The Young Poisoner's Handbook (1995) User Reviews

A funny, witty, and creepy glimpse inside genius gone horribly wrong.

[Nyssa · 8/10 · 23 May 1999]

Director Benjamin Ross has done a terrific job creating a humorously warped view of life through the eyes of Graham Young, alienated boy genius and serial poisoner. Hugh O'Conor perfectly portrays Graham's carefully studied innocent appearance, which Graham constantly feigns lest anyone find out what he is really thinking in his twisted, calculating mind. O'Conor manages the tricky job of looking innocent enough to fool the other characters, but maniacal enough that the audience always knows what is going on.

Through Graham's eccentric (to say the least) point-of-view, we witness the painfully mundane Young family, the pitifully easy to fool psychiatric and medical community, and the pathetically simple-minded middle-class. Ross captures the comic disdain with which Graham sees his surroundings without disposing of the distance necessary to be horrified at Graham's "experiments" and the fate of his unwitting subjects.

Because of Ross' careful tightrope walking between distance from and intimacy with Graham, the audience can't fully fall under Graham's spell and sympathize completely with him. There are some gruesome scenes of people reacting to poison, but these are necessary to heighten the audience's horror at Graham's incapability to assess his own actions and to recognize his own evil. Ross gives us an entertaining, yet twisted, glimpse into genius gone wrong, without sensationalizing Graham as a hero.

It is also very hard to go out for drinks or coffee after seeing this movie.

Be careful who's making your cuppa...

[deloudelouvain · 8/10 · 8 April 2015]

I really enjoyed The Young Poisoner's Handbook. Some people made the comparison with A Clockwork Orange from Stanley Kubrick and I can get where they come from if they mean the same tune they play a couple of times and also the fact that when Graham Young is getting institutionalized one doctor tries to cure him from his demons but other then that those two movies are completely different. While A Clockwork Orange was about a young man against society using ultra violence this one is about a young smart apathetic guy poisoning everybody he dislikes. Plus the fact that this movie is based on a true story while Kubrick's masterpiece was just fictional makes it totally useless to compare both movies. Nevertheless I thought Tobias Arnold as Graham Young gave a good performance as well as the other actors. Certainly worth a watch.

Black comedy near its best

[MichaelCarmichaelsCar · 17 July 2004]

Why has 'The Young Poisoner's Handbook' not developed a cult following? I have some theories, but this is certainly a film that should have found a larger audience at some point.

This is pitch black British comedy near its best, reminiscent of both Hitchcock and 'A Clockwork Orange' -- its three-part structure is similar to that of 'A Clockwork Orange,' given that the protagonist is free, then confined, then free again to illustrate the vanity of "rehabilitation" where it concerns psychopaths, and we even hear excerpts from Purcell's Funeral Music for Queen Mary, which Wendy Carlos incorporated into her electronic score for 'Clockwork.' Whether 'The Young Poisoner's Handbook' is paying homage or borrowing, the movie itself is a highly individual work that should please anyone with a fondness for Orwell or Ealing.

Hugh O'Conor, with his wide-eyed gift for simulating innocence, is an ideal selection for the role of Graham Young, the real-life poisoner of the British village of Bovingdon, who slowly poisoned his stepmother to death with antimony sulfide, finishing the job with thallium. Cursed with a banal home life and a sociopathic mind, his self-described "gift for chemistry" is put to obviously nefarious uses, occasionally using friends as guinea pigs before the main attraction.

The director, Benjamin Ross, makes a tremendously impressive debut here. His selection of music together with his fluid editing and camera-work often produce stirring and exciting results, the 1960s small British town setting keenly observed, with a very black wit. Graham's wicked stepmother, played by the singular Ruth Sheen (seen in many Mike Leigh films), joyfully accepts her first dose of poison after finding a box of Velvet Victories chocolates on her bedroom pillow, with a note reading "To my darling mother, xxxx." There's a vivid sense of the dustiness of the Young household, the darkness of Graham's bedroom punctured by the eerie glow of his flasks, the frustration of an overcrowded working class household where the telly's always running with the silliness of popular variety programs. The film also adroitly contrasts the self-important grandeur of Young's genocidal ambitions with the unglamorous pettiness of the actual crimes and the prosaic Bovingdon environment to which his perpetration of them was fortunately limited (the real Graham Young had wanted to be known as "The World's Poisoner," but was instead given the considerably less flattering moniker "The Teacup Poisoner"). Absurdity and grimness are very skillfully balanced. A marvelous, overlooked film.

Runs like Clockwork...

[heywood100 · 6/10 · 23 May 2003]

...A Clockwork Orange to be precise. Which is something of a bafflement, as besides the occasional coincidental similarity the basic story ears no relation or resemblance to the Stanley Kubrick film or the Anthony Burgess novel. And they don't try to shy away from the fact that they've ripped off the film - they even use the same piece of music at certain times.

So, inspired by the nadsat talk of the original and far superior film, the story is; Your Humble Narrator is only interesovatted in one lesson at the skolliwoll - Chemistry. He uses his knowledge to slowly poison his poor old pee and em but gets found out by the millecents and sent to Staja. There, he sucks up to the psychologist and gets an early release for being so horrorshow with the old chemicals. But once out, he begins poisoning the grahzny vonny malchicks and ptitsas at his firm, until they also figure out what he's up to and send him away again, O my brothers.

And if you understood that you're a better man (or woman) than most. The film has identical shots and similar scenes to Kubrick's film, but has none of the originality or daring subject matter of it. As A Clockwork Orange was still banned when this film was released, I can only assume they thought no-one would remember what it was like and would let this pass. It makes absolutely no sense, but it has created a talking point that the film otherwise wouldn't have, since essentially this is nothing more than another average British movie.

Some gross scenes hurt this very sick black comedy.

[Art-22 · 6/10 · 23 January 1999]

I usually like black comedies, but what exactly is so funny about scenes showing people writhing in agony, retching and vomiting? Even though there were some clever quips in the narration, I'd classify this more as a sick comedy. And since it was based on actual events it put even more of a damper on my enjoyment of it. The best that can be said of it is that there was some fine acting, with Hugh O'Conor perfect in the title role, and it was well-made.

Singing Star Commits Mass Murder !

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 28 April 2003]

I saw a docu-drama on Graham Young several years ago and I remember it being rather cliched in style with characters complaining of feeling unwell followed by a jump cut to their funeral with Young standing at the graveside with a smug expression . Despite its flaws the docu-drama did at least stick to the true life story of Young unlike THE YOUNG POISONER`S HANDBOOK which starts with a disclaimer that many events are fictionalised . It`s no bad thing twisting the truth to this story because I`d have felt extremely guilty laughing out loud as people were poisoned

The one obvious problem is Hugh O`Conor as Graham Young . He`s very good in the role but if the Young family are working class then why does young Graham speak with an upper class public schoolboy accent ? Couldn`t the director have told him to tone it down a bit ? Worse still - And there`s no way anyone would have known this in 1995 when the film was made - Mr O`Conor looks exactly like Gareth Gates . If you`ve no idea who GG is let me explain that he was runner up in Britain`s POP IDOL contest last year . He lost out to Will Young ( No relation I take it ) in the final but Gareth was the real star who became an even bigger selling artist than Will , all the teenage girls loved him due to his choir boy looks and perfect manners and I can`t hammer home enough the striking physical similarities between Mr Gates and Mr O`Conor . I spent the entire duration of THE YOUNG POISONER`S HANDBOOK convinced that the star of POP IDOL was killing people which made me laugh even louder

Yeah but I shouldn`t have laughed . Despite much artistic license this is still a true story of how innocent people were murdered by a psycopath and I hope no one else decides to make more black comedies featuring mass murderers . I hate myself for enjoying this movie

One of the Best Sleepers

[jaiken007 · 10/10 · 27 December 2002]

I truly love this film. The look on young Graham's face when he got his first chemistry set was probably like the one on my own when I got mine. Because I loved my family, I chose other areas of research and never experimented on them. That said, I found the humor in this black comedy right on target and I actually felt sorry for the young poisoner. If he had worked for Q branch he most likely would have received a knighthood rather than a prison sentence. I have no idea how close to the truth this movie is but it is on my top 20 films of all time.

The Persecuted Young Scientist .

[AnthonyMeg · 7/10 · 9 January 2017]

I'd love to notify you that the opinions i'm going to give are based in what i've seen in the movie , and has nothing to do with the real story of Grahm , Now first of all I'd like to object to the name of the movie , not because The young Grahm wasn't a poisoner , No , but because he wasn't an evil poisoner from the beginning ,he became one because of his oppressive surrounding ,Particulary his family and his friends , As a young child he had passion for chemistry and this passion continued until a rough time in his life when his experiment hasn't worked as he wanted , and what made it worse for him is his step-mother accused him of owning and hiding a nude magazines that wasn't for him , actually they were his dads , she burned all his valuable stuff and she told him "You contaminate anything you touch" , so what product do you expect after this treatment? A good-natured person ! , and all what he has done afterwards what might be considered as malevolent acts , all because he though it's the only way to keep up his scientific researches , and you will see that he chose the people who stand against his way toward success , in other words all he was trying to do is to get rid of the obstructions that prevent him from creating his diamond , but he did it in his own way , when you concentrate on the way he killed his victims , i mean by thallium , and you find that it was colorless ,tasteless , odorless , untraceable , it's like he was referring to the diamond but in indirect way, that what makes the movie besides it's an autobiographical movie , A mystery movie , and i want to address main point in the plot which is the misuse of the term 'psychopath' i think he wasn't a real psychopath , he was a sociopath as the story goes on , we see that Grahm has sympathy toward some people , he actually chose his victims , and the psychopathic thoughts he had was inspired by the comic he was reading , Finally i like to share with you a real , true, sad , quote that he said when he succeeded in creating the diamond in the prison ,"I cried a real tears, torrents and torrents of them , tears to the rotten world who made me this way" .

Of Chemistry, Columbine, and cultural cowardice

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 9 December 2017]

This film seems to be a homage to Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange". It has a lot of deliberate "quotes", and shares similar themes and music. It's a kind of dialogue between the two directors, a reply. Clockwork Orange was speculative fiction, suggesting this is how society could become, whereas The Young Poisoner's Handbook is retrospective, and based on a true story, in effect saying we are already there, and were so ten years before Clockwork was made.

The story is based on the actual life of homicidal poisoner Graham Young, and doesn't do too much to hide that this is a biography, not some grim fictional noir. Graham narrates the entire film, and talks about how from childhood he really had nothing in common with his working class London family, but early on determines he has a talent for chemistry, and uses his experiments as an escape. By the time he is a teen, humankind consists of just so many lab rats as far as Graham is concerned. And Graham isn't interested in curing people, instead he wants to poison them. He turns his attention first to his stepmother, not that his sister Winnie escapes his chemical wrath entirely when her prying eyes get to be a problem as he slowly poisons dear old mom. Graham's solution - poison her eye drops and blind her. Fortunately he only disposes of one eye. Like the Mafia, none of this is personal for Graham, it's really just an experiment.

The great irony is that the law actually does catch Graham after he kills his stepmom, and he ends up in a place for the criminally insane, probably to be there forever as he is judged a sociopath. But one psychiatrist has other ideas. Graham interests him, and he decides to "cure" him. The doc overestimates the ability of science to defeat sociopathy, but Graham, at first intending to con the doc just to get out, gets tragically conned himself into believing himself eventually cured.

So after nine years Graham is released. But that's the thing about prison. Inmates - even in psychiatric prisons - usually do well as long as you supervise their every move - when they sleep, when they work and what they work on, when they eat. The problem is when they get out and have freedom of choice as to their own path. I'd normally say watch and find out what happens, but Columbine and cultural cowardice means you probably never will. After 1999, when some teens began to become lethal and to use the popular culture as a model for what form their killing would take, the movie industry began to fear giving them ideas. Thus I have not seen this film on TV for 20 years and the DVD is long out of print and something tells me this is NOT on Criterion's short list.

Artistically, this film is full of good performances and the art design gets the drab look of early 60s London just right. From the crowded housing, to the local pub, to the frumpy furnishings meant entirely for utility not for decoration, to the cheesy act that passes for early 60s British TV, this film has England of the period nailed. It even hints of the sexual revolution that happened while Graham was in jail and thus missed out on that just increases his social isolation and misreading of social cues.

I'd highly recommend this one if you can ever find it. It does pop up on youtube from time to time.

there's a difference in ripping off and paying homage

[william_blake · 6/10 · 22 July 2003]

young poisoner's handbook clearly shows where it's stylish inspiration came from, i find it hilarious that certain reviewers can be so daft they are bashing this movie as a clockwork orange rip-off, the director wants us to know his inspirations, get it?

furthermore, this is not a bad movie at all. the witty and funny yet insane atmosphere creates an enjoyable adult's fairytale. HOWEVER, remember this is not a fairytale. as far as info about young tells me he was a sick sick man who was fascinated with nazi's chemical methods and also used them.

the world is full of evil murderers who have hands that are smooth as a baby's bottom.

Bliss Black Comedy

[jgrayson_au · 8/10 · 19 November 2002]

This is an excellent movie. A true black comedy with outstanding performances not just from the actors, but director, set design, score, hell even the grip was good!

In a nutshell, it follows the life of Graham Young, a highly intelligent youngster who just happens to have some moral flexibility. Namely, he loves poisoning people.

Although this sounds gruesome, it is a well thought piece, where you generally feel for our Mr. Young. The autobiographical, past tense voice over blends well with the late 60's settings and a blue tinting gives the aged appearance.

As for the movie itself, if you are a fan of black comedies, if you enjoyed Gross Point Blank, you should find this an excellent movie.

(Spoiler Alert)

My only grip with it is that it ended to soon! At 99min it's not a short movie, but you generally fall for the characters in this film. I wanted to know what came of his father and sister or his queen from his youth.

(End Spoiler)

Without a doubt one of the best films I've seen on tv for a long time, and better still it was on ABC (non commercial channel, ie no ads!) Find it, watch it and enjoy! 9/10

A Clockwork Orange revisited.

[DARCY-12 · 7/10 · 1 September 1999]

Having embraced 'A Clockwork Orange' when first released, I found this an interesting reworking of the 'misunderstood teenager by society-in-general and politicos-in-particular' theme. The background music was the dead give-away, no pun intended. A historical/period piece, 'Poisoner's Handbook' put 'Clockwork' into perspective, while remaining an entertaining bit of film. All 'round better sense of humour then it's predecessor. Casting was a delight.

Empty

[latherzap · 5/10 · 17 March 2010]

This is a movie that I *wanted* to like. I just watched it for the second time and my reaction remained the same: indifferent.

So we have this loose portrayal of Graham Young, a cold young man with a passion for poison. He poisons some family members, takes notes like a good scientist, prison, more poison, end.

I liked the look of the film, and the acting was adequate. But it just drags. It's not dark enough to be disturbing (In a Glass Cage),and there's not enough humor to be a good black comedy (such as 1995's To Die For). Mechanical dialogue. None of the characters felt fleshed out enough to support a 90 minute viewing experience; the shallow characterizations would be fine for, say, appearances in a brief flashback scene. But full length films usually require some characters that aren't so 2 dimensional.

A few nice moments, but I was disappointed.

Dark and amusing but not to all tastes

[bob the moo · 3 May 2003]

As a boy, Graham was always keen on chemistry. When he is introduced to a deadly chemical he begins to conduct experiments on his cruel family – namely by slowly poisoning his mother. Shortly after her death Graham is caught for her murder and sentenced to a mental institution. With help and treatment from a physiatrist, Graham is rehabilitated and released into the community. But can his love of poison be controlled?

I first saw this in the cinema many years ago and held off writing a review because I wanted to be sure that I could give it a fair review – memory not that great you know. So I watched it on channel 4 last week and was quite taken aback – I didn't remember it being quite that dark and disturbed. The plot is quite like Kind Hearts & Coronets in the set up and delivery (more in the delivery) but is a lot darker and more cruel than that classic. The comedy is of the very dark type and mostly comes from Graham's narration. His narration plays his acceptance of very shocking events as run-of-the-mill things that happen in the background, this juxtaposition works well and makes it funny.

The actual poisonings are not always easy to laugh through, while some of his mother's ordeal is played for laughs, most of it is quite cruel and upsetting. I think it worked well for playing the audience on the fact that we didn't quite know what this was – it was based on a true story yet was played for laughs as well as serious at times. However this same ploy is to it's weakness as it is difficult to settle into for this same reason. The director seems very assured and handles this better, mixing inappropriate music with the action as well as directing it very flat and clinically.

O'Conor is the perfect choice for the role. Onscreen he is cold and cruel but it is his narration is where he excels – delivering perfectly deadpan lines. The support cast are all OK but mostly play exaggerated characters on the whole – British stereotypes and such. The film wisely leaves them as undeveloped this because if we cared too much for them or related to them then it would have been impossible to feel anything but revulsion for Graham. As cardboard cutouts they seem less than Graham in terms of the film (wonder how the real victims' families felt about this view).

Overall this is a strange film but one that has enough going for it to be worht watching. However it should be noted that it is quite cruel and upsetting – we are not allowed to feel anything for Graham's victims. The humour is rarely laugh out loud funny and this will probably only be for those who like their comedy very dark.

Sick 'n Brilliant

[bgilch · 9/10 · 11 January 2000]

This delightfully evil confection should warm the cockles of any mad scientist's heart. Our 14 year old hero dispenses antimony with precision glee and soon graduates to thalium before getting caught. But that's just the beginning really. A preternaturally good perfomance in the lead role, superior period decor of the hideous early sixties, a score to bless Purcell's heart, a cool and steady directorial hand and a wicked sympathy for the young man in question work to maximal effect. This may be the first quality film I've seen that genuinely crosses the line of sympathy for the evildoer; toss in lots of vomit and the best gotcha jump scene ever carried off, and there's lots to shy away from--for the faint of heart. Oliver Sacks sometimes writes about the joys and freedoms for the mind of a young chemistry set owner in the old days before restriction but I don't think he had this in mind. And my girlfriend wonders why I shy away from potluck dinners.

Great story, but the truth is more scarier...

[PredragReviews · 9/10 · 31 August 2016]

This is a remarkable story. When this film is gruesome, it's very very gruesome. And when it's brilliant, it's very very brilliant. And that is most of the time. The joy of the movie is strong supporting cast who react in quirky, British ways to Graham and the mysterious illnesses going around. O'Conor gives an intense but restrained portrayal of the troubled lad and provides some good skin shots as well. Sher is a convincing professional trying to salvage some good from the unpromising inhabitants of the hospital. The acting is witty throughout.

This movie, in my view, is a terrific dead-pan black comedy. The first and last thirds are marvelous and fascinating to watch. The middle, while Graham is in the asylum, gets a bit serious. Graham is taken on his own terms in the movie, utterly serious, utterly committed to his calling, tracking his doses, noting the effects, estimating the time of death for those he will finish out. He observes with a clinical detachment which is amusing and unsettling. He shows no remorse because he doesn't know what remorse is. Hugh O'Connor does a wonderful job as Graham. He looks like a choir boy with a sincere stare. This one will make you think but keep you well entertained nevertheless.

Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

One of the most underrated British films of all time?

[garymason-99267 · 9/10 · 5 October 2015]

If you are able to cast aside the moral implications of creating a comedy( albeit a pitch black one) out of relatively recent real life tragic events than you'll find one of the 90's(and British cinema's) most underrated offerings. The Young Poisoner's Handbook tells the 'true' story of a very sick and twisted young man(brilliantly played by Hugh O'Connor) in appropriately sick and twisted fashion. If the Coen Brothers where British you could imagine them producing something along these lines. Indeed Benjamin Ross's debut feature is so accomplished and idiosyncratic you find yourself wondering why he hasn't a long list of features under his belt. Oh well, he has this one and it's great. Seek it out!

Dark true, funny, maybe not

[meagherthomas · 5/10 · 8 March 2008]

I came to this film expecting something darkly funny. Perhaps it is just the changing society from 1995 to 2008, but I fully captured the grit, the emotional void, the shallowness, and the stunted life views -but missed even a wisp of humor. Mid-way through the film, I openly wondered if there would be something that engaging or funny to come. But the extra time in viewership brought nothing of value.

The sneak -peek into the living standards of a working-class English family kept me mildly interested. One did hope that the relationship between the main character - a boy killer who is trying to fake remorse - and his bunk mate - a young soldier in guilty suffering from an act of murder - would lead to some caring by a viewer about the characters. That hope is quickly dashed and the film grinds on.

If one were looking for a film interesting, gritty, and or more lasting value, I'd suggest Jeffrey Wright in Basquiat.

The best thing since "A Clockwork Orange"

[Slice of LIfe · 29 June 2001]

I don't know what to make of it, honestly. When I first saw it (on late night, and I stayed up till three AM watching it), I thought it was a little like "A Clockwork Orange".

Graham Young (Hugh O'Conor) I found an odd mixture of three parts: curiosity (what leads him to poisoning), clinical detachment (as he watches the results), and a longing to belong (when he tries to be normal -and fails miserably).

First he silently threatens everyone with a gruesome retaliation for the slightest things, and then charts their decline with frightful accuracy as they get sicker and sicker. After that, he retreats into his den again until something better comes along. And then he gets caught.

Then there's that uproarious scene when he's out with a girl, and he tries to get her in a conversation on disembowelment. You can almost see her turn green as he gets into stride. To him, it's an innocent thing; something he likes. For her (and for us, the audience), it's...sick.

I thought that the rehabilitation sequence was a farce. It's as ludicrous as the rest of this quirky gem of a movie, with great performances by all the actors, particularly Hugh O'Conor. He says more with his eyes than most could with their lips.

I mean, the movie is funny (not ha ha funny, though), dripping with corrosive irony. Young is all at once twisted and innocent, torn between conforming and that endless fascination with poison. The comparisons between this and "Clockwork" are almost inevitable, but unlike Kubrick's thriller, this one has a more subtle, menacing tone, for the mind rather than for the eye. It's not a laugh-out-loud film, though it's undeniably hilarious. Whatever you feel, it's kept inside.

If you're one with a sensitive stomach, suicidal tendencies, strange addictions, goody-goodies/puritans, then stay away. Otherwise, WATCH THIS FILM!

Vicious mind

[billcr12 · 9/10 · 27 February 2012]

The poisoner in question is Graham Young, played in early years by Tobias Arnold and then later by Hugh O' Conor, a true life psychopathic in 1960s England. A combination of "A Clockwork Orange" and "Fargo," this brilliant dark and vicious comedy-drama may well be the best unknown film I've ever seen.

Graham became infamous after killing his step mom by spiking her food with thallium and after arrest is treated in a mental hospital. After his "cure" and release, the criminal genius reverts to his true nature and resumes his previous path of bad deeds. Along with Ted Bundy, Graham Young is one of the most interesting criminal subjects brought to the screen.

A true Gem, high on my list

[patrikcaesar · 10/10 · 31 December 2023]

I was told this film had something special, so trusting my old friend, so tried to find it.

Wasn't easy, but cheap when I finally found it and what a movie.

The ambiance is amazing, the story brilliant and acting likewise.

Loved it, it's just one of those films you find one or two in a year, having to see around 100+ total waste of time 10 that you have some pleasant experience out of and then there are the Gems. Hard to find. My first one was Blade runner, 14 years old and Alien a bit older and from those days I hate "waste of timers" despise all crap with us moviegoers having to be strapped into a chair forcing our eyes open and fill us with "the message" instead of making a good film.

Do you take Antimony in your tea?

[Omni-6 · 18 September 1999]

One problem with this movie was that I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to laugh or not. It's a sick, black comedy, and quite disturbing given that it's based on truth. And yet it's strangely humourous. Hugh O'Conor is absolutely PERFECT in the role of Graham Young. As a longtime Hugh O'Conor fan, I will admit I may have been biased towards this film -- after all, I will enjoy his work in any movie -- but this movie was also well-acted by the entire cast. If you can stomach it, watch the film.

A modern cult classic! overwhelmingly hilarious, totally sick and twisted!

[reasonbran234 · 31 October 2001]

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** one of the funniest movies i've ever seen, but funny in the same way that william burroughs thought that 'a clockwork orange' by anthony burgess was 'funny'. that is, so jaded and amoral that one can't help but drop all sentimentality and moral pretension and laugh one's behind off! our young anti hero is a chemistry major who decides to take vengeance on society (and his stepmother in particular) by unleashing his evil genius without worrying about those illusory trivialities, y'know, right and wrong. he is about as lovable as alex from 'clockwork' and i don't know if anyone cared when he killed himself at the end, but i sure didn't. this kid is a real nihilist, a nietzschean monster who takes delight in the suffering of others and who uses his abnormal and deviant intellect to satisfy his own power lust. there's something humorous about the scene where he arrives home and is nabbed by the cops; he looks with rage at the police officer who pounced on him and says something to the effect of, "that was the X-dose you f**king idiot, now you've ruined everything! everything!" he clearly has no sense of how just plain psycho he is, and in some depraved way his utter disregard for morality and other human beings is oddly hilarious. this is decidedly NOT a movie for sanctimonious or extramoral people, and if you're easily offended or disgusted by violence, don't touch it. but if you're like me and have a black-and postmodernist-humor thing goin on, don't rent it but BUY it!

Unsuccessful mix of comedy and drama.

[fedor8 · 16 January 2007]

A young and intelligent degenerate poisons everyone in sight. The film works well as an interesting oddity, but fails completely as a (black) comedy; there is absolutely nothing funny about people getting poisoned and dying in extreme agony, especially since this is supposedly based on a true story. It would be funny if it were an all-out absurdist horror in the Peter Jackson vein, but it isn't. If I hadn't read that it was suppose to be comedic and if the film hadn't been promoted in its trailers as black comedy I would have never guessed that it was intended as such.

There are also obvious references to "A Clockwork Orange", starting with its main theme (melody) which is used here several times. There are other - probably quite conscious - similarities to this film: the psychiatrist that wants to "cure" him; the two-year period that passes from capture to starting "recovery"; the attracting of attention to himself when the psychiatrist passes by the inmates; the question of whether a psychopathic freak can be cured or not (though not a main theme here), etc.