I wish the cast and crew of Oral Fixation well, but not the film that they created. It's a bargain-basement psycho-horror flick, that I should have known going in and did to an extent. But I also had some hope that it being an independent movie that it might try a little harder under the radar, and having won a few awards at minor festivals. It's not even so much a horror movie, if one may get that impression from the cover (my first thought was 'ah, The Dentist with a girl, I like that concept).
It's mostly just a stale retread of psycho-stalker flicks like Fatal Attraction, all the way down to a similar abduction of a little kid with a very nasty side-effect. Some of the actors do their best with it, but it's not much to work with to start and so it's mostly one-note; Emily Parker, who may keep some men glued due to some large natural breasts (sorry, I don't mean to sound like a pig, but they stick out in a story that give her nothing to work with an actual actor), is also one-note as a killer. At least she gets some chance to go over the top with bug- eyes and a big goofy psycho-smile. Other actors like Kerry Aissa and Aidan Sullivan eventually turn up with the same exasperated expressions on their faces, scene to scene.
And the plot isn't much of a help, going through a few hackneyed twists surrounding the 'did he or didn't he' form of betrayal between the dentist, his wife and the crazy girl who loves to get her teeth cleaned without anesthesia. Even the one aspect, her loony pain-in-pleasure fetish-motif drilled in by a-hole father, doesn't give Oral Fixation or the character of Rachel Marks any added interest. And even the other aspect of the horror element I had hoped for in a cringe-worthy manner- of the very creepy approach to shoot torture via teeth drilling and knocking out ala The Dentist and The Dentist 2- is lacking. And that final scene of the movie, along with other scenes, had me howling laughing.
Not many of the decisions or things characters do make much sense, the film opens with little good context for us, and the fight scenes are given the kind of touch that would make film school teachers' heads spin ala The Exorcist (seriously, saying EACH LINE as you HIT your TARGET with a CLUB is so TIRED). Oh, and as another Minor pet peeve, useless color tinting in the early scenes of the movie for almost no reason except to establish the POV from Rachel Marks... which is DROPPED after this anyway. Pretty sad.
