
Event Details
In person: Maya Montañez Smukler, author and head of the UCLA Film & Television Archive Research and Study Center; cinematographer Phedon Papamichael; and director Katt Shea
With her dad experiencing a mid-life crisis and mom sick and bed-ridden, Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) has resorted to lying and bomb threats to give her life meaning, until she befriends the mysterious and seductive Ivy (Drew Barrymore). Ivy easily infiltrates this dysfunctional family, and as her deceit and manipulation creates chaos and tragedy, she shatters this family to make a spot for herself. Filled with classic tropes of the erotic thriller including a femme fatale, illicit seduction, and murder, Poison Ivy is often described as a teenage Fatal Attraction. It went on to spawn three direct-to-home-video sequels.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
1992 | 93 min. | USA | Color | English | Rated R | 35mm
DIRECTED BY: Katt Shea Ruben
WRITTEN BY: Andy Ruben, Katt Shea Ruben
WITH: Tom Skerritt, Sara Gilbert, Cheryl Ladd, Drew Barrymore
Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.