Todd Haynes has talent. The failures of his film are those of a director reaching high above the usual Hollywood product. And I would unhesitatingly declare him an artist if only on the basis of Poison's opening sequence.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 9, 2023

Haynes is able to able to actually subvert the science fiction/horror genre—at worst socially conservative, at best a sympathetic cautionary tale.

| Sep 8, 2022

Haynes demonstrates an understanding of Genet’s centrality to gay culture while suggesting ways that Genet’s works can be used as a tool for exploring personal and political awareness.

| Apr 5, 2022

Poison internalizes its criminality by playing havoc with the laws of narrative and genre.

| May 19, 2020

A stylish study of human deviance at its dirtiest.

| Nov 9, 2010

An exercise in cinema of ideas that, while audacious and occasionally compelling, is ultimately less than the sum of its parts.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 9, 2010

I could have done without the designer prison, but most of the other stylistic conceits work.

| Nov 9, 2010

Arguably the strongest American debut feature of the '90s.

| Nov 9, 2010

captures the spirit of Genet's work

| Original Score: A- | Feb 16, 2010

Todd Haynes' Poison is a conceptually bold, stylistically audacious first feature, a compelling study of different forms of deviance.

| Mar 26, 2009

Boldly self conscious, Poison switches channels among its three stylistically varied but thematically linked tales with cumulative, claustrophobic power.

| Mar 31, 2008

A very tough, queasy film, but extremely powerful and a strong feature debut for Haynes.

| Nov 20, 2007

Haynes' brilliant feature debut is a triptych of visually divergent episodes, each set in a wolrd dying of panicky fright. Of the three tales, my favorite is "Horror," a poignant parody of b/w movies shot in slightly exaggerated noir vein.

| Original Score: A | Oct 9, 2006

Compelling and quirkily intelligent; Genet, one feels, would have been impressed.

| Feb 9, 2006

Todd Haynes boldly announces himself as a force to be reckoned with.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 22, 2004

A mysterious, funny, sexy, and scary triptych; each film works beautifully on its own, and even better in relation to the others.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 17, 2003

The overall effect shows a born director following his creative instincts fearlessly.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 22, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 13, 2003

The movie needs to evoke more than the ghost of Genet to give it resonance.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 20, 2003

Repellent in a way few films ever have been

Full Review | Original Score: 0/5 | Feb 2, 2003