[Teeth]
Plot:Dawn grows up in the shadow of a nuclear power plant. In high school, while her biology class studies evolution, she realizes she may have a hidden curse, an "adaptation." She lives with her mom, step-father, and hard-edged step-brother. She likes Tobey, a guy at school, and he likes her. She takes a pledge to remain chaste until marriage, so they date in groups, watch G-rated films, and don't kiss, but the power of teen hormones is great, so temptation beckons. Dawn has an admirer in Ryan, and when she breaks it off unexpectedly with Tobey, she turns to Ryan for help. Will he be her mythical hero and rescue her? Or can she find her way as her own hero, turning the curse into an asset?

Cast: Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Josh Pais, Hale Appleman, Lenny von Dohlen, Vivienne Benesch, Ashley Springer, Julia Garro, Nicole Swahn, Adam Wagner, Hunter Ulvog, Ava Ryen Plumb, Trent Moore, Mike Yager, Nathan Parsons.

My Thoughts:Interesting pic.

Review:Well, when you sit down to watch a film about a girl who has actual teeth in her....."pleasure section", you really ar enot sure what to expect. Will the material be handled seriously, classically, or will it just be some insane romp the likes of something Troma would put out? Well in the case of Mitchell Lichtenstein's "Teeth", it's a pleasant mix of all three actually. The film follows a young girl named Dawn, who is part of an abstinence program at her high school. She's actually head-speaker of said program, and encourages young girls to wait until marriage or until they find the person that they truly love.

But Dawn's pro-abstinence stance might have a darker, weirder side to it on her end, as she is not..."like" other girls, for a reason that soon many in her life will find out the hard way. "Teeth" is really a smart movie, that manages to take the material seriously, while playing around with it in sordid and outrageous moments as well. The movie is really mostly told from a female perspective, and what it's like being a teenage girl, and the problems that come along with it. Girls are constantly solicited by men for sex, especially at the teenage stage in their lives.

And this film explores that dynamic, and uses the Dawn character as sort of a "lesson" to pervy or sleazy guys who are simply out to just get laid and not form any emotional connection with their partner. It even seems at some point in the film that Dawn's stance on sex and abstinence from it until a certain point, makes her more of a target for alot of the boys at ehr high school. To top it all off, as if she doesn't have enough to deal with on that end, she has a stepbrother at home named Brad (John Hensley)who has a sexual interest in her, and ironically enough.....is exactly the type of guy who would push someone like Dawn to preach towards abstinence...thus further complicating matters.

All of these dynamics culminate to push the character played wonderfully by Jess Weixler further and further into a state of emotional confusion, and test her pact of abstinence. It's really a film which focuses on peer pressure, while using the vagina dentata myth as it's horror element. Yes, the whole "teeth" thing is a core element of the film, and yes there are more than enough moments where Dawn does "bare her fangs".....but the movie makes sure to not focus on that entirely, and instead build a story about a nice girl with an odd problem, surrounded by m ostlynegative people, and how she handles the situation altogether.

For those of you expecting a picture where blood is rank, and numerous people are killed and dropping like flies, this isn't it. But there are enough "teeth"-filled moments to keep the folks who tuned in just for the screwed up moments happy. There are alot of moments in this picture where you're just shaking your head, or literally amazed at what Dawn's "teeth" do to some people. Lichtenstein is a very talented director, and he made sure these moments didn't just come out of the blue, or not fit the script.

They take place at a time where they fit well into the story, well into a particular pattern of events, and the victims of Dawn's "teeth", for the most part....deserve their gruesome fates. This helps the film to stay in that realm of a horror/drama with nice overtones of black humor, instead of becoming a ridiculous and over-the-top mess that some other directors would've turned the picture into. Although for the most part, the shock value is still there.

"Teeth"'s best moments are in it's final act where all of the previous events come to a very intriguing and noteworthy conclusion, and Dawn's "teeth" claim their final victim....or so it seems. "Teeth" is a smart movie, which blends together alot of elements very well. While it's not a film which I'd watch on a regular basis or add to my dvd collection, it is a movie that is worth seeing once, and I doubt will disappoint many if they look beyond the premise and it's shocking elements.

Positives:Good performance by Weixler, and to a lesser extent Hensley, strong and smart script, very shocking moments involving Dawn and her "teeth".

Negatives:Some of the male characters are over the top annoying in some scenes.

Overall:Worth seeing atleast one time.





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