Poison1991
Directed by Todd Haynes
On the charts
🏆 4 wins & 6 nominations total
The premise
A trio of interweaved transgressive tales, telling a bizarre stories of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice, a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague, and the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates.
Horror Vault's take
Todd Haynes weaves three formally distinct narratives into a single unsettling tapestry — a surreal suburban crime told in mock-documentary style, a black-and-white science-gone-wrong fable of contagion and bodily horror, and a brooding tale of erotic obsession behind prison walls. Each story operates in its own cinematic register, yet all circle the same dark preoccupations with desire, punishment, and the body in revolt. Rooted in the shadow of the AIDS crisis, the film channels the transgressive spirit of Jean Genet into a bold, deliberately uncomfortable provocation. It is less a horror film in the conventional sense and more a fever dream that gets under your skin and stays there.
Content: Sexual Content, Depictions Of Sexual Abuse, Prison Violence, Body Horror Imagery, Disease And Bodily Disfigurement, Disturbing Themes
Where to stream
Cast
Edith Meeks
Felicia Beacon ("Hero")
Millie White
Millie Sklar ("Hero")
Buck Smith
Gregory Lazar ("Hero")
Anne Giotta
Evelyn McAlpert ("Hero")
Lydia Lafleur
Sylvia Manning ("Hero")
Ian Nemser
Sean White ("Hero")
Rob LaBelle
Jay Wete ("Hero")
Evan Dunsky
Dr. MacArthur ("Hero")
Marina Lutz
Hazel Lamprecht ("Hero")
Barry Cassidy
Officer Rilt ("Hero")
Richard Anthony
Edward Comacho ("Hero")
Angela M. Schreiber
Florence Giddens ("Hero")
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