John Brooks This has everything of a 6 or a 7: the plot, setting, cast...but turns out to be more of an 8ish, or at least a superior grade than one would think of giving it before having watched it full. We're given a synopsis that quickly reveals itself to be misleading, while not being a lie either. The evolution the movie is subjected to is a very refreshing and entertaining boost to it at the mid-film mark, where one thinks he's got the film just about figured out, and then it sees itself completely rejuvenated with gusto and new intrigue. The acting is good, and for both lead roles a difficult job because complexly ambiguous. The pace is lively, and the events and dialogs in the film coherent and pertinent to the plot.Ultimately I believe this film was highly influential, possibly even a pioneer in what it did. I can think of many plots from here and there following its core concept.

Spikeopath Pretty Poison is directed by Noel Black and adapted to screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Junior from the novel "She Let Him Continue" written by Stephen Geller. It stars Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph and Dick O'Neill. Music is by Johnny Mandel and cinematography by David Quaid.Pure definition of a culter movie? Probably Pretty Poison. A wonderfully odd neo-noir that's as cunning as a fox, Noel Black's movie flummoxed many upon release but the underground swell of the cult enthusiasts has ensured this particular poison is still around to be swallowed.Plot finds Perkins as troubled Dennis Pitt, an arsonist as a youth and fantasist as an adult, he's just been released from a mental health facility, in spite of his parole officer's reservations. Beginning his employment at a chemical factory, Dennis comes into contact with young high school drum majorette, Sue Anne Stepanek (Weld), and lets her believe he is a secret agent. Little does he know, but Sue is only too happy to indulge his fantasies, since she herself is harbouring some unhealthy desires.Much like the brilliant film noir movie Gun Crazy (1950), Pretty Poison upturns the standard boy and girl crime spree formula by having the girl be the one doing the damage. Dennis Pitt has absolutely no idea how not in control of the relationship he is, he's beguiled by Sue, thinking he has finally found a soul mate to share in his fantasies, but she's pulling all the strings, luring him into a web of chaos from which he is completely incapable of escaping from.With the characterisations firmly in place, where both Weld and Perkins are on top form, Black and his tech team pump discoloured blood through the picture's veins. Pic actually breathes as a black comedy, for the first third the makers are toying with us the audience, making us unsure as to if we should be laughing? Or feeling edgy? Maybe even daring us to walk out? Yes! The film "is" that off-kilter with its tonal flows. Then the light dawns on us, but not the hapless Dennis of course, that we are in a deceptively menacing Americana, one that's even strangely sexy, and cynical into the bargain.Subversive, intelligent and utterly compelling, Pretty Poison deserves to be better known. 8/10

edwagreen Miserable film. What was this supposed to be a continuation of Anthony Perkins in "Psycho."He made this dreadful film 8 years after "Psycho" and he was certainly building on the type of a sick person. While Perkins did make the far better "Friendly Persuasion," he did the marvelous "Fear Strikes Out," but again he seemed to be typecast as a guy with severe emotional and mental hang-ups.This picture certainly proves that poison is bad for you. Perkins is really demented here and how the Tuesday Weld character could fall for him as a secret agent is beyond me. All right, so she is supposed to be a naive 18 years of age in the film.Murder, mayhem and other misery best describe this film.

christopher-underwood This is a very unusual and quirky movie with great performances from Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins. It is also a bit of a worrying film in that everybody seems a bit unbalanced or at least not quite up to scratch and we are never quite sure where it is going to go. At first things seem straightforward enough, in fact Perkins' fantasies/make-believe tales for Weld are becoming just that much too silly when the whole thing takes off when the little lady gets a bit bigger. Not just a little bit bigger, either because she begins to dwarf Perkins. All very well done for no sooner have we begun to write Perkins off as an out and out psychopath, he becomes all vulnerable and we are forced to begin to re-evaluate Weld. My only criticism is that the film should have either been more hard nosed or played the whole thing for laughs more. Listening to the director at the start of the commentary on the DVD it seems that there was a deliberate attempt by the studio to soften the effect following the real life assassinations of the time. Well worth watching.