rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2007
Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein; produced by Mitchell Lichtenstein, Joyce M. Pierpoline; written by Mitchell Lichtenstein
Starring Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Josh Pais, Hale Appleman, Lenny von Dohlen, Vivienne Benesch, Ashley Springer
'Teeth' probabaly shows a guy's worst fear, if he would come up with the thought of it, which is unlikely. The girl from this film, living nearby a nuclear power plant, has a weird kind of mutation called 'vagina dentate'. It is not hard to guess it means a set of teeth are growing inside her netherlands, forming the perfect protection from boys being boys. She herself plans to keep her virginity until marriage. One would think her condition could help her with that.
The girl, Dawn (Jess Weixler), is living with her mother, step-father and step-brother named Brad (John Hensley). In a prologue Dawn and Brad play the "show me yours, I'll show you mine" game as kids and little Brad cuts his finger when he crosses the line. It should have given him a heads up for the later acts in the film. Brad turns into a terrible human being with only one ultimate goal: having sex with step-sis Dawn.
As a teenager Dawn discovers not only her sexuality - even though she wants to stay chaste - but her little mutation as well. The film introduces a couple of guys, including Tobey (Hale Appleman) and Ryan (Ashley Springer), who could either be victim of or the solution to her little problem. 'Teeth' has fun with presenting stereotypes, no character is an exception, before breaking that completely down again. Predictable is certainly not the word for this film.
Although 'Teeth' is not a great film, it is entertaining camp. It's a horror film in thought and gore, and a black comedy in everything else. Director and writer Mitchell Lichtenstein knows exactly what he is doing, even though it is not always working. He has tried to make something different from what we normally see, working in multiple genres, effective in most of them. From my side there will be some expectations for Lichtenstein's next film.