There’s something about the spirit of this modern-day exploitation flick that tells me Quentin Tarantino would probably like it. I would agree that at its base level, “Poison Sweethearts” is a good idea. Masked as an educational film, it informs viewers that females are irrational creatures prone to acting out in violence or lust, while it ups the violence. There is no cohesive narrative, either – instead, the film focuses on individual stories (with titles like “The Sister”).
While all of this sounds good, the film really suffers with some unintentional bad acting and special effects which look horrible, even if you buy into the idea that they are intentionally bad. Those things really hamper what could have been a solid exploitation film that apes educational movies. Instead we get just a nice effort.
A great title, a good idea, a flawed film. I give the Campbell Brothers (the directors) points for trying, though. Few people are doing things quite this way anymore. If the Campbells tried to get better results out of their actors and had special effects that were less laughable, they would have succeeded beyond even their expectations. Let’s hope there’s an idea for a sequel in the works because I think they just may pull it off next time.
