Teeth (2007)

A new evolution of horror as arrived with the new film, Teeth. Teeth tells the story of Dawn O'Keefe (Jess Weixler), a young abstinent teenager who comes to find out that her "family jewels" are much more special than everyone else's; her vagina has teeth. When she comes to realize her "differences" she starts to battle with her sexuality and wanting to act on her impulses.

This has definitely revolutionized the horror genre along with some awkward comedy, Teeth holds interest for the viewer throughout. From a woman's perspective I'm not sure how the film would be received, but from a man, to put it plainly simple, it scares the ever living crap out of me. The film holds nothing to the imagination as it shows the most graphic images I've seen on film in quite sometime.

Other than graphic imagery, the storyline isn't as strong as images. There's no flow to the story and pretty random at times as it conquers the steps of gross and unfortunate adolescence. The performances are enough to suffice but its John Hensley who plays Brad, Dawn's perverted step-brother who wants to take his sister's virginity that stands out. Young Dawn takes on some new attitudes throughout the film and Weixler attends to her with grace and ease.

Not sure if this is a must-see for people, but it compares to The Matrix scenario when Morpheus presents the red pill and the blue pill. You can take the blue pill, the dream ends and you can believe whatever you want to believe; you take the red pill, you get to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

**½ /****

Fmovies: "Teeth" is a coming-of-age tale done in the spirit of "Carrie" (1976) in that it carefully examines a young girl becoming a woman. But "Carrie" had a twist: the protagonist Carrie White developed psychic powers, which she then used against the classmates who persistently tormented her. "Teeth" has a similar premise, one that's likely to instill castration anxiety in any oversexed male who watches it.

"Teeth" introduces the concept - for a wider audience - of "vagina dentata" (when translated from Latin, literally means "toothed vagina," as in females having a nifty set of teeth between their legs), the same vagina dentata of ancient mythology given to women as a physical advantage during sexual intercourse and is meant to ward off men from having sex with strange women and instill harsh feelings of castration anxiety in those oversexed men. Writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein takes his cues from "Carrie" and that ancient mythology to form the basis of his directorial debut; many may not know that "Teeth" is itself a remake of a small Japanese film called "Sexual Parasite: Killer Pussy" (2004) (I actually had to laugh at that title).

As a 22-year-old male virgin, some of what I saw in this picture is quite shocking and had me squirming in my seat on more than one occasion, trying to hold on to my manhood (so to speak) and enjoy a well-crafted coming-of-age horror-comedy. But the movie isn't about male-bashing, nor is it really about female empowerment. If you look hard enough, the movie is really about sexual violence, that is violence perpetrated by men upon women and vice versa. In this cinematic battle of the sexes, no one is really favored to win, although it's obvious that most men, young and old, will think twice about having sex with the film's female protagonist by the time the credits begin to roll.

The young heroine of "Teeth" is Dawn (Sundance Award-winner for Best Actress and - who some have called - Meryl Streep-in-training, Jess Weixler), a "pretty but prim" high school virgin who is hanging on to her sexual purity for dear life. In a tightly-knit Midwestern community that has ominous smoke stacks from the local chemical plant looming in the background, Dawn is the shining Christian example of abstinence at her school, where young men and women alike face all sorts of pressures to explore each others' bodies and let go of their virginity. In sex education courses, textbooks are featured that have taped-over diagrams of female genitalia but not male genitalia (a sexist double-standard?).

Things aren't much better at home. The film opens with a rather disturbing childhood incident between Dawn and her step-brother Brad that renders him without the tip of one of his fingers. Now an adult, the psychotic and heavily tattooed Brad (John Hensley) spends his days doing his girlfriend in his bedroom while harboring incestuous feelings toward Dawn.

Dawn only feels the sexual urges to let go of chastity getting stronger when she begins dating the like-minded Tobey (Hale Appleman), who eventually confesses to her that he's not a virgin; she isn't put off by the news, however. One thing leads to another and the two wind up in the sack, but when she rejects him, he forces himself upon her and - chomp! - no more Mr. Willy-Willy for Tobey. It is at this point that any males in the audience are likely to start squirming in their seats when the

If you like art movies that move you and make you think yet aren't too lazy or self-obsessed to take the effort to entertain- not always an easy trick to pull off- 'Teeth' is for you.

After hearing a bit about the movie and expecting nothing more than a crotch-grab-inducing B-horror flick, I was frankly curious to see how this subject matter could possibly be handled without an X-rating. In the process of getting my answer I was treated to a refreshingly unflinching examination of teen mores, unrequited love, revenge, and feminism all wrapped up in a coming of age story brilliantly headed by Jess Weixler.

John Hensley is equally absurd and on-target in the role of her troubled brother Brad and the disturbingly believable cast of characters takes the viewer from one unexpected place to the other while always ringing true.

Underneath its veneer of teen/horror camp, 'Teeth' is intelligently accessorized with the kind of ticking subtext that pumps the narrative through with humor, spunk, and heart. It pulls you in with all of the heady energy, truth, and blinding optimism of an ill-advised teenage crush.

Teeth fmovies. The trend of imbuing horror films with a quirky sense of irony cribbed from the hell that is adolescence (think "Ghost World" with gore) may have finally run out of steam with "Teeth," a moderately impressive (though unspectacular) yet overly precious and self-aware stab at subverting the genre's gender roles. Writer-director Mitchell Lichtenstein's concept (a puritanical virgin who grows up next to a nuclear power plant discovers a mean set of incisors below the waist when her sexuality blooms) is intriguing, and some of the film's best moments possess a surreal quality that almost transforms the material into a metaphorical extension of Dawn's (Jess Weixler) awkward adjustment to womanhood. While much has been written about gender roles in the horror genre, "Teeth" cleverly manages to have its cake and eat it, too: Dawn is treated as a haplessly naive girl by every male she encounters; the males are predatory, would-be rapists. In films like "I Spit On Your Grave" and "Ms. 45," the female victims recover to enact revenge in an extreme manner--"Teeth" playfully subverts Freud's notion of "penis envy" by transforming male genitalia into a literal kiss of death; Dawn's encounters (while tinged with a sometimes groan-inducing, "Clueless"-styled humor) eventually contribute to her growth and maturity as a woman, to the point where she finally becomes master of her domain. While not great, "Teeth" is a worthwhile little sleeper with some food for thought.

In a small town nearby a nuclear power facility, the chaste Dawn (Jess Weixler) is raised with her dysfunctional stepbrother Brad (John Hensley) by her mother that is sick and her stepfather. Once in high school, she participates of a meeting called "The Promise O" that preaches purity and virginity for the members. When the newcomer Tobey (Hale Appleman) arrives in town, the naive Dawn feels that he is her soul mate and stays close to him. The proximity becomes attraction and Tobey does not control his hormones and forces Dawn to have intercourse with him in a cave in an isolated lake. However, he is castrated by her vagina and vanishes in the lake. The desperate Dawn runs to the library and discovers that she has the mythical "Vagina Dentata" and only a hero can rescue her.

"Teeth" is one of the most refreshing horror tales that I have recently seen. The story of a chaste teenager that finds that she has a "Vagina Dentata" is simply hilarious and surrealistic. The legend does really exist, and in accordance with the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina_dentata), "various cultures have folk tales about women with toothed vaginae, frequently told as cautionary tales warning of the dangers of sex with strange women and to discourage the act of rape". There could be also a subtle interpretation that could be the difficulty of Dawn to self-adjust to the womanhood, but I believe the intention of the author was simply uses the myth to make a gem of dark humor. The beauty of the sweet Jess Weixler is awesome. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not available

Note: On 06 April 2015, I saw this movie again.

The premise alone can speak for the originality of the movie. Most audiences will be rushing to this film out of sheer curiosity, I know I did. While this movie is graphic, the conflicting tones of horror and comedy give it a playfulness and a freshness that any true movie-lover could appreciate. Now, its not by any means the best movie ever or the funniest or most horrific but it shines its light. The story and characters are all cheesy/campy but thats what gives this movie its charm. Its almost like whats going on is so absurd and awful and awkward you have no choice but to laugh! I don't recommend this film to the faint of heart but if you are in the mood for something new and will keep you talking for weeks, then I say this is the film for you. If anything, just to say you saw it is quite enough for most people. Women, you'll appreciate it more than you think. Men, you'll be more careful out there in the real world.