Teeth

The trend of imbuing horror films with a quirky sense of irony cribbed from the hell that is adolescence (think "Ghost World" with gore) may have finally run out of steam with "Teeth," a moderately impressive (though unspectacular) yet overly precious and self-aware stab at subverting the genre's gender roles. Writer-director Mitchell Lichtenstein's concept (a puritanical virgin who grows up next to a nuclear power plant discovers a mean set of incisors below the waist when her sexuality blooms) is intriguing, and some of the film's best moments possess a surreal quality that almost transforms the material into a metaphorical extension of Dawn's (Jess Weixler) awkward adjustment to womanhood. While much has been written about gender roles in the horror genre, "Teeth" cleverly manages to have its cake and eat it, too: Dawn is treated as a haplessly naive girl by every male she encounters; the males are predatory, would-be rapists. In films like "I Spit On Your Grave" and "Ms. 45," the female victims recover to enact revenge in an extreme manner--"Teeth" playfully subverts Freud's notion of "penis envy" by transforming male genitalia into a literal kiss of death; Dawn's encounters (while tinged with a sometimes groan-inducing, "Clueless"-styled humor) eventually contribute to her growth and maturity as a woman, to the point where she finally becomes master of her domain. While not great, "Teeth" is a worthwhile little sleeper with some food for thought.

This movie is like a crossover between a feminine horror story and a black comedy, better yet satire. Teeth succeeds because it doesn't take itself too seriously and it gives as well fleshed out characters. The lead actress is an amazing find. She knows exactly what to do with her character and how far she can go with it. She is believable from start to finish. I wouldn't recommend this movie to people with high morals, because you do get to see a lot of 'genital gore' in the movie. Just look at the plot keywords, if one of the things bothers you this movie isn't for you. All in all this movie is for people who like to see something different for achange, not that manufactured sh!i from Hollywood these days. If you don't take this film too seriously and you have a good sense of humor, this movie is a must see for you. I give it 7/10 because the ending is not that good and IMO it could have been longer.

Teeth is certainly original in it's concept and it's delivery. It starts off very promisingly. It establishes it's mood promisingly, and I have to say, I did not expect what I got. The film is about a young girl who is keen on abstinence, but after she discovers her vagina has teeth, she uses it to target to those who plan to sexually use her. That is the basic story, but the film only gets to that in it's last half hour. It is supposed to be a horror comedy, and I have seen a lot of horror comedies. Evil Dead 2, Drag Me To Hell, Cabin Fever, and to a lesser extent, Scream. The horror aspects and comedy aspects worked in all of those, yet here, the tone is so different. I expected more comedy, yet even when the funny parts happen, it does not seem like a comedy, or even a horror. I do not know if this is a product of it being a truly unique film, or just that the comedy aspects of it failed. I thought the first half of the film was more successful, because I did not know what the film was about when I started seeing it, so I thought it would be about the girl finding her sexuality after being raped, so when the actual plot kicked in I was so shocked. I was shocked because the film's first 30 minutes establish it as some sort of dark drama, neither horror or comedy. I felt as if the film did a complete 360 and all of the ideas it put in my head earlier were erased to make room for the 'comedy' section that it wanted to have, as well as the horror aspects. I also thought it should have been longer if it really wanted to explore more about her and her vagina, since like I said, the actual plot does not kick in until almost an hour into the film. But that is not to say I did not like the film. I did like it, probably more than it seems right now. Some of the writing was very clever, and it reminded me of Diablo Cody's form of writing (in both Juno and Jennifer's Body). Some of the scenes in the first half, especially the one in the cave where all goes wrong, was very brutal and, like I said already, shocking because I did not expect that. Jess Weixler was another highlight of the film. I thought she started off sort of awkward, but I get that was her character, and she completely pulled off her change in character. I never thought of her as sexy at all, and yet the last scene I was like 'WOW look at her'! Of course, this was all because of her acting skills. The ending was unsatisfactory because I felt this film had so many ideas and themes it could have explored more, yet it was just happy wit itself for being a 'vagina revenge film'.

Overall, I did like this film, but it is so difficult for me to grasp on it completely, just because I do not know if it is a product of the film's quality, or lack of quality, that it's tone is so unusually dark for a film about vagina teeth. Also because I find it harder to enjoy without it being a funnier film, and because I thought it could have explored so much more on female sexuality. I saw this film because I heard it had some of the same concept of the newer horror-comedy Jennifer's Body. I can say that while this film did have darker and more interesting themes (than Jennifer's Body) about female sexuality and purity in the beginning, it all seemed to vanish for the most part to a still enjoyable, but lesser film whose fundamental question is 'Next time I am with a girl, should I be scared that my genitals will be chopped off'? But I am sure I will not forget this film simply because of it's originality.

Not everyone will take to Teeth, a comedy slash horror that at times stretches moral and sociopolitical boundaries, as well as people's tolerance to its contents.

It's a movie that I find difficult to explain, mainly because it feels like something that doesn't seem aware of its own identity, much like the characters, naive teenagers, who are finding their independence as well as their place in the world.

Teeth starts out playful, almost dream-like, where everything seems wonderful, reminding me of the flower power days of the 60s and 70s. The main character Dawn O'Keefe, played very well by Jess Weixler, is a virgin who advocates at her school the idea of staying 'pure' until marriage. All appears positive and blissful as she gains a big following at her addresses to the students, but Teeth doesn't remain innocent and neither do its characters.

Quite abruptly, the movie takes a twisted turn and things become increasingly chaotic and violent. It's beginnings and ending are so far apart from each other in every way imagineable and as I said some viewers may find its extremities difficult to digest. Along its jumbled journey it jumps from comedy to horror to moralistic to political to pornography and I found it difficult at times to understand its message, which it obviously is intended to have - a message, but as I said it doesn't come through clearly.

Teeth is, if nothing else, an original movie and at times thought proking and I respect that about it, in a genre where most comedy slash horrors are copies of each other. Just don't expect everyone to like it and don't expect to feel particularly satisfied at its conclusion.

A new evolution of horror as arrived with the new film, Teeth. Teeth tells the story of Dawn O'Keefe (Jess Weixler), a young abstinent teenager who comes to find out that her "family jewels" are much more special than everyone else's; her vagina has teeth. When she comes to realize her "differences" she starts to battle with her sexuality and wanting to act on her impulses.

This has definitely revolutionized the horror genre along with some awkward comedy, Teeth holds interest for the viewer throughout. From a woman's perspective I'm not sure how the film would be received, but from a man, to put it plainly simple, it scares the ever living crap out of me. The film holds nothing to the imagination as it shows the most graphic images I've seen on film in quite sometime.

Other than graphic imagery, the storyline isn't as strong as images. There's no flow to the story and pretty random at times as it conquers the steps of gross and unfortunate adolescence. The performances are enough to suffice but its John Hensley who plays Brad, Dawn's perverted step-brother who wants to take his sister's virginity that stands out. Young Dawn takes on some new attitudes throughout the film and Weixler attends to her with grace and ease.

Not sure if this is a must-see for people, but it compares to The Matrix scenario when Morpheus presents the red pill and the blue pill. You can take the blue pill, the dream ends and you can believe whatever you want to believe; you take the red pill, you get to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

**½ /****