FILM GUTTER REVIEWS: ​TEETH (2007)

Dir. Mitchel Lichtenstein, USA, 94 mins
​

While the weekly visits to Film Gutter have offered me the chance to look at plenty of new material, sometimes it's nice to revisit something I've seen before, but not had a watch of for a while. Teeth was a movie that I watched at least five years ago, but had some fond recollections of. There were a few scenes that had certainly stayed with me, although all the precise ins and outs (maybe a slightly unfortunate expression in the circumstances) eluded me. And with this one announcing itself before the opening credits as 'Dimension Extreme Films', it certainly sets itself up as something that remains fairly mainstream but does push the boundaries a bit.

Teeth follows the story of teenager Dawn, a youngster who is part of a group called 'The Promise' who take a vow of chastity until marriage. She's got numerous friends in the group, although she gets plenty of ridicule from others around the school for her decision. After one of her rousing presentations, she meets newcomer Toby, and it's here that the teenage hormones really start to get going. Jess also has a fairly uneasy home life, with her mother being very ill and her douchebag older stepbrother still living at home. In fact it later emerges that he's hanging around because he thinks that Jess will ultimately give way to his charms, which is mighty weird as a motivation, but there it is.

It's not long before the mutual attraction between Jess and Toby becomes too much, and soon enough the two of them are down at the town's make-out spot. But what starts out as young love takes a darker turn when Toby attempts to rape Jess, but little does he know she's got a secret that even she didn't know – a set of teeth where one rather shouldn't be, the vagina dentata that gives the movie its title. Jess tries to figure out what on earth is going on, looking up the subject online before eventually deciding to go and see a gynaecologist. That scene ends up equally badly, with the doctor losing his fingers during his examination. Jess then realises just the power she has at her... um... fingertips, and decides to take a sharp revenge on some of the terrible individuals around her, including her awful stepbrother.

Teeth is certainly an interesting offering, and does plenty to keep you watching as you go along. With that said, I feel as though it doesn't quite know exactly what it wants to be. Some scenes are fairly serious and dramatic, while others are flat out of a B-movie, with some absurd music stings and hammy acting from those around our lead. To be fair, Jess Weixler is really good in the lead role, and has the kind of wide-eyed innocence that the role demands, and delivers the dark character arc really well, including in the movie's very final moments. But personally it falls between two stalls a bit too much, despite some good moments, including a few genuinely funny scenes. There are also a few moments that do seem genuinely out of place, particularly towards the end, where the slightly half-cooked family drama plays out. In watching this one I was put in mind of Excision, although I don't think this was quite up to that level.

RATING: 7/10. There are a number of good things about Teeth, not least the lead performance, the clever use of the chastity group as a setup for the story and some of the more humourous moments. However these are spliced in the midst of an underdeveloped family plotline, and some of the performances around the very good Jess Weixler don't quite cut the mustard. Certain elements feel pretty rushed, and maybe it's just a topic that it was always going to be hard to make any kind of coherent film about. Despite generally being well received, even winning an award at the Sundance Film Festival, this one barely made its money back and vanished without much of a trace, which is a slight shame because it's a pretty decent offering. It's a snappy 7/10 for this one.