Stylised feature film which has evoked very polemical reactions in the United States, not least because of its pronounced homo-erotic scenes. Poison was partly financed with government funding (such as The National Endowment for the Arts) and has woken the fury of a puritanical and conservative lobby, personified by Jesse Helms. But if also received the jury film at the Sundance Film Festival.Poison actually comprises three different films (Hero, Horror and Homo), each with its own style and subject, which are interwoven in a manner of speaking. According to Haynes, society is the real protagonist in all three sections; the three leading actors each resist society in his own way.Hero was made in the style of a TV report. It is about seven-year-old Richie who is alleged to have shot his father and then disappeared. Conversations with his mother and classmates create an image of a strange boy rejected by his surroundings.Horror has been shot in the style of old-fashioned horror films, in black & white and with sombre lighting. The protagonist is a obsessed scientist who falls victim to his own experiments and gets a terrible and revolting disease. This section clearly refers to the hysteria and paranoia which accompanies the AIDS epidemic.Homo is based on Miracle de la rose by Jean Genet. Haynes is an admirer of Genet and in the design of Homo he allowed himself to be inspired by his film Un chant d’amour.
