'Teeth' clamps down on evil boys, men
By Phil Villarreal
Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.27.2008
It's tough to come up with a more effective poster girl for teen abstinence than Dawn. The protagonist of the horror comedy "Teeth" has got a second set of choppers just where you're thinking.
As Dawn preaches sexual purity, her actions — at first spontaneous in instances of fear and stress and then connivingly voluntary — carry literal bite.
It's tough to imagine a premise more crass and childish, and so it would be all too easy for a star to vamp up the role into something worthy of late-night Cinemax. But star Jess Weixler, exerting the command and persona of a young Meryl Streep, grants enough earnest innocence that instead of fearing her, you fear for her.
"Teeth" may seem like a monster-movielike exploitation freak show, but if that's so, the creatures are the men in the movie who make Dawn's physical abnormality seem tame by comparison. She maneuvers through relations with sexually assaulting stepbrothers, oblivious stepfathers, date rapists, gynecologist/molesters and hitchhiker-assisting dirty old coots.
Dawn hits 'em wear it hurts, giving the comedy touches of a feminist empowerment fable. She's a garbage disposal in sheep's clothing tiptoeing through a den of wolves.
Of course, to describe the male characters that way is a discredit to the couth and reserve of wolves. Chief among Dawn's drooling oppressors is her icky stepbrother, Brad (John Hensely), a tattooed, walking erection who makes loud, abusive love to his girlfriend, openly lusts after Dawn and beats down timid boys who knock on the door looking to see her.
At least Brad is on the level. Many of the other guys in Dawn's life, including a doofus from her youth group, take advantage of her under false pretenses. Dawn's sudden shifts from victim to victimizer are relentlessly gratifying.
"Teeth" chews through its scenery with a snappy, above-it-all vibe. Somehow the self-awareness does nothing to eat away the shock of the gory scenes.
Incisive dialogue and disturbingly comical dismemberment scenes make the film by 52-year-old writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein the most promising horror/comedy debut since Eli Roth's "Cabin Fever" (2002), and Weixler makes a similarly formidable impression. The film provides both talents a heck of a way to cut their teeth.
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