Trailer
Plot summary
Richie Beacon, seven years old, is bullied by children his own age and beaten by his father; his story is staged like a tabloid television news magazine. Around it, two other tales are cut in: a scientist, Dr. Graves, who isolates what he calls the elixir of human sexuality and drinks it, filmed in black and white, with a female colleague who loves him offering help; and John Broom, held in Fontenal prison, drawn to a fellow inmate, Jack Bolton, whom he knew at a juvenile institute years earlier, and whose humiliation he watched. Dim prison scenes alternate with bright recollections.
Cast
- Millie Whiteas Millie Sklar
- Buck Smithas Gregory Lazar
- Anne Giottaas Evelyn McAlpert
- Lydia Lafleuras Sylvia Manning
- Ian Nemseras Sean White
- Marina Lutzas Hazel Lamprecht
- Barry Cassidyas Officer Rilt
- Angela M. Schreiberas Florence Giddens
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Poison (1991)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film drew controversy when the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent government agency, donated $25,000 towards the cost of editing; the NEA's then chairman, John Frohnmayer, defended the movie as "the work of a serious artist".
- Conservative figures including Senator Jesse Helms and Reverend Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association publicly denounced the film over its depiction of gay sex.
