Poison (1991)

Three intercut stories dealing with "misfits" living outside of society's margin are told in genre style vignettes: 1) HERO. After killing his abusive father (Edward Allen), a boy literally flies out the window never to be seen again. 2) HORROR. A scientist (Larry Maxwell) accidentally drinks a potion that turns him into a disfigured murderous leper. 3) HOMO. In prison, an inmate (Scott Renderer) finds himself sexually attracted to another inmate (James Lyons). Written and directed by Todd Haynes (FAR FROM HEAVEN) in his feature film debut, the film was considered an audacious entry in the burgeoning gay cinema and parts of it are still potent. But overall, I found that time has not been kind to the film. Its intentional (?) amateurishness renders it an artifact of its time. Certainly, it is not without interest. Clearly there's a man of talent at the helm and Haynes would go on to make some masterworks like SAFE and FAR FROM HEAVEN and POISON shows a budding artist on his way. I found HERO to be the most engrossing of the three stories but it gets shortchanged as Haynes seems more interested in the other two tales. With Edith Meeks and Susan Gayle Norman.