Posted: 03/31/2008

Teeth

(2008)

by Matt Wedge

When a film takes as many elements from different genres as Teeth, it usually winds up as a derivative mess. But occasionally, as is the case with this film, you find something original. Using bits of ’50s sci-fi films, Cronenberg-style body horror, low-brow slapstick, splatter film excess, teen sex comedies and pointed feminist satire, writer-director Mitchell Lichtenstein has created a funny, freaky little movie that’s one of the most entertaining films of this young year.

Dawn (newcomer Jess Weixler) is the perfect teenage daughter. She loves her mother and stepfather, she gets good grades and she’s a public speaker at elementary schools for an abstinence program called “The Promise.” Being a staunch believer in the program, she looks down on her sex-obsessed peers and her creepy metal-head stepbrother Brad (John Hensley, Shutter) who spends most of his time locked away in his room smoking pot, having loud sex with his girlfriend and not so secretly lusting after Dawn. That’s why it comes as such a shock to Dawn when she finds herself having less than pure thoughts about Tobey (newcomer Hale Appleman), the new boy at school. When a make-out session goes further than Dawn would like and Tobey becomes violent in his sexual advances, they discover that Dawn has apparently undergone a genetic mutation. This mutation has resulted in a set of teeth in a certain part of her body that most men would find…disconcerting. At first disturbed by this discovery and its consequences, Dawn slowly comes to realize the power she now holds over the seemingly constant stream of depraved or sexually violent men she encounters.

If this all sounds tasteless, that’s because it is. It’s to the credit of Lichtenstein that he realizes the futility in trying to be coy with such sordid subject matter. He embraces the tastelessness of the central concept and finds an off-kilter tone that keeps the proceedings from ever becoming truly offensive. While the results of Dawn’s encounters are shown in bloody, graphic detail, they are almost always mined for laughs, becoming a punch line to a sick joke. A scene at a gynecologist’s office is a prime example of this storytelling technique as it goes from disturbing and uncomfortable to horrific to laugh out loud hilarious by its end. It’s a fascinating high-wire act to watch as all these different elements and tones are juggled into a satisfying and cohesive whole.

At the same time that he finds comedy in the story, Lichtenstein is able to take the ancient myth of the vagina dentata and cleverly flip it. Traditionally, it’s a misogynistic tale told to make women and their sexuality an object to fear that requires a male hero to conquer the woman who possesses this quality. Here, it’s the sexually aggressive men who should be feared and Dawn is the hero who conquers them. It’s an interesting idea that adds a little food for thought amidst the occasionally over-the-top proceedings.

While the entire cast is serviceable, Weixler truly shines in a breakout role. Even with her early scenes as the ultimate goody two-shoes, she never plays Dawn as a joke. She’s a wide-eyed girl who truly holds dear her beliefs and it’s heartbreaking to watch her confusion as she discovers that she’s not nearly as strong in her convictions as she thought. But it’s when she finds that she can harness her power and sexuality that Weixler takes command of the screen. She’s scary and seductive, delivering her brand of justice with a knowing smile and the look of a woman who has found her purpose in life. It’s a stunning transformation to achieve in only ninety minutes.

This is definitely not a film for everyone. It revels in its exploitation roots with plenty of gore, nudity and moments of truly bad taste that would make John Waters proud. But when dealing with a central idea as warped as the one this film presents, it would be a mistake to try and shy away from the more extreme moments. If you’re not easily offended, Teeth is a twisted blast of fresh air that will have you gasping in shock one minute and laughing uncontrollably the next.

Matt Wedge is a writer and film critic in Chicago.

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