Teeth

I'm not sure why I've decided to do my first entry on Teeth after this long layoff, but it's a film that is not too popular where I work whether with coworkers or customers. I will admit that I was hesitant when I heard about the premise of the film, but the film also intrigued me and I have had luck in the past with going out on a limb with a few films i.e. Jonathan's Black Sheep, Andrew Currie's Fido, and Stephen Bradley's Boy Eats Girl. There's something about parody and the horror genre that is a seemingly great fit. Sure, there's always going to be the serious horror film like Moreau/Palaud's Ils a.k.a. Them, but after years of watching a maniac in a hockey mask or rotting corpses feed on a living person there seem to be a demand for a new type of horror film. Some can say that the horror parody can be traced to the late seventies with John De Bello's auteur Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Hell, the sequel starred of all people, George Clooney.
Today, parody can be attributed to Edgar Wright's masterpiece, Shaun of the Dead. It was not only a parody on the zombie genre that Romero started, but also a parody on the British reserve. Shaun was an instant cult classic and a retail phenomena. The film ushered in a new subgenre of horror film: the horror parody. The great thing about this new type of genre was that filmakers had loads of material to work from. Another film that shall not be overlooked is Scott Glosserman's Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon which was a genius film that drew on the slasher films of the eighties. BtM answered those questions we asked ourselves about Friday the 13th.
There are so many aspects about Mitchell Lichtenstein's Teeth that is so brilliant. One, the film, plays on such teen dramas like The Hills, Laguna Beach, and DeGrassi Junior High. Here's a brief synopsis of Teeth: Dawn is a teenager preaching teen chaste and is a rock star to young girls who believe in saving themselves until marriage. Dawn falls for the new boy in town who happens to seduce Dawn, but Dawn fights back in an unusual way. It's this defense mechanism that one has not seen in the horror genre. The film does draw a little bit of inspiration from Michael Lehmann's Heathers. Teeth does satire peer pressure in the teen genre much like the afternoon specials used to do in the eighties (by the way, I'm still waiting for a new afternoon special to come out on ABC).
The film does have a sense of irony that the film plays out like an afternoon school special. There is not a lull in the film at all. After the first "shocking" scene, then the film does take a dark turn and all bets are off. What is great about the character, Dawn, is that the actress: Jess Weixler has the "girl next door" kind of innocence to her. Her naivity showed in her performance as the audience lives through her. We don't know what is exactly going on as her character doesn't know what is exactly wrong with her. It's this kind of symbiotic character/audience relationship that made this film such a treat to watch.
The last scene shall remain a secret for those who have not had a pleasure of watching this film, but I will say that it was one of the most shocking and hysterical endings I had ever witnessed in a film. I'm including the ending to Neil Jordan's The Crying Game. I'm hoping that some of you who has scene this film before will watch it again with a different set of eyes or those who has not scene the film will take a chance on the film. I think Teeth is definitely in my top ten of 08'.