People are voting emotionally.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Absolutely Brilliant!

The first must-see film of the year.

In the end nothing else matters. Not the huge explosion from a trickling of gas, not the bloodless stabbing, not the medical inconsistencies, not the forensic evidence, not the derivative plot. The only thing that matters is that "Poison" is entertaining. This movie has everything, suspense, ample nudity, good character development, surprise ending, and of course, the wonderful Kari Wuhrer and Barbara Crampton. Do not listen to the people who trash "Poison" because of the above trivial objections, instead sit back and prepare to be amazed by this highly entertaining, sexy, revenge thriller. - MERK

After seeing this movie listed, and then looking at the previous comments here, there was no way I was going to miss it. Everybody knows "Plan 9 from Outer Space," is the worst flick, ever, without a lot of argument. For me, another absolutely, fascinatingly awful one is the opus starring Bruce Jenner and the Village People, "Can't Stop the Music."Now, with this film, you have the perfect trio of absolutely, totally and wonderfully awful films, in three genres: science fiction, musical, and murder/drama.Early-on, I was fascinated how the vengeful lead blew-up the home (one story outside, two stories within, as another already pointed-out). That stove had to have emitted gas fumes, in just a few seconds, at a rate which had to revise at least a half-dozen basic laws of physics. And the explosion created upon the target's flipping a light switch was greater than the one Jack Hawkins, Bill Holden, and their crew of experts, spent all night arranging, with about a ton of ordnance, in blowing the bridge on the River Kwai.On to the bloodless stabbing, the placing the corpse in the freezer, replacing the frozen foods (all while the daughter operated the garage door opener) ---- and on, and on, and on.My only disagreement with some of the folks on this site is that -- like the fore-mentioned other two flicks -- this one is also SO AWFUL that it DOES rate moving the dial in reverse from "O" and back to a "10"!!------------------------------ Having entered the above comment April/07 -- I happened to notice this film being run again today (12/26/07) -- and couldn't miss the opportunity to view this bizarre story once more.In accordance with this site's policy, from here this would have to be considered in the **SPOILER** category -- although I don't think this flick evokes a feeling of suspense on anything near a Hitchcock level.What did intrigue me anew, and a point I can't imagine missing commenting upon previously, is some detail of the ending. When the mostly clueless husband, now widowed, looks through the box with the effects from his late spouse's office, he encounters the photo of the femme fatale with her husband; a quick call to her assistant reveals he was wife's predecessor, had committed suicide, and his wife had run amok in the office following. This guy was so low-key in performing this role, we can only guess this now provided him some clue as to recent household events. However, the villainess heard his call to the assistant on an extension (naturally!), and a few moments later, attacks him in the garage. The two of them move, in combat, outside into the rain by the family swimming pool. They duel -- like, say Jackie Chan taking-on Chuck Norris -- utilizing , NO KIDDING, a tire iron and fireplace poker, respectively. Each strikes successful blows, but there is later no real residual injury indicated on either.She is hurdled into the swimming pool, and appears to sink. He immediately dials 911 to report the incident. In the next scene, reference is made in dialog with the detective in-charge about the housekeeper's demise. This all could not have been more than a half-hour (in Beverly Hills!) since his call, probably less. The detective says something relating to the time span since she fell dead into the pool. Hubby/widower does indicate he had perhaps blacked-out for a bit, obviously indicating he could be 15 minutes off in his reckoning.Next, the cover is removed from the corpse at the pool's edge, revealing the prior domestic, slain and placed in the freezer by the current one weeks prior.The flick concludes with the villainess now driving happily on a highway to who-knows-where, hearing on the radio of the husband's arrest (he's identified as a prominent attorney, for Pete's sake!) and now also under suspicion for his wife's reason demise.Such silliness is wonderfully consistent with the rest of this offering. This anti-heroine deserves a sequel. And it should begin by showing a flashback, showing how, in a maximum of, say, 15 minutes she: extricated herself, drenched, from the pool (without husband/widower seeing her); then extricated the frozen corpse from the freezer and deposited it into the pool (again, without being seen/heard); and finally, got-the-hell out of there before the cops arrive - remember, this is Beverly Hills, far removed from any public transportation; got herself and her wardrobe together, obtained a nice vehicle, and managed to get onto the highway, all apparently by the next day or so. Thousands of films have produced many, many unbelievable occurrences. This climax could well be the most wonderfully outrageous of all-time.

I could comment on the famously fakey shower-stabbing scene. I could comment on the fact that the film seems to be rooting for a woman who spends most of the film plotting the destruction of an innocent if slightly dysfunctional family. Instead I'll comment on the ending, because it's one of those endings that stick in your mind BECAUSE THEY DON'T ADD UP. Apply five minutes of deduction to the ending and it falls apart.STOP READING IF YOU PLAN ON SEEING THIS FILM.I'm going to try to be circumspect about this and hope I don't spoil it too much -- but if you have already seen this film, you know that eventually the police get involved, and that Person A is arrested. If you've seen the film, you may remember that someone has died before this and that the personal effects of that person are brought to the house. Mixed in with the personal effects are some things that belonged to the spouse of Person B, the person causing all the mayhem. One of these items was a framed photograph of Person B and the spouse. Think for a moment and you'll realize that Person B, after several days, has planted fingerprints all over the house. Recall also that Person A was told, not long after discovering the photograph, that (1) Person A's spouse replaced Person B's spouse at work, and (2) Person B's spouse had died, and (3) both events happened not long before Person B got involved in Person A's life.***HERE IS THE SPOILER:*** Person A is framed. The film tries to leave us with the impression that Person A is in massive legal trouble, while Person B drives off into the sunset smiling serenely -- that Person B has won. But wait a minute!What about all the forensic evidence that Person B would have left around? How much time could Person B have spent cleaning all of it up? Ask yourself if Person B would have known about the photograph showing Person B's face. Recall that Person B showed up at the place where Person A's spouse works and made a huge scene, so that at least two people who work there would definitely remember seeing and hearing Person B (along with however many people there would have been who weren't on camera but who were presumably working in cubicles and offices nearby).Ask yourself whether it's really Person A or Person B who's going to be facing legal trouble, when all Person A has to do is explain the events of the past few weeks and SHOW THE COPS THAT DAMNED PHOTOGRAPH. Ask yourself how long it would really take, if the cops had any competence at all, before the cops got curious about Person B.I realize this is just a cheap erotic thriller and you're not supposed to take it seriously, but still...

This movie is a direct rip-off of "Scorned", which in turn was itself a direct rip-off of "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle"; they even hired an Andrew Stevens lookalike to play the husband. To give you an idea of its quality, I will elaborate on the "bloodless" murder a previous reviewer talked about, and tell you that it must also be the first stabbing in the history of cinema that is executed without a knife! Yes, I swear, play the scene frame-by-frame and you'll see that when Wuhrer is supposed to be stabbing the housemaid to death, she isn't actually holding anything! Maybe that explains the lack of blood. But that's not all; the dialogue that's used to show us how the family is in a constant state of crisis is forced, awkward and delivered at the most inappropriate moments. The script is totally by-the-numbers, with every plot point telegraphed in advance (the "evil woman" seduces the father and the son, makes friends with the daughter, causes health problems for the mother, etc.). Despite all that, the film IS ultimately worth seeing, for one reason alone: Kari Wuhrer. With her pretty face, voluptuous and supple figure, and insinuating voice, she manages the no-small-feat of being just as sexy when she is dressed as when she is naked. She certainly blows Shannon Tweed out of the water in any case. (*1/2)