Poison-20th Anniversary (1991)

Editor's Note In director Todd Haynes's feature film debut, POISON, three stories, each told in their own unique cinematic style, illustrate the lives of a people living outside the fringes of "normal" society. There is HERO, the pseudo-documentary about a seven-year-old boy who kills his own father; HORROR, a sci-fi spoof about a brilliant research scientist who becomes the victim of his own biochemical discovery when he finds the source of the human sex drive; and HOMO, a noirish drama exploring the obsessive, and sexual, relationship between two male prisoners. As each compelling story is told, their themes become inextricably linked, and the tension intensifies, culminating in an explosive climax of unsettled emotions. POISON is perhaps Todd Haynes most experimental, and most controversial, film.

	Susan Norman
	James Lyons
	Scott Renderer
	Edith Meeks
	Larry Maxwell
	Todd Haynes - Director

Part horror film, part drama, part exposé, POISON is a starkly original, provocative film that weaves together three stories. In one, a doctor turns into a strange creature after discovering the source of the human sex drive; in another, two prisoners become entangled in an obsessive relationship. There is also the story of a seven-year-old who commits murder, leaving his family and the town to wonder if that wasn't such a bad thing after all. Dark, funny, and fascinating, POISON is an anthology of stories each told in a different cinematic style, but connected like an insane, imaginative jigsaw puzzle. New York Times
"...A work of original aspirations....Nicely acted..." 04/05/1991 p.C8

USA Today
"...There's raw talent obviously in evidence..." 04/12/1991 p.2D

A.V. Club
"[T]he film was a genuine underground hit, a victory for the outsiders it championed." -- Grade: B 12/07/2011