Direct to DVD: Poison Sweethearts

Poison Sweethearts
Year: 2008
Directors: Andy Campbell, Luke Campbell
Stars: Ashleigh Holeman, Roza Haidet, James L. Edwards
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Tempe Entertainment / Compound Pictures
Running Time: 70 Mins
Review Rating: 3 Stars
Official Website: http://www.poisonsweethearts.com/

Poison Sweethearts takes place on the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, where the women are always being bullied and have their backs against the wall. Now they are seeking revenge from the men that are abusing them. The film follows a woman forced to work for a greedy pimp, a teenager that falls for two break dancers that she meets in the park, a librarian who dreams of something better than her job, a housewife who feels neglected by her husband, and a woman who has no freedom because she has to take care for her alcoholic father. These are blood-soaking tales that are examples of what could happen if women are pushed too far.

At least this film, unlike the last film I reviewed (Mad Bad) lived up to the it’s tagline, which is for this film “Women…who can’t take it anymore!” I’m warning you, if you are looking for a scary film that has an abundant amount of gore then this is defiantly not a film for you. But if you looking a psychological/weird and eerie grindhouse type film then this is just the film for you.

Poison Sweetheart is a film really shows off to what a grindhouse film is. Directors Luke and Andy Campbell do a very good job with their direction of the film. I liked how they filmed this film. They used two different types of film cameras. They used the digital cameras for the each of the six stories in the film while using a 16mm camera for the interludes between each story. It gave off that low budget/grindhouse feel to the film that the filmmaker were trying to create. The acting for the most part was good, even thought there were a couple of performances that felt amateurish.

The screenplay written by Andy Campbell and Jason Bullis was good. One of the things that made this film enjoyable was the fact that the screenplay does a good job focusing on the main characters of each of the six stories. They do that by having the main character act as the narrator for the story, as it went into the character’s state of mind. It also helped cover up some of the low production value that this film had. I like also liked how the writers wrote the interludes to each of the stories, as it tries to bring a psychological element to the film. If this had one problem, it was the fact that it wasn’t scary, as the kills didn’t give you that creepy feeling that you need for a horror film. They felt kind of dry and unenergetic. But still this didn’t affect my enjoyment of the film to the point that I hated it.

Poison Sweethearts will make you think twice before messing with a girl.

DVD Extras:

Audio Commentary from Luke and Andy Campbell
Unfinished Scenes from the 2002 version
3 Music Videos
Theatrical and Teaser Trailers
Theatrical Trailer for “Cordoba Nights”