Poison

35th anniversary of Todd Haynes's New Queer Cinema classic.

The second feature directed by Haynes, this groundbreaking American indie was one of the most fervently debated film of the early 1990s and a trailblazing landmark of queer cinema. A work of immense visual invention; audacious, disturbing, and thrillingly cinematic.

Inspired by the writings of Jean Genet, POISON deftly interweaves a trio of transgressive tales — “Hero,” “Horror,” and “Homo” — that build toward a devastating climax. “Hero,” shot in mock TV-documentary style, tells a bizarre story of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice; “Horror,” filmed like a delirious ’50s B-movie melodrama, is a gothic tale of a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague; while “Homo” explores the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival.

“Boldly self conscious, Poison switches channels among its three stylistically varied but thematically linked tales with cumulative, claustrophobic power.” David Ansen, Newsweek

“‘The whole world is dying of panicky fright’ are the words that open the movie. Poison makes the fear palpable.” Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle