Teeth

Michael Lichtenstein`s "Teeth" is a pitch-dark feminist satire guaranteed to have the men in the audience squirming in their seats and crossing their legs in self-defense - while the women squeal in "you-go-girl!" solidarity with the heroine. With an envelope-pushing tone reminiscent of the early works of John Waters, "Teeth" pulls out all the Freudian stops in its story of an attractive young abstinence-only advocate named Dawn (Jess Weixler) who, as the result of a mutation in her DNA, has developed a set of razor-sharp teeth in her private area - a condition known in ancient mythology as "Vagina Dentata." At first she is freaked out by the discovery, until she learns that she can turn this bizarre anatomical anomaly into a weapon against any man who fails to respect her for the lady she is.

With ironic detachment and outlandish humor, "Teeth" acknowledges that, in the depths of our collective subconscious, we have been conditioned to link sexual behavior with danger, mutilation and even death. Further, we have been taught to view women as somehow posing a threat to men's continued virility and survival. From the black widow spider to the archetypal figures like Pandora, Eve, the sirens and Medusa who inhabit our literature, females are frequently portrayed as irresistible creatures luring unsuspecting men to their doom (the death can be either literal or metaphoric). "Teeth," in all its shocking outrageousness, simply finds the most graphic way imaginable of illustrating that theme.

The movie takes place in one of those stifling suburban settings where vice, corruption and perversion always seem to be simmering just beneath the surface of tree-lined streets and perfectly manicured lawns - only in this film, the real threat is hidden not in the environment but within the human body itself (unless one counts the industrial smokestacks we see lurking in the background, pumping out a constant cloud of toxic chemicals, enough to give anyone`s DNA a mutation or two).

Dawn could have been portrayed from the start as a calculating shrew intent on emasculating every man in sight out of her own twisted sense of divine righteousness. Instead, Lichtenstein and Weixler bring a perplexed poignancy to the character, starting her off as a confused kid coming to terms with just what this will mean for her as she makes her way through life. It isn't until she flashes a final subversive smile at the camera as she heads on to her newest deserving victim that we sense that her transformation into a globe-trotting warrior for her gender is finally complete.

"Teeth" is definitely for those with an appreciation for the freaky and far-out. But be prepared to cringe.

A horror/black comedy about .....
well, it's about......um.....this girl
and her bajingo has .....well the title of the movie is "teeth"...
so, uh ya know.
LOL!!
The whimsical story strolls along at a casual pace,
the gore scenes are few & far between,
but the occasional awkward laugh more than makes up for that.
(I mean how many mutilated johnson's would you want to see anyhow?)
The musical scores are excellent,
something that seemed odd for this kind of flick.
and the characters were all amazingly exaggerated
(every guy in this flick is a total slime-ball)

The story takes place in middle-class suburbia,
with 2 nuclear power plants looming in the background.
The main character is a virgin, who's a member of a high-school abstinence (sp?) club,
who finds her hormones racing, and her... ya know.... clamping down on any...ya knows.... that might try to invade her innocence.
To sum up:
Sometimes funny, sometimes gorey,
whimsical black-comedy/horror flick about the dangers of men,
and the perfect means to eliminate rape, & slime-balls altogether.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Safe-sex means condoms made of steel.

This movie was funny but i am definitely more into horror...so this movie would have been 10 times better if it went more the serious route instead of comedy.

`Teeth' is one of those films I must admire while at the same time feel frustrated that such a terrifying concept was not executed better.

I am reminded of Hitchcock's famous quote that a bomb exploding is not suspenseful; a bomb not exploding is suspenseful because we are afraid that it will. `Teeth' gives away too much too soon and provides too many answers. Likewise with the excessive blood, seeing severed body parts is not frightening because we know they're fake. Not showing us lets us imagine an image far worse than anything FX could produce. The unknown is far scarier.

The premise itself is enough to horrify and intrigue one to see this film. In case you haven't figured it out from the trailers and the reviews, `Teeth' tells the story of teenage virgin with vaginal teeth. As I said it gives away too much too soon.

Despite its flaws `Teeth' is absolutely terrifying and passed the horror movie test of causing me to loose sleep. Probably the best element is the characters themselves. These teenagers actually look and act like real teens not horror movie bimbos. Dawn is extremely likable with her down to earth good looks. She doesn't look like she has someone style her hair and make up for 100K every hour. Dawn lives with her mother, stepfather, and scumbag, junkie, punk stepbrother. Dawn's main activity is being the spokes person for promise rings. Children promising to remain chaste (even with themselves) until marriage and boasting a ring to prove it. Most of these children seem far too young to even know what sex is or what they're promising, Dawn is one of the few teens in the organization. Unlike other poorly written films these scenes do not patronizingly mock Christians but adorn them.

Dawn's horrific and inevitable self discovery does not come about as expected. As she and her boyfriend take things further and further the date switches to a rape. That in itself is frightening.

While many critics are placing `Teeth' in the category of shameless blood soaked teen slasher flicks it is far more as it explores the horror concept of becoming that which you most fear. A monster at your door? Kill it. But what if you're the monster? Dawn has no one to turn to. There are no support groups and a trip to a gynecologist becomes a nightmare. It reminded me of `Devil Lady' where people around the world are becoming monsters. Everyone is too frightened of themselves to deal with the problem. How would they deal with it? Her body and her memories will never leave her.

`Teeth's atmosphere is also surprisingly realistic making the impact of the theme all the more terrifying. Similar to `Donnie Darko' or `Carrie' Dawn's life is far from the materialistic teen world of MTV. Dawn already has plenty of real problems.

`Teeth' is extremely disturbing with an enthralling main character. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

As I said my only real frustration with the film is that it had the potential to be twice as good by doing more with less. We don't need all these bloody scenes. The concept itself already has us horrified. All this blood just degrades `Teeth' into the slasher category.

Likewise the opening scene shows the toddler step siblings in a pool where little brother puts his finger where it doesn't belong and gets bitten. I would think this would be more likely to happen to Dawn during the course of her life. This scene is pointless and we do not need to see toddlers sexually molesting each other.

Rational explanations. We are constantly reminded of a nuclear power plant looming above killing Dawn's mother with cancer. While some have said this is symbolic it gives too easy an explanation for why Dawn is deformed. No answer would be far more frightening. Some of the scariest stories ever, never divulged their biggest secrets. `Flowers In The Attic' we never found out how many people were in on holding the children prisoner or why their mother agreed to this. It was about more than money. `The Exorcist' why was Regan possessed? Never revealed. `Battle Royale' how was the villain Kazuo able to withstand deadly gunshots and other wounds without flinching? Never revealed. `V For Vendetta' (the comic not that crappy film) who was V? Was he really Evy's father. I think so, but there was no confirmation.

This is actually the first horror/dark humor movie I would love to buy, that's how good it was. 'Teeth' is amazing! Can you imagine how many rapes would be prevented if all women had a defense mechanism like that?! It's a very dark wishful movie for women, however, it's also men's worst fear...