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Released by: New Line Cinema
Released on: 1/20/2009
Director: Jason Hreno
Cast: Shawna Waldron, Miriam McDonald, Greg Evigan, Catherine Hicks
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
The first of the (so far) four Poison Ivy films may not have been a masterpiece by any stretch but it was, if nothing else, a competently made thriller. The sequels, however, well that's a completely different story and this latest entry in the series is the worst one yet.
The movie begins after a college student is killed under some rather unusual circumstances on a fancy, snooty New England college campus. This strange dead doesn't deter Danielle "Daisy" Brooks (Miriam McDonald) from deciding it would be a good idea to leave the small town that she grew up in to join the ranks of the snobs who attend this elitist hall of higher learning. So off Daisy goes, leaving her friends behind (her parents have been dead for a couple of years now so there's not much family to worry about), to start a new life of sorts in snobsville.
Initially, things seem to be going well for Daisy. The Dean's son seems to dig her and she's welcomed with unusually open arms into a sorority calling themselves 'The Ivies' where she's sure to make all sorts of cool new friends, despite some ominous warnings from her roommate, Magenta (Andrea Whitburn). Daisy soon finds out that there's more to this group of stuck up sorority girls than she first suspected…
Wow, okay, this movie is a mess. Where to start…. The plot. We pretty much know exactly where this is going within the first ten minutes or so. Take into account that it doesn't deviate much from the formula that the first three films in the series started and add in the whole 'sorority/secret society' sub-plot and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to clue in quickly. It's possible that established fans of this series, and they are out there or New Line wouldn't have pumped this film out in the first place, crave that sort of predictability but outside of that niche group, I can't see anyone walking away from this one impressed with the script, story, or plot twists.
As far as the acting is concerned, while the cast is made up of a number of attractive young ladies, they don't really rise above the material even if they do occasionally show off the goods for the camera - and here's the movie's only real saving grace, the sex scenes are nicely shot and the girls involved in them look good. Fans of DeGrassi: The Next Generation might get a kick out of seeing Miriam McDonald play the lead (and lose her top) in this film and she certainly is all grown up now. Crystal Lowe from Wrong Turn 2: Dead End pops up in the movie, as does Catharine Hicks of all people - that's right, the lady from 7th Heaven and Ryan's Hope shows up here and plays the dean of the school.
Fans of completely overwrought melodrama and 'so bad it's good' sexified thrillers may dig Poison Ivy The Secret Society, but it really doesn't have much going for it outside of some amusingly horrible moments and a bit of nudity.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Poison Ivy The Secret Society arrives on Blu-ray in a fairly disappointing 1080p VC-1 encoded 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The first thing you'll notice is that skin tones look off, it's as if everyone spent a bit too long in the tanning bed. On top of that, reds are way too pumped up and there are constant saturation problems that are just way too hard not to notice. There's digital smearing evident throughout and detail levels are pretty unimpressive. There's digital noise reduction applied all over the place throughout the movie and fairly obvious macro-blocking issues in many of the film's darker scenes. The film looks pretty bad.
The sole audio option comes in the form of a plain vanilla English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix, not a DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD track to be seen. Optional subtitles are provided in English only. While the 5.1 track is of average quality, you can't help but want more out of a Blu-ray release than average quality, right? Dialogue is easy enough to understand and the levels are fine throughout but there isn't much in the way of surround activity to note and the low end is noticeably weak. There aren't any major problems with this mix, but it's hardly remarkable in anyway whatsoever.
Menus and chapter selection aside, this release is completely barebones (though it does include a bonus digital copy so you can watch it on the go!).
The Final Word:
The disc is barebones, the transfer stinks and the audio is limp. Even if you do like the movie, and the odds are pretty good that you do not, it's hard to justify the $35.99 MSRP on this one.