About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Original and attractive, but uneven with a muddied message.



Pros

• Good visual style
• Great cast
• Daring and original

Cons

• Erratic humor
• Spotty message
• Ending?

Description

• Starring Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Hale Appleman, Lenny von Dohlen, Ashley Springer, Vivienne Benesch, Josh Pais
• Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein
• Rated R
• DVD Release Date: May 6, 2008

Guide Review - 'Teeth' DVD Review

The Movie

Teeth explores the myth of "vagina dentata," the toothed vagina, in the setting of a suburban high school.

It smartly weaves hormone-fueled adolescence with a cautionary tale about the dangers of sex -- particularly for the boys.

Raised in the shadow of a nuclear power plant (possibly the cause of her mutation), Dawn O'Keefe (Weixler) is a prim and proper teen living with her mother, stepfather and sadistic stepbrother (Hensley), who harbors a perverse attraction towards Dawn. She's a leader of a pro-chastity group at her high school, because she's subconsciously uneasy about what she's got going on down there.

Since she's never been sexually active, it's never come into play, but that changes when new guy Tobey (Appleman) moves to town. He seems to mirror Dawn's reverence for virginity, but as it turns out, all teenaged boys are pigs.

When Tobey shows his piggish side, they both come to realize that when she's threatened sexually, she bares her "other" teeth. Soon, a slew of overly forward suitors feels her wrath in gruesome and explicit detail.

Despite the gore, Teeth has the air of a comedy -- a caricature-filled satire of traditional values mixed with situational coming-of-age humor.

It has a Tim Burton feel, sort of like Edward Scissorhands with less magic and more carnage.

The tone isn't as consistent as a Burton film, though. The comedy mixes awkwardly with images of death, disease, incest and rape. There's ample opportunity for humor with the awkward yet proud virgins, but it's never fully developed. The seriousness with which the dark elements are dealt makes the humor that is present more strained.

I applaud the originality of Teeth, but the tone and story are spotty, leaving us with a where-do-we-go-from-here resolution.

The DVD

Special features include director's commentary and deleted scenes.

Movie: C+
DVD: B-