Alicia I love this movie so much

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

RavenGlamDVDCollector (Not meant as a review)(but not to be hidden on the Board Posts either)Interestingly, the plot featured Drew Barrymore as Ivy replacing Cheryl Ladd as Mrs Cooper. A few years later, same thing with that overblown movie CHARLIE'S ANGELS. Let me come right out and say that I'm not a Drew Barrymore fan. Too trashy for my taste. I do however despair when seeing my dreamgirls age, being an old boy like I am, that goes part and parcel with the business, but I have to say, Cheryl Ladd, my favorite Angel, still looked great more than a decade after the TV series. Hey, she was all elegance and grace and allure despite playing the part. Hell, the only thing wrong with Cheryl Ladd in this movie was that she was ENTIRELY UNCONVINCING as a sickly dying-of-emphysema patient. She would not have looked like that, moved like that, talked like that, had she been trying to act the part realistically? Surely not?As for the movie, the character of Ivy is too superficial. No feeling is generated for her. And I am not talking about the feelings of ahem, the little boys in the back row. Bit of a dumb choice, little boys. Hollywood has much better to offer. Then, and now.Then again, I'm not knocking this movie, or Drew Barrymore, completely. Sure, there are moments. As trailer trash goes, at least Ivy is good quality trailer trash lookswiseCheryl's an angel though! (And hey! You who dare to vote my review as being unhelpful! Stupid dolt! This is not a review!):)

Wuchak ...that's the basic plot of 1992's "Poison Ivy" starring Drew Barrymore in the titular role. The movie comes from a long tradition of films about a hot little babysitter (or nanny or friend) taking control of the family by winning the hearts of the kids and seducing the husband. "The Babysitter" (1980) and "Summer Girl" (1983) are two examples, both TV films (available on youtube). In "Poison Ivy" Drew, as Ivy, plays a friend of the awkward misfit Sylvie (Sara Gilbert). Tom Skerritt plays the slowly-seduced husband and Cheryl Ladd the withering (but still beautiful) mother."Poison Ivy" is more stylized than the aforementioned examples and technically better due to a much bigger budget. One of its best highlights is its score, which is equal parts haunting, romantic, melancholic and beautiful. Speaking of melancholic, there's an element of sadness to the story because the family is so wealthy -- living on a mansion on a hill in Los Angeles (shot on location) -- but they're so spiritually bereft. It just goes to show that all the financial success and material possessions in the world can't buy happiness and love.Drew was almost 17 during filming and plays the sultry little tamale well, which brings up why people tend to look down on the film -- it's nothing more than a lethal Lolita tale with a slick garnishment and they write it off as trash exploitation. Regardless, it works for what it is; and, after all, does every film have to be "Ghandi"? Besides, "Poison Ivy" and similar films are more than just "trash exploitation". They're commentaries on the power of a woman or, more specifically, the power of a young beautiful woman. In the story, Ivy comes from a troubled past but, as a blossoming woman, she realizes the power she wields and seems to bask in it.I was involved with a church for a number of years and the granddaughter of the pastor was aged 17-22 at the time. She wasn't in Drew's league, as far as beauty goes -- not even close -- yet she still had power. She would lie about people and spread rumors and, because she was the pastor's granddaughter, some morons would believe her. She started dating a naive relative of mine, who was 19 years her senior, and it was clear that she was just interested in his money. At some point she was able to get his credit card info and bought over $17,000 worth of merchandise without him knowing it until it was too late. She did everything in her power to move into his house, but his aging mother blocked the last attempt at the last minute. His mom said that she could just see the vixen pushing her down the stairs, or something something like this, to get her out of the picture. It was even discovered that the little tart tried to buy life insurance on the guy, which was very odd. You can draw your own conclusions.My point is that these lethal Lolitas exist -- young vixens who use their beauty to cause havoc, ruin lives and take control. Trash exploitation or not, it's good fodder for a movie, particularly if it's done stylishly, like "Poison Ivy".The film runs 88 minutes and the unrated version 93 minutes, both available on the DVD.GRADE: B+

hall895 A horrible script horribly acted makes for a horrible movie. That sums up Poison Ivy. The story, in addition to being quite stupid, is incredibly boring. There's no drama, no excitement. Everything is sadly predictable. And sadly terrible. There's also no passion in this supposed erotic thriller. Sparks don't fly, the whole thing is rather tame. After setting up its rather absurd premise the movie fizzles out very, very quickly. It's a movie which never comes alive.So what's the story? Well, there's this teenage girl Sylvie. She's a bit of a weirdo, a total loner, no friends to be seen anywhere. Then we meet another girl. She's the trashy Lolita type. And she's a real mystery, doesn't even have a name. Sylvie calls her Ivy, that name sticks and before you know it Ivy has moved in with Sylvie's family. Never mind that they know absolutely nothing about this girl. Also don't mind the fact that spending a few minutes with this girl is enough to see that she quite clearly pings the crazy meter. No, they just let her move in and assume everyone will live happily ever after. But Ivy is a bad, bad girl. So she spins her web of deceit and Sylvie and her parents fall right into the trap. Unfortunately nothing about this proves to be at all entertaining and the movie goes from bad to worse to much, much worse.Along with the lousy story we get rather lousy acting. Drew Barrymore plays Ivy and never convinces as the teenage seductress. She comes across as a child trying real hard to be an adult and failing quite miserably at it. Sara Gilbert also shows a lack of maturity in the role of Sylvie. I suppose it's Sylvie we're supposed to sympathize with after Ivy starts screwing things up but the way Gilbert plays the part it's real hard to feel anything for the character. She comes across as a petulant, and rather clueless, brat. The adults in the movie fare no better. Playing Sylvie's not so dear old Dad is Tom Skerritt who never for a moment seems comfortable. He delivers his lines in such a forced, unnatural way it's rather jarring. Meanwhile Cheryl Ladd spends the movie in a drug-induced haze playing Sylvie's very ill mother. Well at least she has something of an excuse for being so lifeless. The movie as a whole has no life, no spark or sizzle. It's a painful slog, thoroughly undramatic, most of the time quite laughable. The story is dumb, the dialogue is atrocious, the performances are wretched. This movie is poisonous indeed.

tartis1955 This movie is really one of the best teen films I've ever seen. It is about mysterious seductive girl who somehow draws the attention of an introverted girl who thinks the girl is slutty, but likes her anyway. She not only wins over sylvie's good graces but also on the rest of her family and her dog. While the mother lays dying in bed with a terminal illness, drew barrymore's character took advantage of this situation and seduces him, knowing he wasn't getting any sex from his wife . With his dying wife While slyvie gradually watch her new friend take over her life , by first getting her dog to like ivy and then earning the mother good graces. Slyvie seems like a very insecure person to me because I think she knew ivy kinda wanted to used her after she started buying stuff with constantly but I guess she thinks a freeloader is better than no relationship at all. Sylvie's insecurity really shows when she gets mad that her dog ,who is the only person her dog doesn't bark at , when the dog starts taken a liken to ivy.Definitely an underrate film. I think solid performances were both given by all the actors . The music score set the tone for the film perfectly because I think it matches the mood of the film very well. Ivy wants two from Slyvie apparently : to replaced the dying mother and to be the new sexual lover for Slyvie's father that gradually died away from sylvie's mother when she acquired emphysema. sylvie's mother and ivy had something in common that sylvie wanted from both of them: Slyvie wanted ivy's appeal to risk taking situations and she wanted her mother's beauty.