America

Teeth movie review he-said-she-said

HE SAID:
I was hoping to compare this to Sexual Parasite: Killer Pussy, but Discotek never sent me a review copy (probably because I panned A Chinese Torture Chamber Story). Still, I have a feeling that what I saw in Teeth was infinitely funnier, grosser, and better thought out and executed than anything in that film. In the vein of Frankenhooker, Heathers, and Donnie Darko, Teeth is a late-night crowd pleaser concerning a God-fearing girl cursed with a vagina-dentata (that’s a toothed vagina, for you non-Latin speakers). A star-speaker for her school and church’s abstinence program, she soon finds herself in a position with principles compromised, forced to let the monster out of the box, so to speak. So starts a series of the funniest and grossest setups I’ve seen in a while. The film’s scenes of severed members repeatedly beat I Spit On Your Grave’s infamous sequence hands down. Darkly humorous, intelligent, and very well acted, Teeth’s a cult film worthy of the hype.

SHE SAID:
Just like the looming neighboring nuclear plant responsible for a mother’s cancer and a daughter’s mutation, Teeth is an unrelenting comedic powerhouse, fueled by hidden politics.

Dawn, a name appropriate to her innocently awakening sexuality, struggles with her station as a teen abstinence guru after a slo-mo fantasy introduction to Tobey, a fellow Promise program promoter, typecast to the tee. After their bizarre anti-courtship courtship, the painfully respectful young man becomes an unpredictable sexually-frustrated bomb ready to go off in Dawn’s lap. Tobey has a Jekyll and Hyde hormonal episode, assaulting Dawn through his apologies. However, little does he (or she) know Dawn’s body possesses a unique self defense mythical mechanism in vagina dentata. Munch munch.

Through themes we’ve heard before (admonishing billboard sex-vertisements and adolescent confusion), Teeth shines with a fresh vibe. Teeth takes us everywhere, through every emotion, its brilliant editing bounding flawlessly from satire to suspense, from gross to guffaws, touching to touching. The gracious thread of comedic elements prevents Teeth from becoming a bloated statement, allowing the audience to ride superficial waves, prompting discussion for later.

Simultaneously horrifying and hilarious, Teeth presents us with several scenarios, revealing the fine line between immorality and opportunism which vaults Dawn into a reluctant anti-hero role. As much as you wish scuzzy guys would just leave her alone, you willingly cheer her on, hoping her crazy vigilante adventure will continue.

About the Authors

Chris Nelson and Kris Kobayashi-Nelson are the proud co-founders of dreamlogic.net. The adventurous soulmates occasionally take a break from ghost hunting, spelunking, pranking, programming, munching, and 4-hour bike rides to view some killer flicks.