Poison is a celebrated 1991 drama / horror film written and directed by Todd Haynes. With its gay themes, Poison is considered an early entry in the short lived New Queer Cinema movement.
The film was inspired by the writings of Jean Genet and deftly interweaves three tales – Hero, Horror and Homo – and builds towards a devastating climax.
Hero, shot in mock TV-documentary style, tells a bizarre story of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice; Horror, filmed like a delirious '50s B-movie melodrama, is the gothic tale of a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague; while the lushly photographed Homo explores the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates.
A runaway theatrical hit and Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner, which made national headlines and the network news when it was attacked by right-wing minister Donald Wildmon, POISON is unsettling, unforgettable and thoroughly entertaining.
Special features
- Todd Haynes' rare short film “DOTTIE GETS SPANKED”
Awards
- Sundance Film Festival 1991 – Won Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic
- Berlin International Film Festival 1991 – Won Best Feature Film
- Fantasporto 1992 – Won Critics' Award, Nominated Best Film
- Independent Spirit Awards 1992 – Nominated Best Director, Best First Feature
Reviews
“Imaginative and suggestive… takes you places you haven't been.” –
NEWSWEEK
“Brash and haunting… witty and effective.” – NEW YORK TIMES
“Arguably the strongest American debut feature of the '90s, Todd Haynes's Poison—aptly billed as telling "three tales of transgression and punishment”..opens with a quote, at once topical and prescient, from Jean Genet: “The whole world is dying of panicky fright.”…its fractured narrative, complete with multiple narrators and wildly diverse styles (suburban mock-doc, B-movie horror flick, Genetian reverie), is enough to make the movie itself appear, well, queer. In the Voice, J. Hoberman likened the film to a “low-budget Intolerance,” referring to D.W. Griffith's epic of historical suffering. He also made a prediction: “[I]ts unique combination of bluntness and metaphor suggests it may turn out to be a landmark. . . .” Village Voice