Poison Ivy (1992 film)



Poison Ivy is a 1992 American drama-thriller film directed by Katt Shea. Andy Ruben (who also produced and/or semi-directed the film) transformed Melissa Goddard's story into the screenplay. It stars Drew Barrymore, Sara Gilbert, Tom Skerritt, and Cheryl Ladd. The original music score is composed by David Michael Frank. The film was shot in Los Angeles.

It was nominated for the 1992 Grand Jury prize of Best Film at the Sundance Festival. Sara Gilbert was nominated for Best Supporting Female at the 1993 Independent Spirit Awards. Although it did not fare very well at the box office, grossing $1,829,804 with its limited theatrical release to 20 movie theaters, the film received favorable word-of-mouth, and became a success on cable and video in the mid-1990s. As a result, the film spawned three sequels that are, by subtitle, Lily, The New Seduction, and The Secret Society.

Plot
Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) is a teenage girl at a private school for the wealthy. At a local hangout, she first meets Ivy (Drew Barrymore), a street-smart but poor and trashy girl, and witnesses Ivy mercy-killing a heavily wounded dog.

In their second meeting, when Sylvie's father Darrel (Tom Skerritt) comes to pick her up, Ivy asks for a ride, and Darrel reluctantly agrees. Ivy makes an excuse to sit in the front with Darrel. She puts her feet on the dashboard and deliberately allows her mini-skirt to fall back onto her hip, revealing her legs, which Darrel notices.

A few weeks later, Sylvie invites Ivy to her house. She tells Ivy that Darrel is her adoptive father and that her biological father is African-American. She also says that she once tried to kill herself. They meet Sylvie's sickly mother, Georgie (Cheryl Ladd), whom Ivy later wins over by talking about her scholarship and helping her unblock her oxygen tank.

Soon after, as both of Sylvie's parents enjoy Ivy's company, they practically allow Ivy to move in. Ivy and Sylvie share clothes and sleep in the same bed. As they have similar figures, Georgie lends Ivy some of her clothes.

In an attempt to improve his failing career, Darrel decides to throw a party at his house, and enlists Sylvie to help him. However, Sylvie is needed at work on the night of the party (due to Ivy's interference), so eventually Ivy assists Darrel during the party. After the party, she dances with Darrel in the kitchen and they hug. Georgie walks in on them and storms upstairs. Ivy apologizes to Georgie and claims that Darrel was under stress and she was only comforting him. Georgie believes Ivy, accepts a glass of champagne drugged with sleeping pills, and falls asleep. Ivy sits on the bed next to Georgie and begins to massage Darrel with her foot while he kisses her legs.

Over the next few days, Ivy continues changing her appearance and wears Georgie's clothing more often. Sylvie becomes increasingly irritated with Ivy for her growing presence in her family, and her anger reaches a breaking point when even her dog chooses Ivy over her (in fact, it was because Ivy has some dog treats in her pockets). Sylvie skips school and tries to spend some time alone. Darrel picks Ivy up and they go into the forest, where Ivy gets Darrel drunk and has sex with him.

The next morning, Georgie plays a cassette tape that Sylvie made for her and walks out onto her balcony. Ivy walks up behind Georgie, talks to her and without warning, pushes her off the balcony. As Georgie is known to have a mental illness and has threatened to commit suicide previously, Ivy is not suspected. A few weeks later, Sylvie talks Ivy into going for a ride in her mother's sports car. When Sylvie becomes suspicious of her involvement in Georgie's death, Ivy crashes the car, then moves the unconscious Sylvie into the driver's seat.

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 there is a raging storm. She runs inside to get out of the rain, experiencing hallucinations all along the way. When she gets inside, she sees Darrel and Ivy having sex and flees the room.

As Darrel goes to look for Sylvie, Ivy goes up to Georgie's old room, plays the tape Sylvie made for Georgie, wears Georgie's robe and walks out the balcony. Sylvie sees Ivy and, because of her head injury, believes that it is her mother, and makes her way to the balcony. Sylvie tells Georgie that she loves her and Georgie says she loves Sylvie too. When they kiss, Ivy begins to use her tongue, which breaks Sylvie out of her hallucination. Ivy says Georgie wanted to die and now the three of them can be a family. Sylvie pushes Ivy over the balcony, but Ivy holds onto Sylvie's necklace. The chain breaks and Ivy falls to her death.

The film ends with Sylvie narrating that she still loves and misses "her", following the parallel between Ivy and Georgie.

Cast

 * Sara Gilbert as Sylvie Cooper
 * Drew Barrymore as Ivy
 * Tom Skerritt as Darryl Cooper
 * Cheryl Ladd as Georgie Cooper
 * Alan Stock as Bob
 * Jeanne Sakata as Isabelle
 * E.J. Moore as Kid
 * J.B. Quon as Another Kid
 * Leonardo DiCaprio as Guy (as Leonardo Di Caprio)
 * Michael Goldner as Man in Car
 * Charley Hayward as Tiny
 * Time Winters as Old Man
 * Billy Kane as James
 * Tony Ervolina as Man on Screen
 * Mary Gordon Murray as M.D.

Production
Producers Melissa Goddard and Peter Morgan bought the original idea to New Line. The studio then hired Katt Shea who had made a number of movies for Roger Corman; according to head of production Sara Risher, the studio wanted "a teenage Fatal Attraction".

The movie developed greatly from this premise. There were three different drafts of the script and four different endings. According to Shea the original ending had Poison Ivy getting away with her crimes and hitch-hiking along a road. However New Line insisted that Ivy be punished and made her shoot a new ending where Ivy died. New Line then wanted Shea to revive the character for sequels which the director did not want to do; Shea now says she regrets the decision.

Shea says that she never regarded Ivy as villainous and that Ivy just wanted love. She credits this for the film's popularity.

Reception
The movie debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and proved very controversial, in part because it was made by a female director. Shea: "I always told New Line it was going to be different from what they thought. I'm out to prove it's possible to make a film that's really artistic, that's an honest expression that comes from me and that can still be commercial. I told them I can only make movies for myself. I just know that if I really love it there's going to be a market for it."

The movie gained mixed reviews. It currently holds a 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 27 reviews.

The character Ivy was ranked at #6 on the list of the top 26 "bad girls" of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Sequels

 * In 1996, New Line Cinema released the direct-to-video sequel Poison Ivy II: Lily, starring Alyssa Milano.
 * In 1997, the second direct-to-video release, Poison Ivy: The New Seduction, starring Jaime Pressly, was released.
 * In 2008, the fourth film in the franchise, Poison Ivy: The Secret Society, premiered on the Lifetime Movie Network.