"POISON IVY: THE SECRET SOCIETY"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) STARRING Miriam McDonald as DAISY Shawna Waldron as AZALEA Ryan Kennedy as BLAKE Crystal Lowe as ISABELLE Andrea Whitburn as MAGENTA Greg Evigan as PROFESSOR GRAVES Catherine Hicks as DEAN GRAVES Not Rated Now available on BluRay and DVD Studio: New Line Home Entertainment Directed by: Jason Hreno Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Continuing the tradition of sexy young girls with violent tendencies, “Poison Ivy: The Secret Society” introduces us to a campus organization called The Ivys. This group of seductive young ladies have power, money and influence. The leader, Azalea (Shawna Waldron) taps the innocent freshman Daisy (Miriam McDonald) to be part of the Ivys in order to control her and block her from a lucrative internship. However, competing interests in school, boyfriends and morality get in the way, Azalea proves that being an Ivy can be murder.
WHAT I LIKED
I remember when the first “Poison Ivy” came out, and I saw it on home video. It’s wasn’t any great feat of moviemaking, but it did offer a certain decadent quality to it. It helped revitalize Drew Barrymore’s career, and it led to other sequels with sexy actresses that were on their way to bigger and better things (i.e., Alyssa Milano in part 2 and Jaime Pressley in part 3). I’m not sure if Shawn Waldron or Miriam McDonald will go on to as big or as better of the things that Barrymore, Milano or Pressley did, but they definitely fit the role of the beautiful girls.
The catch to a film like “Poison Ivy: The Secret Society” is that it’s a mild blue film. Both Waldron and McDonald show off their assets well (thank you, girls), and it’s clear that their acting isn’t what gave them their parts.
Like the first “Poison Ivy,” which has a “Red Shoe Diaries” feel to it, “Poison Ivy: The Secret Society” also has that made-for-cable sex film flavor. It surprised the hell out of me, though, that this originally aired on the Lifetime Movie Network. Having this film pegged as more of a late-night Cinemax feature, I have come to the conclusion that I must watch more Lifetime Movie Network.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
At the risk of sounding chauvinistic, you aren’t seeing a film like “Poison Ivy: The Secret Society” for its plot or characters. Things don’t fit together very well, from the timeline of the film to the logic behind the conspiracy. I appreciate the fact that this film takes the “Poison Ivy” themes to a different level, but I can’t help but feel they’re just trying to give us a sexy girl version of “The Skulls.”
I enjoyed “Poison Ivy: The Secret Society” to a degree, but too many distractions in the film made it rank lower on my list. The biggest problem was that the male characters – featuring Greg Evigan as Professor Graves and Ryan Kennedy as his philandering son – didn’t have much to them. In the end, the film tried to pull them into a greater storyline, but there was really no development, and they were simply throw-away misogynistic stereotypes.
DVD FEATURES
The DVD comes with both the widescreen and full screen version of the film on one disc.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
The late-night Cinemax crowd and anyone who wants to see “The Skulls” with boobs.
