Hardcore Poisoned Eyes DVD Review

Three young women, Angelique (Christine Gallo), Sarah (Wendy Allyn) and Ellie (Jessica Hester) get away for the weekend to a secluded woodland cabin that belonged to Angelique's late Grandfather. Sarah is a boisterous party animal who intends to have a good time, she's drunk before they even arrive at the cabin. Ellie's life revolves around her boyfriend and her plans to get married. Angelique is an intelligent, focused woman who wants to follow in her grandfather's footsteps as a writer. She has an ulterior motive for their trip to the cabin, her Grandfather was investigating a Satanic cult and had discovered some terrible secrets through an insider he had made contact with. Angelique is convinced that he was murdered by Satanists for uncovering their diabolical secrets. Her Grandfather’s research papers are still at the cabin, Angelique admits to her friends the real reason she wanted to go to the woodland retreat and she tells them her story. The three girls spend the evening drinking, and Sarah gets seriously intoxicated. She suggests they phone Angelique's Grandfather's contact and tell him they were onto him. Angelique and Ellie protest but Sarah gets the number makes the call. Realising what a mistake this was, they start to sober up and before long, they become prisoners in the cabin and face a night of terror.

Well this one certainly caught me by surprise; what started out as a dialogue driven, slightly rambling affair, turned out to the the first film in absolutely ages to unnerve me. The first part of the film sets the scene and introduces the three characters well. The gorgeous Angelique and Tom-boyish Sarah in particular have some in depth, if sometimes slightly surreal, theosophical debates. All three girls play their parts really well. Most of the story is set inside the cabin, creating a sense of paranoia and claustrophobia. The tension is built effectively, but when the action switches to outside in the dead of night, it's almost impossible to see what's going on, but this actually adds to the suspense. I was expecting this film to be a bloodbath, but it's not at all, in fact there's very little in the way of explicit violence; it's all implied, leaving your poor wretched mind to fill in the nerve-racking details. Hardcore Poisoned Eyes is an effective, atmospheric thriller with some genuinely creepy moments. S.J.T.

Hardcore Poison Eyes. 2000

Directed by Sal Ciavarello