Tag Poison | TLA Gay Blog

May 20, 2021May 17, 2021 by tlagay

Throwback Thursday: Poison

The second feature film by Todd Haynes – the award-winning director behind Safe, Far from Heaven, Velvet Goldmine, Carol and many more – Poison was a groundbreaking American indie, one of the most fervently debated films of the early 1990s and a trailblazing landmark of queer cinema. A work of immense visual invention, Haynes’ spectacular follow-up to his legendary, copyright-infringing underground Barbie Doll-biopic Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is still audacious, disturbing and thrillingly cinematic.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, this amazingly self-assured early feature proved to be quite a controversial work upon its release. It made national headlines when it was attacked by right-wing figures. Interweaving three seemingly unconnected stories, each with its own individual filmmaking style, this low-budget independent effort will mesmerize many, perplex others and possibly even disgust more than a few.

Hero, the first tale, told in a semi-documentary form, recounts a young boy’s killing of his abusive father and his miraculous flight away. Horror, filmed in a 1950s sci-fi horror flick manner, follows the tragedy that strikes a scientist after he successfully isolates the human sex drive in liquid form. The final tale, adapted from the writings of Jean Genet, is Homo, an intensely sensual and lyrical story of obsessive, unrequited love set in a prison. Together, these three interweaving stories combine to make Poison a wholly original, provocative, unsettling and intelligent film that is still a must-see for adventurous gay cinephiles.

After a small re-release in theaters, this New Queer Cinema classic is finally coming back to DVD – and to Blu-ray for the first time – in an all new must-own edition! If you haven’t seen it, we highly recommend you place an order. It’s not for all tastes, but it’s history and reputation make it an absolute must-see!

Watch the original trailer for Poison below and click here to pre-order your copy. The DVD and the new Blu-ray will be available on June 29th.

October 23, 2017October 4, 2017 by tlagay

Halloween Highlights: 50 Queer Horror Flicks We Think Are Worth a Look – Part 4

Second to last! We’re coming close to the end of this series! Being authorities on all things gay-cinema, we at TLAgay.com wanted to put in a good word for some queer movies that don’t make the usual ranked horror lists. We came up with a selection of 50 different gay titles that are either direct horror movies or horror adjacent (suspense, mysteries, thrillers). Below, you’ll find part four of our five-part list – in alphabetical order – with new lists appearing each Monday in October. Keep checking back each week for the latest additions!

We tried to limit these to films that are currently available on our site – either on DVD or Blu-ray, or available via our On-Demand service. If a movie is missing from this list, chances are good it’s just out of print or otherwise currently unavailable/hard to access. This isn’t, as you’ll see, a definitive list of the greatest gay horror – that’s not what we were going for. This is just a sampling of some offerings that usually fly under the radar. Some are good, some are great, some are delightfully campy and ridiculous, some might be downright terrible, but they’re all available to help get your into the Halloween spirit!