Pretty Poison

...Noel Black's underrated and barbed little thriller, a masterclass in manipulation both by its characters and of the audience.

A simmering small-town New England noir with an acidic comic streak...

This was Noel Black's directorial debut, and he maintains a brisk pace and a necessary level of tension throughout.

Black's dry direction cannily ekes black comedy out of the juxtaposition of small-town drudgery and murderous intrigue, in the process crafting a distinctly late-'60s version of film noir.