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Here’s my review of the film, Poison Ivy.
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Short filmTranscript
00:12hey guys it's review time here on the film scene investigation channel with me beau
00:19hope everyone out there is doing well thank you so much for checking out this video in today's
00:27review i'm going to be taking a closer look at the 1992 drama poison ivy this is a good movie
00:37and
00:37i'm looking forward to talking about it here today just before we get into that if you haven't already
00:43please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so poison ivy
00:51from 1992 was a drama that was directed by the filmmaker cat shea and starred drew barrymore
01:01in the lead role the movie's script went through several changes before pre-production and it had
01:09multiple endings as well it was clear from the research that i've done that the studio behind it
01:17new line cinema were very hands-on and keeping a close eye on this project in particular so yeah
01:26up until recently i'd never even heard of this film before and it was only by chance that i actually
01:33came across the trailer online from what i saw i was uh intrigued with the story but more specifically
01:43seeing drew barrymore in this provocative femme fatale type of role uh yeah that really interested me
01:53it was definitely a departure from you know the other performances i'd seen her do in the past
01:59when it comes to the narrative we saw drew barrymore's character ivy become friends with sylvie cooper
02:07the school's basket case who was played by actress sarah gilbert sylvie was the shy awkward kid
02:17in class the complete opposite to ivy who was really outgoing and confident it was very clear from the
02:26start that both sylvie and ivy you know they wanted friendship they wanted companionship and since
02:37neither one of them had any friends they were naturally drawn to each other the two really hit it off
02:45and they became instant friends and within weeks ivy ended up staying with sylvie in her parents
02:53extravagant home she soon became part of the family and actually grew a close bond with sylvie's mother
03:01georgie who was played by actress cheryl ladd georgie was a sick woman who was battling some sort of lung
03:10disease i mean yeah she was down and out there was no cure and she was dying however ivy's sudden
03:18presence did soften her pain i guess like her daughter sylvie georgie was in need of some companionship
03:30some emotional support and she got it with ivy but ivy's apparent kindness and understanding
03:41well it was all for show it wasn't real and the true manipulative nature of ivy soon surfaced ivy
03:53started flirting with sylvie's dad a guy called daryl who was played by actor tom skerritt a man
04:01that was twice her age it was all so innocent at first but what began as harmless fun soon turned
04:13into
04:13this secret love affair wow daryl cooper eh what a guy i mean it's like you know your wife your
04:24sick
04:25wife is dying in the next room but hey you know don't worry about that go and eye up you
04:31know or a
04:32teenager that's the same age as your daughter i mean yeah true true scumbag i understand that the character
04:42was under some immense pressure but i still don't think that is any justification to cheat on your
04:52dying wife while ivy was actively pursuing daryl in fairness to him he was hesitant at first i think deep
05:03down he knew you know what he was doing was wrong i guess he just couldn't resist temptation while i'm
05:12talking about these two and their relationship i need to mention the after party sequence where we saw
05:19daryl and ivy get intimate with each other on georgie's bed while she slept this was a dying woman
05:29a very sick woman and their husband was you know getting it on with a younger woman
05:36you know wow i mean you either laugh or cry so i'm gonna laugh about it but yeah i mean
05:44could the
05:45daryl character stoop any lower you know seeing all that play out you have to ask yourself
05:51what did georgie ever do to deserve that kind of treatment i mean come on like you know her days
06:01were numbered she was a sick woman and you know daryl knew this yet he just carried on behind her
06:10back
06:11i did feel really bad for the character but i am glad that georgie actually never found out about the
06:20sordid affair i mean she had enough on a plate and her finding out about her husband being disloyal to
06:28her especially when she was in that state i mean it would have benefited no one so i don't know
06:35i guess
06:35that's some sort of silver lining and to make matters worse even though georgie was dying of this lung
06:43disease for ivy that wasn't fast enough in her eyes georgie was becoming a nuisance and she needed to go
06:55ivy had daryl eating out the palm of her hand i mean she had really manipulated this guy and he
07:03was
07:03infatuated with her so once he was out of the way suddenly georgie was on ivy's hit list this all
07:12led
07:12to a scene where we saw ivy push georgie off her balcony in this sudden moment of madness georgie was
07:23there one minute and then she was dead as ivy looked on from above and we kind of finally saw
07:31ivy's
07:32murderous side come out in full effect she had intentionally killed someone and she had no remorse
07:41over it she didn't care i mean this was all part of ivy's plan and to be honest i could
07:49kind of see
07:50it coming i mean from what i saw leading up to georgie's death there was no way that i thought
07:57that
07:57she was gonna make it out alive so i noticed that sexuality was one of the central themes in this
08:06movie with ivy manipulating daryl and taking over his household now i'm not defending daryl here what he
08:17was disgusting was disgusting but clearly this guy wasn't thinking straight you know he's dealing with
08:24his sick wife he wasn't getting on with his daughter and ivy saw this she saw it and she pounced
08:32and she
08:33literally manipulated a weakened daryl for her own gains she began seducing him and basically weaponized
08:44her body in order to take control i have to say i was a little confused as to what the
08:55filmmakers were
08:56attempting here with the messaging because you can kind of look at ivy's story in two ways some could
09:06argue that ivy's journey was kind of this form of female empowerment you know taking control and being
09:14independent and basically saying f you to the patriarchy the same patriarchy that daryl represented
09:24on the other hand the filmmakers decided to sensationalize ivy's sexual conquests which
09:33kind of cheapened her ascension to power so yeah i was just a little bit unsure with those creative
09:42choices and the actual message the filmmakers were you know trying to convey let's talk about drew
09:50barrymore here for a moment i have to say she stole the show and she was absolutely the best part
09:59of this movie
10:01am i a fan of drew barrymore not really um i've always appreciated her performance in the west craven movie
10:11scream at the very beginning but um yeah i can't say i'm a big fan or anything like that
10:19but seeing barrymore here in poison ivy she really impressed me and to be honest i um didn't think she
10:29was capable of delivering such a disturbing performance the ivy character was truly evil and we saw that in how
10:41ivy was able to dismantle the cooper family but you know fairness to the filmmakers
10:49they didn't actually hang about in showing the true evilness of ivy as at the beginning of the film
10:56we saw her kill a dog in a so-called mercy killing there was a dog at the side of
11:05the road i think it had been
11:06hit um by a car anyways uh sylvie you know went over there to comfort the dog but out of
11:14nowhere this lead
11:16pipe came crashing down and you know killed the dog ivy was responsible yet she didn't seem like
11:25phased by it at all but what i found interesting about ivy was that she was a complex character who
11:32refused to follow the social norms she had her own mind she had her own voice and because of that
11:41she actually felt more like a real character not some teenage rebel caricature she also had a
11:51troubled upbringing losing her mom at a very young age and clearly that would you know traumatize anyone
11:58but ivy's past was only touched upon and because there was still a lot of mystery that surrounded ivy and
12:09her
12:09background i kind of got the impression that the things that ivy was saying may have not even have been
12:19true i mean let's face it the ivy character was vindictive she was a cold-hearted killer who
12:27continuously lied throughout the movie so you know can we believe anything that she said anyways barrymore
12:36delivered the goods she was amazing and this was you know a significant moment in her career where she
12:45was able to shed the child star persona for a more serious image so yeah great work actress sarah gilbert
12:55did a fairly decent job with her role playing sylvie it was an understated performance and you know i
13:04only know her from the roseanne sitcom i don't think i've ever seen her you know in any other projects
13:11or
13:11any other films so yeah to see her here in poison ivy definitely was refreshing it was very similar to
13:20her role on roseanne so yeah in some ways it was perfect casting for someone to play the basket case
13:29role i guess it could be argued that poison ivy was in a way a coming of age film for
13:38the sylvie character
13:40she had many insecurities and had to suppress them for many years until ivy came along while i don't
13:50consider this a coming of age movie it's safe to say that sylvie's journey was the emotional anchor
14:00that added a lot of depth to the overall story she was an important part but as i say that
14:09don't get me wrong this was still very much a drew barrymore movie poison ivy was a well-made
14:17production the cinematographer fade on papa mahal delivered some beautiful shots that really
14:25was a contrast to the ugly nature of the story i really liked some of the nighttime shots there was
14:35a
14:35lot of blue shadowy lighting and it really you know created this sinister tone the cinematographer
14:42has gone on to have a very acclaimed career in hollywood recently working on the indiana jones movie
14:49while that was a very bad movie it looked great and uh yeah clearly fade on papa mahal knows his
14:57stuff and so dislikes for poison ivy from 1992 my biggest dislike for the film and it's not a huge
15:08one
15:09but something that really stuck out to me was the scene where we saw sylvie go off by herself into
15:15the
15:16woods and contemplate her thoughts it was just this sequence that went on for too long about two and a
15:24half minutes and you know with the use of music as well it felt like a music video that you'd
15:30see on
15:31mtv you know don't get me wrong this movie had a very good pace but this one particular scene really
15:39just slowed things down and you know easily could have been removed from the final cut you had sylvie
15:46all sad and glum and because there was so much time given to it i was expecting something to happen
15:54but
15:56nothing did it was just a nothing scene you know it added nothing to the overall narrative
16:03and yeah i just don't know why the filmmakers decided to you know waste some time maybe it was
16:10some sort of way to pad out the film's runtime i don't know but um you know that sequence easily
16:18could have been trimmed down to you know 30 seconds or you know maybe a minute at best and that's
16:24it's
16:24all you needed so yeah i don't know so ratings for poison ivy from 1992 i'm gonna be rating this
16:35movie
16:36a strong seven out of ten poison ivy is a very good 90s movie a great psychological thriller with a
16:46young drew barrymore playing in this evil femme fatale the film explored the fragility of family bonds
16:56and you know made me appreciate my own you know nobody deserves to have a dad like daryl cooper i've
17:05made
17:05it very clear in this review how much i dislike the daryl character but in all fairness that just comes
17:14down to the great character work from actor tom scarrett he had the right look the right tone the right
17:23vibe
17:23to play this alcoholic television executive so yeah he was uh great stuff this movie often gets compared
17:33to the 1993 film the crush that starred alicia silverstein and i think that's down to the fact
17:41that both central characters were these unhinged teenagers now i don't know if it's a fair comparison
17:50but if i was weighing up the two even though i really enjoyed the crush i preferred poison ivy there
17:58just more going on you know keeping the audience on its toes and uh yeah i certainly look forward to
18:05going back and re-watching poison ivy in the future if you've seen this movie please let me know your
18:11thoughts and memories in the comments section below for those who haven't absolutely please do
18:19it's a big recommendation from me and well that's all from me today guys do hope you've enjoyed this
18:26review of poison ivy from 1992 i'll be back next week of course with another cult movie review don't
18:34forget to like and subscribe and of course take care
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