Dennis Burke, a college professor, and a Nathaniel Hawthorne scholar, has a fine eye for beautiful young students. He has written a novel that is well regarded, especially by his young women. As the story begins, one of the students in his class threatens to expose him to the faculty. Dennis must make a decision right away to solve his problem: he will accept a position at a California college.Things start looking good for Dennis, finally. The class he is teaching has a great number of students, mostly female, no doubt impressed by the novel he wrote than their interest in Hawthorne. Settling into his new apartment, Dennis notices there is a lot of correspondence for the previous tenant. Trying to find out his new address, gets him nowhere. Dennis makes a tactical and moral error when he reads one of the letters address for the man that lived there before him.The letters are from Lydia, who turns out to be a prisoner. Intrigued, Dennis reads all of the letters that are quite explicit. He finds out this Lydia is trailer park trash, but goes after her. She, in turn, will get him into all sorts of problems, for she claims she is innocent for a crime she did not commit. She wants to prove her innocence and for that she plans to use Dennis."Red Letters" appears to have suffered a case of 'direct-to-cable' fate. Bradley Battersby, the director also contributed to the screenplay he wrote with Tom Hughes. The creators borrowed from other films about the same subject. The viewer has an inkling where the whole thing is going and the logic of Lydia's escape and subsequent revenge is stretched to the limit. We have always liked Peter Coyote. He is a versatile actor who had done better before. Nastassja Kinski's Lydia is not one of her best roles.

"Red Letters" happens to be one of the must see movies I have to watch. A great cast of characters goes along with the plot, and it's very suspenseful as well. Peter Coyote did a spectacular job playing the reluctantly helpful Professor Dennis Burke, and Fairuza Balk looked good as student Gretchen Van Buren. Nastassja Kinski is the hot and sexy convict Lydia Davis, who's desperate need of being cleared of a crime. I think the four pictures of the photo booth was rather kinky. Lydia(Kinski) taking off her sweater. The question is what resulted of her state, Bra? or Braless? Who knows? The one scene where Lydia runs into Gretchen, and changes clothes with each other. That was strange. However, noticing Dennis' odd behavior gets him kicked out of school, but somehow it was worth it because of his conscience of finding the truth about Lydia's innocence. The movie was great, it has plenty to go on, and it's a big keeper in the video library. Rating 4 out of 5 stars.

OK,I make alot comments about Kinski movies,but everyone has their favorite artists. This movie is just fun from start to finish. And it does keep you on the edge of your seat. There doesn't seem to be a wasted moment in this movie; every scene is there for a reason. Just good film making and good acting all around. I think the title would make more sense if the prof's book had been explained in greater detail.

Good performances by a great cast. Fairuza Balk looked great as a student who knew how to raise her grade in more ways than one. Peter Coyote played a widowed professor obsessed with the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne and a sucker for the young women in his class. The plot was refreshing unpredictable and complex. The sexual undertones and twists were reminiscent of the movie "Body Heat". Jeremy Piven provided some great comic relief moments as the computer science professor turned internet hacker. This made for an entertaining and interesting movie worth watching. Look for a cameo by Pauly Shore, too.