Poison Ivy

Plot synopsis:
Sylvie Cooper (Melissa Gilbert) is a alienated and misanthropic teenage girl at a private high school for the wealthy. She first meets "Ivy" (Drew Barrymore), a poor but intelligent and highly trashy girl, at a local hangout where Ivy enjoyed rope-swinging from a tree. A young boy runs up and says, "Come on! A dog got hit!" Sylvie kneels next to the still breathing dog when all of a sudden Ivy crushes the dog's skull with a pipe (to put it out of its misery).While sitting in the office for phoning in a bomb threat to a local TV station (that Sylvie's father works for) she sees Ivy walk in and begins to talk to her. Later that day, when Sylvie's father (Tom Skeritt) picks her up, Ivy asks for a ride. At first Darrel, Sylvie's father, is reluctant, but grudgingly compromises. Ivy tells Sylvie she gets car sick and asks to ride in the front (a ruse to get near Darrel, Ivy has a bit of a fetish for older men). Ivy puts her bare feet on the dashboard and allows her mini-skirt to shrug back onto her hip revealing her legs. Darrel takes notice.A few weeks later, after Sylvie is no longer grounded, they meet again at the same hangout. They walk to Sylvie's house together, on the way Sylvie tells Ivy that Darrel is her adoptive father and that her biological father was black. She also says that she once tried to kill herself. Sylvie invites Ivy into her parent's mansion. They walk into the living room overlooking the San Fernando Valley. Ivy says that if she were to kill herself she'd like to fall. Sylvie's sickly mother, Georgie (Cheryl Ladd), walks in on their conversation, and it turns out that Sylvie was lying about her attempted suicide and her father. Georgie does not want Sylvie to be friends with Ivy initially, but Ivy later wins Georgia over by talking about her scholarship and helping her unblock her oxygen tank.In a voice-over, Sylvie narrates that Georgie liked Ivy's energy and that her mother and stepfather enjoyed Ivy so much that Ivy had practically moved in. Over the next several weeks, Ivy and Sylvie sleep in the same bed and share clothes, but when Georgie offers to lend Ivy some of her clothes because of their similar figures, Ivy begins to wear the expensive clothes.After a spat with her parents, Sylvie says she wants to do something to "make her parents cringe" and Ivy convinces her to get a tattoo so that "they can be like blood sisters".A few days later, Darrel decides to throw a party at his house to try and improve his failing career, and he enlists Sylvie to help him. When Sylvie's boss at the charity center calls Ivy picks up the phone and tells him that Sylvie can work the night of the party, which allows Ivy to fill in. She straightens her hair and wears one of Georgie's dresses. That night, after the party, she dances in the kitchen and then begins to dance with Darrel. Georgie walks in on them and storms upstairs. While Georgie and Darrel are sitting together, Ivy walks in and tells Georgie that she is sorry. She claims that Darrel came into the kitchen to cry, and that she was only hugging him to make him feel better. Georgie believes her and accepts a glass of champagne from Ivy. She then falls unconscious because of the pills Ivy had put in the champagne beforehand. Ivy sits on the bed next to Georgie, and begins to massage Darrel with her foot while he kisses her legs.Ivy appears to change over the next few days. She continues to straighten her hair and wears more and more of Georgie's clothing. Sylvie becomes increasingly irritated with Ivy and throws a fit when she finds Ivy with her dog in Georgie's sports car. She makes Fred (the dog) choose between her and Ivy. Ivy cheats and shakes the treats in her pockets while she calls Fred. That day, Sylvie skips school and tries to spend some time alone to sort things out in her head. Darrel picks Ivy up and they go out into the forest where Ivy gets Darrel drunk while they have sex. The next morning, Georgie plays a record that Sylvie made for her and walks out onto her balcony. Ivy walks up behind her and begins talking to Georgie. Then, without warning, Ivy pushes Georgie off the balcony and makes it look like a suicide (which Georgie regularly threatened).A few weeks later, Sylvie washes Georgie's old sports car and Ivy walks up with the urn holding Georgie's remains. She suggests that they take a ride as a final goodbye to Georgie. While she's driving, Ivy begins to hum the song that Georgie was playing the morning Ivy pushed her. Sylvie confronts her and Ivy crashes the car to avoid answering. Sylvie is knocked out from a severe head injury. Ivy moves the unconcious Sylvie into the driver's seat to incriminate Sylvie.In the hospital, Sylvie hallucinates that her mother is sitting in front of her. This inspires her to get back to her house in an attempt to save her father from Ivy. When she gets to her house, it is storming. She runs inside to get out of the rain, experiencing hallucinations all along the way because of her head injury. When she gets inside, she sees Darrel and Ivy having sex and flees the living room and runs outside.Darrel goes to look for Sylvie and tells Ivy to stay inside. Ivy goes up to Georgie's old room and puts in the tape that was playing the morning Georgie died. She puts on Georgie's robe and walks out onto the balcony. Sylvie is sitting outside in the storm and sees the light and, due to her very serious head injury, believes that it is her mother on the balcony. She goes up to the room. Sylvie sees her mother turn around from the balcony.Sylvie tells Georgie that she loves her and Georgie says she loves Sylvie too. They kiss, but then Sylvie comes out of her hallucination and sees that it is really Ivy. Sylvie attacks Ivy and they fight. The fight goes out onto the balcony and Sylvie pushes Ivy off her. Ivy goes off the balcony, but manages to keep from falling by holding on to Sylvie's necklace. The chain breaks and Ivy falls to her death, still clutching the necklace.The film ends with Sylvie narrating that she still loves and misses Ivy, and that she forgives her because "she was even more alone than me".

Tags: murder, melodrama

Review:
Drew Barrymore turns in the most memorable performance of her career, in this strange, beautifully filmed tale of betrayal and teenage alienation.
The atmosphere is almost haunting, and the relationships between the characters (especially the two teenage girl leads) are well developed enough to hold your interest.Sara Gilbert gives the film a sympathetic center, she's excellent as a bright, likeable high school girl who finds herself in far over her head when she befriends poor little bad girl Drew Barrymore.
I really enjoyed the two main characters in the movie - Cooper ( played by Sara Gilbert ) and Ivy ( Drew Barrymore is brilliant in this character ).
Ivy's loneliness soon starts to evaporate as she gains a mother in Chery Ladd, a friend in Sara Gilbert, but then she sets her eyes on Cooper's father ( played by Tom Skerrit ) and wants him in an intimate way.
All four of the main characters you can develop some feeling for, and you could even feel sorry for Drew Barrymore's Ivy, although I did feel as if sometimes some characters were simply failing to believe what was pretty obvious to everyone else.An 18-year-old Barrymore shines in this role, and Cheryl Ladd is also very convincing.A young Leonardo Di Caprio makes an appearance in a perfectly watchable (but also rather short) film, with good direction from the relatively unknown Katt Shea..
"Poison Ivy" begins rather endearingly, with high school outcast Sara Gilbert (looking like the modern equivalent of a teen beatnik) befriended by a striking blonde student with lots o' leg and a fake tattoo.
Poison Ivy is a good teenage drama movie, starring Sara Gilbert and Drew Barrymore, who both give great performances here.
When she ends up moving in with her friend, Sylvie played by Gilbert, Ivy slowly and seductively works her way into the lives of her 'new' family.
A teenage Drew Barrymore lends her undeniable sex appeal to this otherwise unremarkable erotic thriller which uses the well-worn 'family unit threatened by a wicked interloper' plot device as an excuse to deliver loads of cheap titillation.
Drew plays a sultry blonde with a troubled past who befriends socially awkward high school student Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) in order to scheme her way into her family.
Sylvie is captivated by her new BFF's wild streak, unaware that the luscious lolita has designs on her father and will kill to get what she wants...Although, on the surface, this film gives the impression of being a stylish, sexy and sophisticated thriller, with an almost noir-ish atmosphere and a cool slow-burn approach, when all is said and done, this is trash exploitation, pure and simple, as one might expect from the director of Stripped to Kill and Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls.Not that I'm complaining, mind, since I'm a big fan of the lovely Miss Barrymore, and trashy exploitation in general, and this film gave me plenty to smile about, namely miss Barrymore in a series of very sexy get-ups.6 out of 10, bumped up to 7 for all the gratuitous Drew!.
Drew Barrymore plays Ivy a Lolita-like teen that gradually moves in with a shy reclusive classmate Sylvie(Sara Gilbert)and the presence of the streetwise Ivy starts a chain reaction of mixed emotions.
Sylvie's self destructive mother(Cheryl Ladd)is jealous of her husband's(Tom Skerritt) reaction to Ivy's seductive ways.
Drew Barrymore plays a young outcast girls that befriends a rich girl and immediately starts moving in with her and trying to steal everything from her, her life, her family, everything.
Drew Barrymore never looked better than she did in this film and it's easy to see why Tom Skerritt is tempted by the teenage temptress.
Sara Gilbert, who older readers may remember from Roseanne and younger readers as an occasional actress in The Big Bang Theory, plays a very good supporting role in this tight, memorable, and erotic thriller.There is a little too much on the music playing in the background but all in all, this is a good film to kill an hour-and-a-half with, particularly as it involves Ms Barrymore at her sexy looking best in a role that she excelled in.
Poison Ivy marks Drew Barrymore's return to the big screen, and it's an impressive comeback, as a sexy seductress.
Poison Ivy is a by the numbers Fatal Attraction type of movie, with some small thrills, shock moments, plus some tame sex scenes, as mistakenly implied to the viewer by it's R rating, one brief moment including Skeritt and Drew, doing it in the buff, which probably was more more wise, considering the age difference.
...that's the basic plot of 1992's "Poison Ivy" starring Drew Barrymore in the titular role.
The movie comes from a long tradition of films about a hot little babysitter (or nanny or friend) taking control of the family by winning the hearts of the kids and seducing the husband.
In "Poison Ivy" Drew, as Ivy, plays a friend of the awkward misfit Sylvie (Sara Gilbert).
Tom Skerritt plays the slowly-seduced husband and Cheryl Ladd the withering (but still beautiful) mother."Poison Ivy" is more stylized than the aforementioned examples and technically better due to a much bigger budget.
It just goes to show that all the financial success and material possessions in the world can't buy happiness and love.Drew was almost 17 during filming and plays the sultry little tamale well, which brings up why people tend to look down on the film -- it's nothing more than a lethal Lolita tale with a slick garnishment and they write it off as trash exploitation.
Trash exploitation or not, it's good fodder for a movie, particularly if it's done stylishly, like "Poison Ivy".The film runs 88 minutes and the unrated version 93 minutes, both available on the DVD.GRADE: B+.
Drew Barrymore gives a sketchy performance in the lead role; at times she is effective, but at others she looks embarrassed with the clunky script that does the film no favours.
"Poison Ivy" follows wealthy but bookish Los Angeles teenager Sylvie (Sara Gilbert), who befriends Ivy (Drew Barrymore), a troubled girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
While their friendship begins with moments of usual teenage rebellion, Ivy's infiltration of the family unit, including Sylvie's father and ill mother (Tom Skerritt and Cheryl Ladd) grows more and more disturbed.Perhaps more of a melodrama and meditation on loneliness than the outright thriller that it sometimes is labeled as, "Poison Ivy" is a prime slice of early-nineties teen schlock, fitted with bad behavior, daddy issues, and a dolled up sixteen-year-old Drew Barrymore playing a devilish Lolita opposite an early "Roseanne"-era Sara Gilbert.
Katt Shea, who made a name for herself directing other hard-edged female-led thrillers like "Streets" and "Stripped to Kill" directs, and the movie is stylish and has some fantastic compositions scattered throughout (a gorgeous, artful overhead shot of the two girls getting into a car accident is a prime example).
Tom Skerritt plays the questionable father bewitched by the teenaged Ivy, while Cheryl Ladd has a more peripheral role as the suicidal mother.
She is taken with the sexy trashy new girl (Drew Barrymore) who has a fake Ivy tattoo on her thigh.
Sylvie befriends the new girl and gives her the name Ivy. Ivy starts insinuating into Sylvie's life causing trouble in her family and even seducing her father.Drew was shedding her child star status at the time.
(Not meant as a review)(but not to be hidden on the Board Posts either)Interestingly, the plot featured Drew Barrymore as Ivy replacing Cheryl Ladd as Mrs Cooper.
Drew Barrymore performs excellent in this movie, she plays the role of a seductress quite well, from the first scene with her friend's dad to the last seen.
It's your average, run-of-the-mill "thriller" with no thrills.Drew Barrymore plays Ivy, a psychopathic killer who moves in with the "rich, good girl" and slowly begins to wreak havoc on the girl's upper-class life.Drew Barrymore wasn't exactly showing off her acting skills in this movie.2/5 stars -John Ulmer.
Drew Barrymore plays a nameless teenage seductress given the nickname of 'Ivy' who moves in with lonely, sexually confused adopted Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert of "Roseanne" fame) and her family.
From a legal standpoint, it would be considered "heresay."And not only can we not trust what Ivy tells us, we quickly learn we cannot believe what Cooper tells us either as she lies to Ivy -- and us -- by her claim of her biological father being black, and she adopted, when that wasn't true, and the lie she told Ivy -- and us -- that she cut herself trying to commit suicide, and then told us a few moments later, that THAT wasn't true, either.And Cooper's narrative time-jumps, almost as if she's in a hurry to tell her story, and within a few minutes of the movie we go from them speaking of wishing to be friends to Ivy moving in with the family.
And so the household is drawn into a web of deadly attractions where sex, lies, even murder are the weapons in a terrifying fight for survival.Well, the back of the DVD tells you enough, but let me tell you why i give this film 10/10.Drew Barrymore plays one hell of sinister character here.
poison ivy is an erotic thriller,drew Barrymore plays a wicked teenage vixen hell bent on destroying the lives of everyone around her,shes sort of a sociopath,she befriends a wealthy girl(Sara gilbert)and tries to corrupt her.tom skerrit and Cheryl ladd play Sara Gilbert's parents as many times as i seen this film i never seen Leonardo d'caprio in it.
you might call this an erotic suspense.there are two versions available an r rated and an unrated version,i recommend this movie to anyone who likes suspenseful thrillers and drew Barrymore fans.directed by katt Shea who did a little movie with roger corman called stripped to kill (1987)with Kay lenz.i give this movie 8 out of 10..
I don't necesarily see the murder as something calculating and evil, I actually got the impression that Drew Barrymores character actually liked her friends mother and that she, in her own naive way wanted to help her put an end to her misery.
Not Quite How I Remembered It. I remember seeing this a very long time ago when it was first released and being enchanted with a younger Drew Barrymore but more recently I saw this again on a DVD and all I can say is that it's not quite the way I remembered this movie.Either that or I have gotten older and my values have changed but seeing this again it really doesn't feel like the same film I saw back in 1993.
Also how underused was Sara Gilbert and Cheryl Ladd, not to mention Tom Skerrit who not IMHO had the potential to take a bigger role in this movie, instead he plays that of a lovesick middle aged man.
Drew Barrymore plays Ivy and never convinces as the teenage seductress.
I suppose it's Sylvie we're supposed to sympathize with after Ivy starts screwing things up but the way Gilbert plays the part it's real hard to feel anything for the character.
Poison Ivy was made just before her career started to take off, but unfortunately her performance here is so childish and clumsy that the first impression I got was not "hey, here's young Drew Barrymore" but more "hey, it's that kid from E.T making out with that kid from Roseanne", which gave the whole thing an awkward feel.At its core Poison Ivy is a run-of-the-mill erotic thriller of the kind that was all over in the early 90's, it's filled with clichés that have been explored in dozens of better movies from Single White Female to Swimming Pool; but Barrymore is unconvincing in the role of the seductive femme fatale, and as it is the scenes of awkward teen Barrymore seducing older Tom Skerritt just made me uncomfortable and felt like Skerritt is the real villain.
Terrible acting from some at least somewhat talented people (Barrymore, Skerritt and Sara Gilbert are all awful - Cheryl Ladd is the only one who gives a passable performance) can almost be overlooked thanks to very solid cinematography, but as the movie progresses it's impossible to not realize how silly the whole thing is.
i guess this movie is OK.it has a few good moments,but it's generally pretty slow.it is watchable for sure,but given the premise i thought they could have developed the story and the characters more.for me,the villain in the movie is a bit weak,which is something i really wish they had worked on a bit more.a stronger villain would have elevated the movie.one thing's for sure,it is a weird movie.i really like the music.it's suitably sombre.the acting is good,for what the actors had to work with.i also like the dark tone of the movie.overall though,i guess i was a little disappointed.the story had so much potential which the movie barely hinted at.for me,Poison Ivy is a 6/10.
Trashy, but entertaining film about a teenage lolita (Drew Barrymore) who gets involved with her best friend's (Sara Gilbert) dad (Tom Skerritt) and then sets about destroying the family's life, which includes murder.
Drew Barrymore is the best in this movie playing a seducing bitch!
In Poison Ivy, Drew Barrymore is sexy and bad, it's hard to believe it's her.
I liked this movie a little with Drew Barrymore's perfomance.
Drew does the best she can under the circumstances (enough to make the film perhaps much better than it should be) and the chemistry between her and Sara Gilbert is very nice, but her character needs to be more raw.
It centers the seductive, manipulative teenager Ivy (played by Drew Barrymore), who wreaks havoc on her newly found wealthy, but dysfunctional family, which she basically bought her way into through her new friend the introverted Sylvie Cooper (played by Sara Gilbert).
As Ivy slowly works her way into the disrupted family, she seduces Cooper's farther (played by Tom Skerritt) and goes as far as killing Cooper's ill mother, (played by Cheryl Ladd, post Charlie's Angels) and attempts to replace her....
Poison Ivy is appropriately titled as the lead character 'Ivy' played brilliantly by a younger,blonder and trashier looking Drew Barrymore is a conniving,deceitful bitch who moves in with her friend Sylvie Cooper (Roseanne's Sara Gilbert) and slowly begins to destroy the already messed up family.Embarking on a disturbing relationship with the older Tom Skerritt,who plays Mr Darryl Cooper,Ivy is free to move in on the guy,as his wife Mrs Cooper (Cheryl Ladd) is lying in a bed a lot of the time,and has thoughts about committing suicide,sick of her pointless life.With Mrs Cooper out of the way,Ivy seduces Mr Cooper behind her friend Sylvie's back and what happens next is chilling and disturbing as Ivy gets deeper into the life of the family and shows her true colours..
It also made a name for actress Drew Barrymore, who would later go on to high acclaim in many other comedies.Poison Ivy is something of a prototype for the B-grade erotic thriller, a genre that would be one of the 1990s' most prolific genres.
The always challenging transition from adorable child performer to sexy adult star was achieved flamboyantly by actress Drew Barrymore with this erotic drama that unfolds like a paranoia-drenched Lolita also known as Ivy.Poison Ivy is a thriller directed by Katt Shea.
It stars Drew Barrymore, Sara Gilbert, Tom Skerritt and Cheryl Ladd.Sylvie Cooper is a misanthropic student at a private high school for children of the privileged.
The movie is somewhat interesting, especially to see Barrymore and Gilbert as teenagers, but overall this story plows no new ground, and the conclusion is rather predictable.
Sara Gilbert is Sylvie Cooper and Drew Barrymore is the new student, Ivy. They hit it off right away at school and pretty soon Ivy is making herself right at home with the Coopers, practically ends up living there.The dad is Tom Skerritt as Darryl Cooper, General Manager at a local TV station and clearly wealthy.
Drew Barrymore plays Ivy a young teenager who befriends a dysfunctional girl from a wealthy dysfunctional family.
hi,i saw this with knowing about the movie.first i felt it was not a thriller,but after thirty minutes i found the story is having lot of twists.particularly the way she kill her friends mom.up to the end i saw the movie with out missing single word.at least the movie is nice.one thing i want to say i became fan of drew Barrymore,up to one month i used think about her in my dreams,i like her very much,she is a talented actress.
This is a great teenage thriller, that's quite enjoyable,with a very good story and one hell of a sexy performance from Drew Barrymore!.
This is a great teenage thriller, that's quite enjoyable,with a very good story and one hell of a sexy performance from Drew Barrymore!.
But what I was most surprised about was the very good performance by Sara Gilbert, as I hated her character on Rosanne, but I really liked her here, as she had excellent chemistry with Barrymore, plus the ending is very good and somewhat shocking!.
This is a great teenage thriller, that's quite enjoyable, with a very good story and one hell of a sexy performance from Drew Barrymore, I highly recommend this one!.
Poison Ivy is set in Los Angeles where Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) has been summoned to the principal's office at school for phoning in a bomb threat to her father's television station, there she meets & talks to the mysterious & alluring Ivy (Drew Barrymore).
The acting is pretty poor, I thought Barrymore was very wooden with no menace or sexuality about her performance at all while Tom Skerritt looks bored.Poison Ivy is a terrible erotic thriller that is neither erotic or thrilling in any way as far as I am concerned, a real damp squib of a limp wristed film that delivers nothing.
Poison Ivy. I looked at the mention of the content, sexual references, and I think Drew Barrymore is quite attractive, but not like this.