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  • Jack Remy directs this follow-up to the classic, and manages to get Veronica Hart to appear in a non-sex role. That's about all there is to tie this with the first film though, as call girl Krista Lane gets mixed up in a murder investigation when detective Robert Bolluck braces her for help. Problem with this one is that by '88 adult was playing it pretty safe, so there are little sleazy thrills to be found and it plays out pretty straight. Thankfully the actual sex scenes are all good with lead Lane doing a great job holding the film together and having secret weapon Nina Hartley in the cast certainly helps. So while this one isn't a failure by any means, those looking for hardcore thrills should find them here, it does have the problem of having a huge shadow cast over it from the classic original that it just can't overcome.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    There's no point railing against movie sequels: they were probably invented by Thomas Edison, Georges Melies or D.W. Griffith and are with us to stay. AMANDA BY NIGHT 2 is a belated (copyright 1987, six years later) followup that basically imitates rather than extends the classic original.

    Veronica Hart is back but just in two scenes (well-acted of course) as Amanda, now running a counseling center for prostitutes current and ex-. We find out late in the film that her cop husband passed away (a reference to the romantic finish of the first film opposite cop R. Bolla).

    Taking over center stage is a favorite of mine Krista Lane, quite good in a substantial role for a change, though obviously in Hart's shadow. She's Melissa, an upwardly mobile whore who is put in exactly the same situation as Amanda was: presumed witness who might identify the killer of a her roommate & fellow whore Bridget. Adult Video News gave writer/producer Harold Lime best screenplay kudos for his retread of the earlier script - as if anyone takes (or took for that matter) such accolades seriously in the first place.

    Taking over Bolla's slot is Robert Bullock, way too earnest as the cop who falls for Krista and is incorruptible. Villainesses of the piece are Ona Z (I was amused at her billing as Ona Zimmerman, rarely used instead of her trademark Z or Zee), a prostie wrangler who's deeply involved with evil pimp/club owner Billy Zee (in the Jamie Gillis role), plus a busty version of Tracey Adams as evil Madam George.

    The bad guys are Eric Edwards as a corrupt guy (similar to John Alderman's role in the original) and Herschel Savage, who had a bit part in the original but is upgraded to primary involvement this time. A new wrinkle, which eats up screen time but was considered necessary to up the sexual content, is Nina Hartley as an undercover cop seducing both Savage and Billy Dee.

    Pace lags terribly in the final reels, with the movie only saved by Hart's return to tie together key dangling plot threads. Even so, a vast amount of exposition is recited in the final three minutes as Bullock and Hartley discuss the case ad nauseum, prior to a final Bullock/Lane smooch to mirror the end of Part 1.

    Jack Remy takes over as director/cinematographer from Gary Graver and does a workmanlike job. I could see where if the first film didn't exist, this Part 2 would be laudable, but like the many U.S. remakes of French films (or Fincher's recent dull re-do of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO) the original is so much better it renders #2 as extraneous and ho-hum.