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Lifetime Movie Network’s ‘Sizzling Summer Nights’ movie Taste of His Own Poison really does sizzle, a dramatic ‘true’ story about bullying and revenge that has so many layers to peel back that you will be on the edge of your seat trying to figure things out.
Taste of His Own Poison stars Nolen Dubuc as high schooler Dylan, a smart student who knows he fits into the ‘nerd’ category. Dylan really excels in his science classes but he only has one real friend, Meredith (Juliette Hawk), for whom he may have deeper feelings. Unfortunately he also has a bully, Sawyer (Dylan Kingwell), who torments Dylan mercilessly. In the opening scene, Sawyer chases Dylan into the boys rest room and throws his sandwich on the floor, attempting to make Dylan eat it. Meredith shows up just in time to shoo Sawyer away but this isn’t the boys’ first rodeo. Sawyer continues to have a passive-aggressive attitude toward Dylan, at times appearing to apologize for his behavior but turning it into a lewd comment about Dylan’s mother Courtney (Rhonda Dent). As the physical and emotional abuse continues, Sawyer once again approaches Dylan and Meredith in the cafeteria, makes another comment about Dylan’s mom and then grabs his sandwich to take a bite. Sawyer immediately starts choking and falls to the floor, foaming at the mouth, dying on the spot.
Oddly, the police let everyone go home, but it isn’t long before Detective Lambert hauls Dylan down to the station for some questioning after tests found his sandwich laced with three different poisonous chemicals, making him the prime suspect. During the questioning, the detective also let it slip that Courtney and Ben, Dylan’s dad, are in the process of a divorce which they had planned to tell Dylan about until all of this happened. Over at Sawyer’s mother’s house, his brother Evan (Blake Williams) shows up to let their mother Andrea — with whom he is not on the best of terms — know that he is going to avenge his brother’s death because the police are not doing anything. What she doesn’t know at that point is that Evan had earlier told Sawyer to beat the crap out of Dylan after the two had gotten into an altercation in the classroom, with Sawyer taunting Dylan to the point of surprising him with a few punches to the face. He knows Dylan killed Sawyer so he is going to kill Dylan. He even makes his way into the Morris family’s home under the pretense of delivering a pizza, and nearly kills Dylan but Courtney manages to get the upper hand long enough just as the police arrive, tipped off by an anonymous caller (of course it was Andrea). But now the police are certain Dylan killed Sawyer — and Dylan finally admits to his parents that he did — and are about to arrest him at their home but Ben surprises everyone when he confesses to altering the sandwich. Lambert doesn’t seem to believe him, but he’s confessed and she arrests him. Before the arrest, Courtney had overheard Dylan apparently asking someone on the phone to not tell anyone that he had killed Sawyer, so this is all weighing heavily on her mind, actually making her resentful that her husband, even though she was about to divorce him, has taken the fall for their son. But things take a huge left turn when Dylan reveals who the real killer was and the reason why, and Andrea also finds out and has to take action of her own to protect them before she loses something very precious.
Taste of His Own Poison is a really terrific thriller as written by Leo McGuigan. The story nicely sets up all of the main players, making us feel sympathy for Dylan, hatred toward Sawyer, and empathy for Andrea. Courtney and Ben are completely believable as the parents who are going through their own issues who then have to put all of that aside to focus on their son. Meredith is the typical best friend who stands up for Dylan, but is also taken aback when he tries to express his feelings for her (but it doesn’t ruin their friendship), and Evan is clearly a man with a huge chip on his shoulder, exuding clear danger, a truly bad influence on his little brother (and it’s never clear why he hates his mother so much, to the point of only addressing her as Andrea, but it has something to do with his father). Once Sawyer is killed, we have to look at all of these characters and figure out who put the poison in the sandwich. Dylan seems the most obvious. Would anyone else take the chance of lacing the sandwich with poison, knowing there was a possibility that Dylan could take a bite first? Watching closely, it really seems that Ben could have done it because he is a chemist, and at one point we see beefy, hairy hands and arms typing an email to Sawyer that says ‘YOU’RE DEAD!’ (it never gets sent, but Courtney discovers it and immediately believes Ben could have done it). It then comes as a complete surprise halfway through the movie when Dylan admits he killed Sawyer, leaving us to wonder how the rest of the movie will play out — will he get sent to prison, will his family protect him? When Ben takes the fall, it’s an even bigger gasp-worthy moment, but this story keeps gathering steam as one twist comes after another, with a major reveal about one character that may surprise but is also nicely telegraphed earlier in the story if you’re paying attention. It all goes really crazy in the final moments — in a good way — when Andrea gets involved in trying to protect the real killer because they have something she desperately wants. One thing just builds upon the other to make this a wildly entertaining story. Director Soran Mardookhi does a great job of guiding the actors, keeping them grounded and authentic to make even the most outlandish moments authentic.
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The cast is also outstanding. Nolen Dubuc perfectly portrays the awkward outcast at school, and he’s totally convincing when he admits to the poisoning, saying he thought it would just make Sawyer sick. We never think for a moment that he’s possibly covering for someone. He just gives a genuine performance and we totally believe everything he says. Rhonda Dent is also excellent as Courtney, the mother who would do anything for her son but who also cannot live with the secret, the realization that her son may have murdered another kid. Her anguish at needing to do the right thing and tell the police the truth is palpable, willing to accept any consequences that may befall her. When she learns the truth, she also goes to any length to save her family. She really is terrific and any parent could certainly identify with her.
On the other side of the mother spectrum is Alana Hawley Purvis as Andrea, giving a complicated mix of rage and disappointment for both of her sons, but still holding a glimmer of hope that she can keep Sawyer from going down the same route as Evan. She is clearly teetering on the edge, gets a glimmer of hope when Evan in his own state of grief seems to want to reconcile, but comes unhinged when she learns the truth about Sawyer’s murder. She does a great job of going through all the stages of grief and then some. Juliette Hawk is perfect as Dylan’s BFF Meredith, the friend who will stand up for you in the face of a bully, pointing out that his penchant for hiding in the rest room — where there is no escape — is not the best option for survival. Jonathan Hawley Purvis does a good job as Ben, but he always seems like he’s holding something back from Courtney, making himself seem like the prime suspect. He and Dent also do a nice job or portraying the broken marriage as they are forced to put up a united front that actually could show them that they actually do work well together. Blake Williams is almost more of a villain as Evan, all bottled up anger, purposely trying to bring Sawyer closer to him while destroying the relationship with their mother, almost taking responsibility for pushing Sawyer to go that one extra mile that got him killed … but not quite contrite enough to keep him from attempting to murder Dylan. Dylan Kingwell plays the school bully to perfection, putting on that polite Eddie Haskell air and quickly turning just snide and vicious enough to push all of Dylan’s buttons. Kingwell plays Sawyer as more of an emotional bully, playing psychological games with Dylan. The only time he gets physical is when he holds Dylan’s face down to the floor to eat the sandwich, so it’s all the more shocking when the more meek Dylan throws hands (a scene that it later mirrored when Ben lands a few punched to Evan’s face before the police arrive). Justine Warrington also does a nice job as Detective Lambert, always matter-of-fact but not immediately pointing the finger at Dylan for the murder, and clearly telegraphing through her expression that she isn’t buying Ben’s confession. Overall, this is a really great cast who give some authentic performances that help sell the story, even when it becomes more and more over-the-top. They all just manage to make it believable and wildly entertaining.
Taste of His Own Poison is a solidly constructed, extremely well-made and expertly acted mystery thriller that touches on a real world issue of bullying, perhaps a cautionary tale as well to not let your bullies get the best of you … and don’t get caught up in someone’s potentially dangerous scheme to teach that bully a lesson. This is a film that is not only watchable, but it’s rewatchable as well.
Taste of His Own Poison has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-14.