Movie review of Teeth

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Horrorphile - June 2007

Teeth

June 26th 2007 02:48

Of the twenty-five or so films I saw at the 54th Sydney Film Festival this year, Teeth (2007), a provocative black comedy-horror, was easily one of the most entertaining. Writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein (son of the legendary pop artist Roy Lichtenstein) has got his laughing gear wrapped around a sensational premise: prudish adolescent girl discovers she has vagina dentata.

Dawn (Jess Weixler) belongs to The Promise, her high school’s chastity group, and she is the most active member. She gives empowerment speeches to the other students about how cool and right it is to remain a virgin until after marriage. The group members wear t-shirts that say “I’m waiting”. Dawn is teased by the non-Christian students, but she doesn’t care, she knows she is right.

I am Dawn, feel me snarl

That is unntil she meets tall, charismatic Tobey (Hale Appleman). They are mutually attracted to each other. Now Dawn is confused. She lies in bed and fights the primal urge to rub one off, repeating the word “purity” over and over. It doesn’t help having a creepy sleaze as an older step-brother; Brad (the suitably hirsute John Hensley), and a very ill mother.

In the movie’s prologue we see a very young Dawn and Brad playing in a paddling pool on the front lawn. Dawn’s mama and Brad’s papa are nearby. Brad shows Dawn his pee-pee and demands to see hers. Brad decides he wants more than just a squizz. Cut to mama and papa and we hear Brad cry out in pain. “What happened?”, enquire the parents, “Dawn bit me,” sulks Brad holding up his bloodied fingertip, while young Dawn smiles her little baby-toothed grin.

Bad Brad and his girlfriend

This opening sequence sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Obviously the tongue is firmly in cheek with Teeth, when it bites it does so with sharp, yet playful incisors, like a tiger cub. The movie toys with the themes of sexual awakening, feminism, sexism, adolescence, and, of course, the enduring myth of the vagina dentata, which is Latin for toothed vagina, and in which a hero must conquer the woman with the box that bites. In itself this myth says more about masculine fear than female power.

Teeth is a revenge fantasy flick cloaked as a high school coming-of-age story, but with horror overtones and satirical undertones. It’s a great screenplay, but what actually gives this movie the real edge is the terrific performance from Jess Weixler in her first leading role. The nuances in her facial expressions are better than many struggling actors’ entire resumes! Also very good is John Hensley, as the repressed and anally-fixated step sibling, who embodies an almost diabolical presence, further aggravated by his Rottweiler called Mother kept in a cage in his bedroom (Mother devours a scene of her own at film’s end!)

The mother of all myths

There’s a strong hint as to Dawn’s anatomical mutation (or is it simply evolution, with Dawn being the first of her kind, Nature finally answering to man’s multi-millennial dominance over the female kind); the ominous image of two giant nuclear power plant cooling towers belching out thick black smoke in the background to Dawn’s home is repeated several times.

Teeth is the gynophobic flipside to David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers (1988). For the phallically sensitive men, beware, as director Lichtenstein doesn’t hold back on showing us the aftermath of Dawn’s angry pussy-jaws upon her victims, possibly a first for a semi-mainstream American movie.

Hey sis, I want your lips wrapped around my ...

Apparently there may be a medical origin to the vagina dentate myth. Dermoid cysts are formed by the outer layers of embryonic skin cells. In rare instances, these cells are able to mature into bone, hair and even teeth, and these cysts are able to form anywhere the skin folds inwards, such as the vagina.

EEEEEK!!!!

Director Lichtenstein has already expressed the desire to make a sequel to Teeth, continuing the (mis)adventures of his plucky heroine Dawn. No doubt she could become a re-envisioning of the noir femme fatale …

Dawn about to wipe the grin off a dirty old man

As Teeth is fresh from the Sundance film festival there are very few film stills available, and no general release dates yet, even for America. So eager beavers will have to wait with baited breath.

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

10 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

June 26th 2007 12:05

Film & TV on DVD

Your review makes me kick myself for not meeting up with you for this one. Sounds like I missed another little gem, its on my ever growing list.

Comment by Adrian

June 26th 2007 20:47

Philosophy Blog

Dammit! I got screwed around by Ticketmaster when I tried to book for this one. Basically got told the Saturday screening was full (when it wasn't), and got sold a ticket for Sunday (which didn't have a session). Sons of bitches.

Comment by Bryn

June 27th 2007 00:44

Horrorphile

JD, yeah, right up your alley this one! The lead Jess is destined for great things!

Adrian, the bastards! That kind of shite would have me livid! Fingers crossed for a theatrical release down under!

Comment by wolfgirl

January 20th 2008 07:01

Some chick on myspace was talking about this movie. It looks weird, but I'm most definetly seeing it after watching the trailers on youtube.

Comment by Bryn

January 21st 2008 04:25

Horrorphile

wolfgirl, its great, dig deep, not sure if its available on DVD yet ...

Comment by wolfgirl

January 21st 2008 21:32

Hmm, I was looking the movie up and it said the US release date was this past friday, but I don'tthink that's right... I haven't seen it advertised at all. But I will see it someway. I was looking on the message boards for it on IMDB and someone wrote: Isn't this a common occurence??

Haha, freaky.

Comment by wolfgirl

January 21st 2008 21:35

oh, it also says "limited"

Comment by Bryn

January 23rd 2008 05:26

Horrorphile

Apparently its playing at Sundance (for a second time, as it premiered there last year) ... Odd that such a remarkable movie is not being distributed properly.

Comment by wolfgirl

January 27th 2008 19:30

I'll watch out for it on Ebay or something then.
=I
I was watching a commercial for the ten o'clock new the other day and the newscaster said" A new horror flick has audiences saying.. gross" in this sort of disgusted tone, but I forgot to watch, so unfortunately I have no clue what it was.

Comment by Anonymous

May 26th 2008 17:55

You can watch the movie for freee at this site. I mean that's where I watched it. I thought it was really cool. I mean, it had my guy friends grabbing their crotches in pain. XD

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