TEETH is a black comedy horror film written and directed by Mitchell
Lichtenstein. Although this only being his second film ever
written/directed, his craft is reaching perfection to the quirky
audiences of America. High school student Dawn (Jess Weixler) works
hard at suppressing her budding
sexuality by being the local chastity group's most active participant.
Her task is made even more difficult by her bad boy stepbrother Ross
McIntire's (Nip/Tuck's John Hensley) increasingly provocative behavior
at home. A stranger to her
own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina when she
becomes the object of violence. As she struggles to comprehend her
anatomical uniqueness, Dawn experiences both the pitfalls and the power
of being a living example of the
vagina dentata myth.
This
film is a perfect example of the black comedy horror genre. It
marriages a smooth blend of scary, funny and often disgusting moments
into a seamless beauty of an indie feature. No where in the major
studios could a low budget film about toothed vaginae ever be produced,
yet Mitchell Lichtenstein found a way to make his movie reach wide
audiences with TEETH's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in
January of 2007. A year later and I finally made it to the local art
cinema house and am over-joyed by the production of such a strange
subject.
Jess Weixler (the leading female) was a brilliant casting choice.
Her cute, innocent, quirky yet empowering role must have been quite a
climb. Not any pretty-girl can play this type of role. By the end of
the film, Dawn has turned a new leaf and is not the timid celibate
teenage we met at the beginning. I was disappointed with the casting
of John Hensley. Already not being a fan of his from Nip/Tuck, I
didn't believe his incestuous dark brooding character for a moment.
And the fake tattoos were extremely distracting from his muted
performance. Even his jaw-dropping finale moment was dulled over by
his mellow style of delivery.
I highly recommend this film for the strange-at-heart. If you
enjoy a well-made indie film with smart acting and humorous undertones,
this film is for you!
(Just little bit of trivia before I depart. The director, Mitchell Lichtenstein is the son of famous contemporary artist, Roy Lichtenstein, who introduced comic-art to the pop culture art world!)
