Pretty Poison

A longtime cult favorite making its belated but welcome DVD debut, Pretty Poison gave Anthony Perkins, the erstwhile “Norman Bates” of Psycho fame, another juicy role—this time as convicted arsonist Dennis Pitt, who settles in a Norman Rockwellian Massachusetts town after being released from a mental institution. Pitt becomes smitten with a perky young cheerleader, Sue Ann Stepanek (Tuesday Weld), and poses as a CIA agent in order to impress her. After having her imagination inflamed by his wildly flamboyant and violent (but fictitious) tales, the now-infatuated girl decides to shuck her small-town values and join the disturbing Pitt in what ultimately becomes a series of heinous crimes. Although Perkins is superb as the mentally unstable arsonist, it's Weld who steals the spotlight with her persona-smashing characterization of a Sweet Young Thing turned sociopath. Beverly Garland provides first-rate support as Sue Ann's widowed mother, who's helpless to stop the girl from falling in with Pitt. When first released in 1968, Pretty Poison delighted young, hip moviegoers excited by any Hollywood movie that poked fun at society's manners and mores and laid bare suburbia's hidden corruption and depravity. Today, Pretty Poison can be appreciated as a cleverly written psychological drama that still packs a punch. Presented with an excellent transfer, but no extras, this is recommended. (E. Hulse)