Such a frustrating disappointment

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Most b-movies feature gratuitous nudity featuring surgically-enhanced bimbos. You watch them once and forget about them. While "Poison's" plot was somewhat predictable, the characters were believable and the story did a great job of developing erotic tension between Bauer and Patricia Healy. Bauer was what I'd expect a prison inmate to be like - mean and streetwise, but with some morals and not thoroughly bad. Healy, while attractive, was not some 20-year-old ingenue and was convincing as a amoral gold-digger. She didn't have that many nude scenes but they were well-placed and highly effective. Ed Herrmann was good as a man faced with life/death for the first time. When he finally has to fight he does so in the clumsy, bumbling manner that you would expect, he isn't suddenly transformed into Bruce Lee.Like the 50s and early 60s b-movies, but with enough sex and violence to make it interesting without being excessive. Good movie!

Very good B movie. The actors were well-cast and believable in their roles. Of course, I'm a big Steven Bauer fan and he looked so good in this movie!! Edward Herrman is a very good and (I think) highly underrated actor. The plot was pretty predictable but it was entertaining - not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

Arguably, this movie has nothing that you have not seen many times and in much better versions, with much better actors. But the script is descent, concrete and without major leaps or vacuums. It is a non-offensive company, if you have 2 times to kill. If you have not, however, you can bypass it without fear that you are loosing something important.