33 out of 36 people found the following review helpful:
A horror film with bite
TheUncanny from ,
7th July, 2008
In her absorbing book ‘The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis’ Barbara Creed devotes one chapter to the Vagina Dentata and Freudian psychological theory. She observes that the aggressive female figure in the horror film (either monster or heroine) is often mistakenly identified as phallic rather than castrating. In Mitchell Lichtenstein’s (son of pop artist Roy) inventive horror comedy Teeth this mistake is impossible. Creed’s theoretical work is put into very literal practice as the mythical vagina dentata is shockingly realised. Teeth, as with many of the more interesting recent horror films like Switchblade Romance and Ginger Snaps, has an aggressive female figure who is both monster and heroine. Jess Weixler’s compelling, fearless performance rejects the role of victim foisted upon the majority of women in horror cinema. Empowered by her extraordinary ‘gift’ protagonist Dawn evolves throughout the course of the narrative from prey to predator. With so much contemporary horror (in particular the increasingly wearisome ‘torture porn’) preferring to demonstrate repressive gender politics and a depressingly virulent misogyny, Teeth marks a refreshing return to the more original, unflinching horror of the late seventies and early eighties. The film is admittedly flawed. The prosthetic effects work is so cheap it is often simply preposterous (although there is an argument to be made that this adds a kind of old school charm which simply adds to the humour) and the tone and the quality of the acting are both extremely variable. But the end product is simply far more concerned with being witty rather than scary, engaging rather than intimidating. Lichtenstein’s film, demonstrating the same keen aesthetic sense as his father, is often a visual treat. Observe Dawn’s changing t-shirts to see the playful character of the film evidenced. Playful it may be, but the film leaves a genuine impression on the viewer. Teeth, perhaps unsurprisingly, has real bite.
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