Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy was directed by Katt Shea and produced by Andy Ruben. They collaborated on a script that is tightly written, loaded with portentous events and a few surprises. Obviously, they operated on a tight budget, but they have overcome the limitations by wise casting. Drew Barrymore is a revelation. [07 May 1992]

Working from a script she wrote with producer Andy Ruben, director Katt Shea gets some sexy vibes going, and the atmospherically lit production has an unexpected visual distinction. Read full review

The film is directed with dark stylishness by Katt Shea Ruben from a screenplay she wrote with the film's producer, Andy Ruben. [29 May 1992, p.3F]

Its willingness to take risks, and its insights into the frailties and confusions of teenage friendships ('She might have been lonelier than I was', reflects Coop at the end), lift the film right out of the rut. Read full review

A B movie with a vengeance, one that offers a wickedly feminine (though hardly feminist) view of nominally happy family life and its failings. Read full review

The film is rescued, somewhat, by the fact that it is well-acted, and the performers keep the histrionics to a minimum. Barrymore a decade after playing the incorrigibly cute Gertie in E.T. The Extraterrestrial does strong work playing an icily conniving teen sexpot. [30 May 1992, p.2D]

Hitchcock liked typecasting, he said, because if an actor was right for a role, that made less work for the director in getting the audience to accept the character. Here the casting is so wrong that nothing quite works. Read full review

Though Poison Ivy is more than whoopee, audiences may find the movie easier to get off on than to get into. But why settle for the usual walk around the exploitation block when Shea offers a wild ride with the top down into uncharted territory? Read full review

Is Poison Ivy a total waste of time? Not really: there's a nice surprise in Barrymore's femme fatale performance, and more than a few pleasures from the gifted Sara Gilbert. Long may they act. [30 May 1992, p.C3]

Poison Ivy isn't that much of a film. But part of its charm is that it doesn't pretend to be. It is, however, a great showcase for Drew Barrymore, as bad-news jailbait. [26 Jun 1992, p.29]

A good performance from Barrymore, the admirable Gilbert (who talks as her character on Roseanne would if she was covered by an 18 certificate) and director Katt Shea Ruben, a Roger Gorman associate hitherto best known for sleaze thrillers set in strip clubs. Read full review

Problem is, the movie shifts gears abruptly in mid-story and what had previously been merely melodramatic extremism turns into hyperbolic horror. Read full review

Directed by Katt Shea Ruben from a script she wrote with producer Andy Ruben, this starts off with some spark and drive, in part because of the writing and playing of Gilbert's character, but gradually sinks into cliche and contrivance as the familiar genre moves take over, dragging down the characters, plot, and style. Read full review

Overtones are about all there is to Poison Ivy. The movie isn’t smart, but it never achieves true sleaziness either. Read full review

Poison Ivy doesn't exactly keep one at the edge of one's seat throughout, but it certainly holds the interest. Read full review

Drew Barrymore is terrific as a jailbait fatale who manipulates the members of a dysfunctional well-to-do family in this gothic sexploitation item. But while Poison Ivy tries hard to work up a sweat, it ends up so over the top that it can’t help but go splat. Read full review

A rash and prurient tale, full of the sort of stylish venom that could almost elevate it to artful kitsch. Almost. [29 May 1992, p.C]

There's only one direction for the movie to follow, and it heads there on a beeline. We could use some more information about Ivy, if we are going to take her seriously as a human. Instead, she's demonic and without history. That makes the enterprise resemble a comic book: a tale from the crypt, perhaps. [09 May 1992, p.C10]

The acting is better than Ivy deserves. Barrymore is surprisingly good, bringing the right amount of sexuality and mischief to her performance without coming across as ridiculous. It's tough for someone known mostly as a child actor to break into more adult roles, but she pulls it off. [04 Jun 1992, p.F3]

For the most part the actors' work seems incomplete because their characters are cut off before they can fully blossom. It's as if Shea didn't trust her own strengths enough to allow them to carry the movie. In giving in to the cheap thrills of the psycho genre, she's trashed the very qualities that initially made her work so impressive. Read full review

Poison Ivy suffers from a basic dramatic hitch. We in the audience are so far ahead of the people on the screen that there are no surprises, just the inevitable sound of the inevitable shoe dropping. Read full review

Suicide, hints of lesbianism, murder, staged accidents and every other applicable melodramatic contrivance is dragged in. Unfortunate thesps take it all very seriously, while technical aspects are emptily polished. Read full review

Much of the time, for all the leering effort she puts into portraying this demonic tease, Barrymore just seems to be playing dress-up. She also needs a more responsive co-star than Gilbert, who gives a one-note performance in the part that should be at the story's center. [29 May 1992, p.18]

Its toxic recipe consists of prurient exploitation steeped in dankly pretentious imagery. [01 Jun 1992, p.D4]