Plot: What’s it about?
Daisy (Miriam McDonald) is about leave her life in the scenic countryside with her sweetie to take on college, as she has been accepted to the prestigious Berkshire University. While she is accepted as a student, her financial woes will make it tough, even though she sold her family land to help cushion the debt. She will have to find ways to cover tuition, all while trying to adjust and keeping her grades up. When she is invited to be an Ivy, a secret society of powerful females, she is hesitant, but it is an honor and so she accepts. But she was never intended to be a genuine Ivy, instead she is being set up to take the fall for her sisters. Can she put the pieces together in time, or will she be the next victim of the Ivy’s wicked plans?
This film is a disgrace to the Poison Ivy franchise, which is quite a bold statement. In truth, The Secret Society isn’t a new Poison Ivy film, just some low rent trash with the label slapped on. The plot isn’t in line with the rest of the Poison Ivy series, as this makes those films look like complex masterworks. The Secret Society is lame from second one and while some naked hotties do make good eye candy, nice breasts can only do so much. The plot here is loaded with cliches and predictable twists, never making an effort to surprise the viewers. The performances are just as bad, with a cast of good looking, but talent free youths that shouldn’t even be cast as extras, let alone leads. As if that all wasn’t enough, New Line’s treatment is bare bones and even in high definition, this movie looks like a fifth generation VHS. Simply put, Poison Ivy: The Secret Society should have remained a secret and no one should waste their time with this mess.
Video: How does it look?
Poison Ivy: The Secret Society is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. This is one of the worst high definition transfers I’ve seen and to be honest, I am shocked was a product of New Line. The studio is known for top notch visual treatments, but this looks worse than a low end DVD presentation. I seriously took the disc out and double checked to make sure it wasn’t a DVD, that is how bad this looks. The detail is abysmal, even in close shots you couldn’t make out fine details, while color and contrast prove to be beyond off balance. This is just a terrible effort from New Line, even a movie this horrible deserves better.
Audio: How does it sound?
As if the low tech visuals weren’t enough, New Line also gave this film a low tech soundtrack. A Dolby Digital 5.1 option is all we’ve been offered. While not horrible by DVD standards, this is a new generation of home video and as such, should be a step up from the previous one. The audio is passable, but you’ll never mistake this for a lossless track. Even a movie like this deserves an up to date technical presentation, but New Line put no effort into this release. This release also includes English subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
No supplements have been included, but there is a digital copy of the film to use on your portable device of choice.
