Pretty Poison

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Pretty Poison ★★★½ 1968

You won't need an antidote for this one. Original, absorbing screenplay, topnotch acting, and on target direction combine to raise this lowbudget, black comedy above the crowd. Perkins at his eerie best as a burnedout arsonist who cooks up a crazy scheme and enlists the aid of a hottotrot high schooler, only to discover too late she has some burning desires of her own. Weld is riveting as the turbulent teen. 89m/C VHS, DVD . Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O'Neill, Joe (Joseph) Bova, Ken Kercheval; D: Noel Black; W: Lorenzo Semple Jr.; C: David Quaid; M: Johnny Mandel. N.Y. Film Critics '68: Screenplay.