Directed by:
Jim Winorsky


Starring:
Kari Wuhrer/Ann
Jeff Trachta/Scott
Barbara Crampton/Nicole
Melissa Stone/Darla


Rating:
1.5 out of 4


PLOT-CRUNCH:
Ann’s (Wuhrer) husband fails to get the coveted VP position at his job, gets fired and then commits suicide. Ann eventually loses her marbles and craves revenge. She infiltrates the dysfunctional family of the company’s new VP (Crampton) posing as a replacement maid...


THE LOWDOWN:
I’ll start off by saying that I’m a big Kari Wuhrer fan. I think that she’s a strong, underrated actress who somehow got stuck playing in Z-Grade sexploitation crud. I wish someone would finally give her a starring role in a more legit movie ("Eight Legged Freaks" might be it). But even in trite like "Poison", she shines through.

If the premise sounds a tad familiar, it’s because “The Hand That Rock The Cradle” was about the exact same thing. Woman’s husband commits suicide, woman goes nuts, woman infiltrates the family she blames, woman beds everybody, woman kills. Now we don’t watch movies like "Poison" seeking originality; we watch them for a quick fix of cheap thrills.

The film doesn’t score much better in the “thrills” department either. The diabetes thang was way too predictable to be enjoyable (and very similar to the asthma angle in “Cradle”). Also, how can I feel tension in regards to the family when they’re all despicable, selfish, half-wits? I was rooting for them to bite the bullet the whole way! My other qualm with the film is the presence of the dinky son character (Jone). Why was that chump even in the damn flick?

So is there anything left to enjoy about this cheap trick? Well, Kari Wuhrer comes through gangbusters. I think she believed that she was acting in a real film because she leaves everybody in the dust with her solid performance. I also found myself enjoying the stupider moments of the story, like when Darla’s parents catch her getting banged out of her dumb blonde mind by some dude in the garage. Fucking hilarious! The film also offers us a nice explosion and Kari Wuhrer’s presence kept me somewhat interested most of the time. Overall, this dirty whore runs on autopilot the whole way and is really just a big excuse to show female flesh. It uses really dumb events to build suspense or slaps in convenient coincidences to move the story forward.


Acting
Kari Wuhrer (Ann) is the reason to see the film if you have to see it. She’s natural, focused and gives a very credible performance. She’s also sizzling hot. Jeff Trachta (Scott) also displays fine acting chops but that mullet he’s sporting discredited most of it. I couldn’t get past it; get a haircut, dude! Barbara Crampton (Nicole) does what she can with what she’s given. More layers to her character would have helped her case. Here, she’s just an unlikeable b****. Melissa Stone (Darla) is far from convincing as the 17-year old daughter that looks like she’s 25. Both her physical appearance and her acting felt phony. Who cast this broad? Seth Jone (David) bored the s*** out of me and his delivery was awful. The best example of his inexperience was his poolside monologue. “puke”


EXTRAS:
Director, Cast Bios: The most interesting thing I found out here is that Kari Wuhrer also puts out music, her album is called “Shiny”.


BOTTOM LINE:
If you’re a fan of Kari Wuhrer I suggest you rent "Anaconda" or "The Crossing Guard".




See full review at Arrow In The Head
http://www.joblo.com/arrow/reviews.php?id=587

Interesting! It's nice to see someone besides us thinks Kari should be in a "BIG" movie and realizes how talented she is.

I agree 110%

TOTALLY AGREE with you Lorri!! She is so much better than some of the "A List" actresses that are way overrated!!

I loved Poison aka love thy neighbor.. the best kari movie.. wow and those love scenes. LOL