First Time Watching: "Teeth"

Check out my thoughts after watching the film Teeth for the first time. Thoughts below:


Browsing through Netflix looking for looking for the next horror film to watch, I came across Teeth. I remember hearing about the film a few years ago when I was trying to watch all the films in the "Dimension Extreme" Dvd line but never got around to watching it. Upon seeing the poster and reading the name I began remembering what I heard about the film, which was something like a killer woman with a toothed vagina. So overall I wasn't expecting too much beyond crazy woman with an anatomical oddity killing dudes. Fortunately the film turned out to be far more than that.

The film focus on a teenage girl in high school who is a strong advocate of abstinence. When she meets a boy who is a fellow advocate at an abstinence event desire is tempted, as he has far more than advocacy on his mind. Through a series of horrific events she discovers that she has "vagina dentata," or a toothed vagina. At first scared of its power she eventually learns how to wield it, to the detriment of evil men.

This film went far above the standard exploitive road that one would assume a film with this type of story would have. It should be noted that while the film does focus on exploring an idea and delivering a message, it does not stray from its exploitive horror roots. In other words people die, penises get severed, and blood is everywhere. As well the film does contain some comedic elements that for the most part are done well. I have noticed that some places like to say this film is a dark comedy but I don't think it has enough comedy in it to qualify. Rather I see the film as more of an exploitation type of film that uses extreme characters and situations with a little bit of comedy thrown in. Because of this some of these out there characters and situations scenes can be seen as being funny because they appear to be far from realistic.

This film is pretty awesome as a whole but there is one particular aspect that I felt was pretty weak and stood out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the movie. The brother's weird sexual obsession with his sister (the main girl in the film) seemed so unjustified. Based on a scene early in the film it would appear that the step brother instantly fell in "love" (sexually desired her) when he first met he as a 5 or 6 year old. Though it didn't dampen the effectives of the characters comeuppance (mostly because he is a horrible person in general), the logic of the relationship between the two is very weak. Fortunately this doesn't drag the film down too much and the rest of the film is capable of holding up this weak aspect without effecting the overall product too much.

In the end this film turned out to far exceed my expectations and become a film that I would definitely recommend to others. This is just a really good film that hits all the right buttons that a good horror film should, as well as having a purpose beyond carnage. That in particular is what rises the films above the average. Teeth is definitely a film worth seeking out.