Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R, Unrated
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Directors: Katt Shea, Anne Goursaud, Kurt Viss, Josh Hreno
Cast:
Synopsis: Tempestuous young Ivy (Drew Barrymore) befriends introverted teen Sylvie (Sara Gilbert) and seduces her way into the lives of Sylvie's wealthy family in Poison Ivy. In the piquant follow-up, Poison Ivy 2: Lily, a sheltered art student (Alyssa Milano) finds Ivy's diaries and, after reading them, is lured into uninhibited risk-taking to become a wild woman! Then Ivy's sister (Jaime Pressly) visits the Greer residence in Poison Ivy: The New Seduction, and it doesn't take long for her to use her skills of manipulation to throw the household into a slate of panic and deceit. A college freshman (Miriam McDonald) is invited to join an exclusive campus sisterhood, where cold blooded ambition causes the group to seduce, blackmail or do away with anyone that gets in their way in Poison Ivy: The Secret Society.
Scream Factory bring us all four of the Poison Ivy films with this four-disc set, and let me tell you I was rather shocked to learn there were three sequels to the first film, a movie I saw in the cinema my senior year in high school with my girlfriend. She is sort of the reason I hated the film when I forst saw it, being a teen and a bit insecure at the time the movie absolutely hit a sore spot for me, as I had learned by girlfriend at the time had a thing for older men, which made me feel a bit inadequate. With that on my mind when I was sitting in the theater and Drew Barrymore's sexually charged femme fatale went all-in for older man Tom Skerrit it just annoyed be to an unreasonable degree, so much so that this Blu-ray was the first time I revisited the film since I saw it in the cinema. Watching it now I think Katt Shea's erotic-thriller is a fairly well-crafted and entertaining slice of tawdry trash, a sort of Fatal Attraction for 90's teens. The sequels however are nowhere near as fun as the first film in my opinion, but they do star attractive young actresses, the sequels starring Alyssa Milano (TV's Who's The Boss?), Jaime Pressly (TV's My Name Is Earl and Miriam McDonald (TV's Degrassi: The Next Generation). If you're a fan of erotic-thrillers with made-for-cable-TV production values there's some fun to be had, offering some minor 90's softscore sizzle with a bit of camp value and little else.
Audio/Video: The Poison Ivy Collection arrives on 4-disc Blu-ray in 1080p HD widescreen, but do not look to have been restored much, with these probably just being HD masters provided by the licencors. The unremarkable image shows a bit of bit of grit and debris throughout, not at all impressive, with the first film looking the best of the bunch. Each film gets an English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 mix with optional English subtitles.
Onto the extras the first three films get both r-rated and unrated cuts (with standard definition inserts) of the film, plus the first film gets an audio commentary from Katt Shea, plus trailers for all the film. The 4-disc sets arrives in an over-sized Blu-ray keepcase, each film presented on it's own disc. On the reverse side of the wrap there's a four quadrant image of the movie posters for the films. This release also comes with a slipcase featuring the same key artwork as the wrap.
Special Features:
Disc One: Poison Ivy
- R-Rated Version Of The Film
- Unrated Version (With Standard Definition Inserts)
- NEW Audio Commentary With Co-writer/Director Katt Shea (Theatrical Version)
- Trailer
Disc Two: Poison Ivy 2: Lily
- R-Rated Version Of The Film
- Unrated Version (With Standard Definition Inserts)
- Trailer
Disc Three: Poison Ivy: The New Seduction
- R-Rated Version Of The Film
- Unrated Version (With Standard Definition Inserts)
- Trailer
Disc Four: Poison Ivy: The Secret Society
- Unrated Version
- Trailer
The first film is the best of the bunch here but this sort of 90's erotic thriller stuff is not my bag. I tend to like my erotic films to be more stylish or a lot more filthy, truth be told, and these films don't really meet those criteria for me, so not a recommend for me. I would think this collection is a bit of a hard sell as the A/V is not all that impressive and the extras are very slim, you'd have to be a big fan to shell out for it, but if you're dying to get your hands on these film it's available.
