Poison Ivy

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Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy film poster
Directed by	Katt Shea
Produced by	Andy Ruben
Written by	Melissa Goddard (story) Andy Ruben (screenplay)
Starring	Drew Barrymore Sara Gilbert Tom Skerritt Cheryl Ladd
Music by	David Michael Frank
Cinematography	Phedon Papamichael Jr.
Editing by	Gina Mittelman
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	May 8, 1992 (USA)
Running time	88 min. (rated version) 92 min. (unrated version)
Language	English
Budget	$3,000,000, (estimated)
Followed by	Poison Ivy II: Lily

Poison Ivy is a 1992 thriller and drama film directed by Katt Shea. Andy Ruben (who also produced 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. This film was shot in Los Angeles, California.

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, the film received favourable word-of-mouth, and became a success on cable and video in the mid 1990s. The film has spawned several sequels and is marketed with the tagline "What Ivy wants, Ivy gets." The most recent sequel, Poison Ivy 4: The Secret Society was released in Summer 2008.

The character Ivy was ranked at #6 on the list of the top 26 "bad girls" of all time by Entertainment Weekly.^[1]

Plot summary

At the opening of the film, Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) is a misanthropic student at a private high school for the privileged in Beverly Hills, California. She befriends "Ivy" (Drew Barrymore), a poor but intelligent and seductive girl attending the school on a scholarship, and Ivy quickly becomes close with Sylvie's family, to the point of moving in with them. Ivy begins to have a sexual relationship with Sylvie's father, Darryl (Tom Skerritt), as Sylvie's mother Georgie (Cheryl Ladd) becomes increasingly withdrawn from the family. Eventually, Ivy murders Georgie, making it look like a suicide.

Several weeks later, when Ivy and Sylvie are driving in Georgie's old car, Sylvie asks Ivy if she had known anything about Georgie's "suicide". To avoid the question, Ivy crashes the car, knocking Sylvie unconscious. After the crash, Ivy moves Sylvie into the driver's seat to make it look as if Sylvie had been driving.

When Sylvie wakes up in the hospital, she realizes that Ivy is dangerous and hurries home, where she finds Ivy and Darryl having sex. She runs away from them and Ivy follows her, confronting her on the balcony where Georgie had died. After an argument, the two girls fight at the edge of the balcony, and ultimately Sylvie pushes Ivy off edge, and Ivy falls to her death.

Main cast

• Drew Barrymore - Ivy
• Sara Gilbert - Sylvie Cooper
• Tom Skerritt - Darryl Cooper
• Cheryl Ladd - Georgie Cooper
• Alan Stock - Bob
• Jeanne Sakata - Isabelle
• Leonardo DiCaprio - Guy

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 Jamie Pressly, was released.
• In 2008 the fourth film in the franchise, Poison Ivy: The Secret Society, premiered on the Lifetime Movie Network.

References

1. ^ Bernardin, Marc (29 June 2008). "Lethal Ladies: 26 Best Big-Screen Bad Girls". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20194359_5,00.html. Retrieved 13 January 2009. 

External links

• Poison Ivy at the Internet Movie Database
• Poison Ivy at Allmovie
• Poison Ivy at Rotten Tomatoes
• Poison Ivy at Box Office Mojo