed, like a lobster, alive!

Totally ridicules from start to finish but still very entertaining Lifetime movie with the helpless and in love Mark letting both his guard as will as pants and shorts down as the sexy Carissa slowly drains the very life out of him. It's Marks mom Tanya who tries to save him but she's no match for Carissa whom we soon finds out murdered her husband,and made it look like an accident, and ended up with all his money as well as mansion on the hill. It's Tanya's, who's also a widow, fishy boyfriend Randy, Brian Smith, known as the fish-man who works cleaning things, life shark droppings, up at the local aquarium who finally gets the message in what Carissa is up to. But by them it's almost too late for all Mark Tayna and Mark's goofy friend Walter,Sam Lerner, involved.

***SPOILERS**** As smart as Mark, who has a full scholarship to Ivy League University Princeton, is he's not quite smart enough to see through Carissa's plans for him in making him her sex slave and thus ruining his life as well as his mom's. But in the end Carissa's unq1uinching lust ends up doing her in by, after getting burned in a bed of hot coals, taking a misstep and ending up at the bottom of her Olympic size swimming pool in order to cool herself off but drowning instead!

Dina Meyer at her best...

[vnssyndrome89 · 5/10 · 21 August 2023]

Lethal Seduction (TV Movie 2015)

BASIC PLOT: Mark (Caleb Ruminer) is an amazing kid, with everything to look forward to. He's won a full scholarship to Princeton, and he can't wait to get out from under his mother's over protective thumb. Tanya (Amanda Detmer), Mark's mother, doesn't mean to be a smothering harpie, but since the death of her husband, all she can think about is keeping her son safe. Mark is determined to spend his last summer before college, hanging out with his friend Walter (Sam Lerner), and sowing some wild oats. So, when a chance meeting at the hardware store, leads to a sexual adventure with a seductive, older woman named Carissa (Dina Meyer), Mark thinks he's found the perfect summer fling. But Carissa is no one's trifle. She's determined to keep Mark for herself, and to stop Tanya's meddling once and for all. Mark's sexual inexperience makes it's hard for him to see Carissa's erotic enervations for what they are, a snare, to keep Mark close.

Can Mark sever the hold Carissa has on him, in time to save himself?

WHAT WORKS: *Dina Meyer's Carissa is both ominous and sexual. She draws you in, much as she does Mark (Caleb Ruminer), and makes you want to see more. Her scene in the bathroom, where she smashes the mirror, is outstanding.

*Walter is played to perfection by Sam Lerner. His goofy one liners are cinematic gold! Even his voicemail message is hilarious. In every way, Walter is the quintessential sidekick.

*I don't know who the location scout was, but they deserve praise. The juxtaposition between Carissa's house, which is cold and commanding, and Tanya's house, which is warm and smothering, is a great visual metaphor for the two women's personalities. The same can be said for the shark tank, where Tanya and Randy (Brian Thomas Smith) work. It's beautiful, but also dangerous, maybe even deadly, traits that can also be applied to Carissa.

*Finally, a TV movie with a decent trailer! Also, great cover art, which is also a rarity.

*Very well cast by Arlie Day. Everyone here is believable, which is a triumph in a melodrama, so kudos to Arlie.

*The music by Will Champlin and Stephen Gallagher is above average, and adds something special to this made-for-tv movie. It's fun summer music, which sets the stage.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *There's not much here to complain about, if you understand the art form of melodrama. The only thing remotely implausable is the relationship between Mark (Caleb Ruminer) and Tanya (Amanda Detmer). Even the best teenage boy, probably would have rebelled against his mother's grating interference, by the time he's 18.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *IF and that's a big IF, you understand and appreciate the art form of melodrama, you'll like this. It's a more sexual and violent take on Mrs. Robinson, but Dina Meyer makes it her own, and succeeds beautifully.

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a Made-For-TV movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews. Hope I helped you out.

Boys try. Men do.

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 11 January 2018]

This is a made for TV film rated TV-14. The film description pretty much says it all. Mark (Caleb Ruminer) gets seduced by a Mrs. Robinson type, Carissa Kensington (Dina Meyer) and the film, as you might guess from the title, moves into a mild "Fatal Attraction." The plot was unconvincing. The acting was so-so. I didn't find the watered down formula film overly entertaining.

Poor acting..

[biswashok · 1/10 · 18 August 2021]

Good plot but really poor acting.. Crying faces are really fully looking..

So bad

[lifeisgood110 · 1/10 · 11 February 2023]

This is so bad in so many ways. I'm not even sure how to describe it. First, the writing and acting is both so bad. It's like I don't know if this is supposed to be a cheesy movie or a serious. It crosses into both. The story line is off. It just feels weird. Six hundred characters to say how bad this movie is? No. I don't need that. But now I'm having to fill out multiple characters. Yawn. Weird scenes that seem forced. Blah blah. Awkward conversations. Blah blah. More bad acting. Blah blah. And the beautiful, yet psychotic older woman that you know will snap, you just don't know when. Don't waste your time.

Aa cougar fatal attraction

[phd_travel · 7/10 · 26 March 2016]

An 18 year old boy about to leave for college begins an affair with an older woman. His protective mother is worried. However she turns out to be obsessive. A cougar fatal attraction.

The cast is good. Dina Meyer as the crazy lady looks great still. Look at her other co stars from Starship Troopers - they have all aged so much more. The guy looks naive enough to be taken in by her wily charms.

The story isn't terribly original but there is an almost laugh out loud dialog which keeps this entertaining and not run of the mill.

Worth one watch.

"Dangerous is My Middle Name!!!"

[lavatch · 7/10 · 4 May 2020]

Miss Carissa Kensington is the vampire lady who has her sights set on eighteen-year-old Mark (Markie) Richards. Markie is a brilliant computer guru who has invented a new ap that may be worth millions. But Carissa is not interested in exploiting Markie for monetary game. She is a predator who wishes to rob the cradle out of lust and the desire to fulfill her narcissistic obsession.

When Markie first meets Carissa, he is given a warning by a stranger in a restaurant: "Run, kid, run! Trust me, she's bad news!" But Markie doesn't head the advice, and he doesn't listen to the counsel of his doting mother. A widow who is overly protective of her son, Tanya may be controlling, but she also has genuine concern for Markie when she learns that he is seeing a forty-year-old woman.

The strength of the screenplay was in the snappy dialogue. Some of the best zingers come from Markie's friend Walter. While nuzzling up to Carissa in her swimming pool, Markie suavely tells her that "dangerous is my middle name. That will be a line that he will regret.

Unfortunately, the film falls apart in the home stretch with too much violence. Carissa Kensington was at her best as a Mrs. Robinson-type. But when the film took a dark turn and Carissa was transformed into a monster, there was far too much unpleasantness, especially in the ghoulish scene set in a sauna room.

The acting was great with the performer playing Markie holding his own against the scene-stealing Carissa. The most touching performance was that of the actress playing the mother. Wounded by the loss of her husband, Tanya became a smother-mother unwilling to allow her son enough autonomy. But she learns a profound lesson in the film, and it is her development as a tower of strength that makes "Lethal Seduction" a good watch.

A Siren's Sex Slave

[chakotay-70770 · 10/10 · 1 March 2020]

What man can resist the wiles of a gorgeous woman hell bent on seduction? Not many....but if you think you can, then this movie is for you!

Here's a brilliant presentation of the irresistible power exerted by a ravishing brunette over a blonde youth. Dina Meyer portrays an insatiable cougar who demonstrates that it's unwise for any man to underestimate the bewitching power of sex when wielded by an irresistible female. This is the lesson embedded within this eye-opening movie. The fact that it's directed by a female director makes it even more hard-hitting, since a female is pulling the strings of the actors, to bring out the feminine mind weaving its seductive web to lure and trap the unsuspecting male she sets her sights on. Any woman who immerses herself in the story, will easily discern the indisputable fact of the immense power a woman can exert over a man using her sexuality.

Next time you're confronted with a dazzling beauty who's out to get you...remember the lesson this film teaches: a sexy siren is practically irresistible...

***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 29 July 2015]

Dina Meyer is definitely the new Mrs. Robinson of the ages.

She strikes up a friendship with a Princeton bound young man and she is as manipulative, cunning and vicious as they come. Too bad that the boy's mother, an over protective mother, literally fights her all the way. The woman has that kind of evil about her that even for a while turns the mother, a widow, from her gentleman friend.

Demanding that he ditch his scholarship and go work for a company as a technology whiz, this woman pulls out all the stops to be forever controlling.

Naturally, when she can't have her way, she resorts to violence and even has the mother confronted with a terrible choice.