Teeth

Name: Teeth
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Comedy
Released: January 18, 2008
Duration: 94 min
Rating: 57
Cast: Jess Weixler

2008

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Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 79 Ratings

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5.6

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5.6	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 79 Ratings

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Teeth

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Movie Details & Credits

Roadside Attractions | Release Date: January 18, 2008 | R

Starring: Jess Weixler

Summary: High school student Dawn works hard at suppressing her budding sexuality by being the local chastity group’s most active participant. Her task is made even more difficult by her bad stepbrother Brad’s increasingly provocative behavior at home. A stranger to her own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina when she becomes theHigh school student Dawn works hard at suppressing her budding sexuality by being the local chastity group’s most active participant. Her task is made even more difficult by her bad stepbrother Brad’s increasingly provocative behavior at home. A stranger to her own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina when she becomes the object of violence. As she struggles to comprehend her anatomical uniqueness, Dawn experiences both the pitfalls and the power of being a living example of the vagina dentata myth. (Lionsgate)… Expand

Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein

Genre(s): Thriller, Horror, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 94 min

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Critic Reviews

Shawn Levy

A clever and affecting thriller/comedy about a subject that absolutely cannot be written about in a daily newspaper or website that's for a general audience. The film is a giddy pastiche of styles -- slasher picture, faith film, social satire, teen romp, '50s atom bomb monster movie -- and it makes you laugh and squirm and grin in appreciation. Read full review

Carina Chocano

Campy, shameless and sophisticated, Lichtenstein's debut is gutsy and original, and it makes "Juno" look positively tame by comparison. Read full review

Jack Mathews

The film should have the edgy wit of "Election" here, but instead is played so straight it's hard to make the shift when things start getting really crazy. But stick with it and you'll be rewarded with a new kind of superhero and a couple of the ghastliest, most outrageous penis jokes ever imagined. Read full review

Wesley Morris

Teeth is the "Incredible Hulk" of sex satires. Read full review

Andrew O'Hehir

This is going to be a notorious film that young audiences will be daring themselves to see, but it's actually funnier, darker and more troubling before it turns into a carnival of repeated dismemberment. Read full review

Todd McCarthy

A game, disarming lead performance from Jess Weixler, who won a jury acting prize at Sundance, goes some way toward making palatable this mish-mash, whose provocative nature could carve out a certain commercial niche. Read full review

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Lichtenstein's putative switcheroo on the Vagina Dentata trope is to play it as some kind of token of female empowerment, but it's pretty clear that the writer/director didn't think things through on any counts, contenting himself that the putative outrageousness of the concept could see him through. Read full review

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User Reviews

JesseB.

Jan 24, 2008

Brilliant film if you can make it through (four people at my screening walked out). It's way underrated. It will stand the test of time as a cult classic. Great suspense, performances (especially the lead), *extremely* funny, disturbing - just all around great. I'm very Brilliant film if you can make it through (four people at my screening walked out). It's way underrated. It will stand the test of time as a cult classic. Great suspense, performances (especially the lead), *extremely* funny, disturbing - just all around great. I'm very disappointed in the critics for being too squeamish to look past the severed penises.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

AlbrightK.

Jan 18, 2008

A totally original very, very black comedy. Yes, it does hit a lot of genres, but does so in a charming and entertaining manner.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

triquetra4715

Jan 14, 2016

Teeth achieves something rare by being funny, yet not at all quotable.Many of the best moments are non-verbal, and even the verbal punchlines would fall flat without the atmospheric lead-up. A cautionary tale about poor sex-ed, a monster movie, a teen romp, a coming of age, and a quirkyTeeth achieves something rare by being funny, yet not at all quotable.Many of the best moments are non-verbal, and even the verbal punchlines would fall flat without the atmospheric lead-up. A cautionary tale about poor sex-ed, a monster movie, a teen romp, a coming of age, and a quirky comedy are all somewhere within Teeth, but cannot be separated from each other.

A pure horror movie along the lines of Teeth would be shamefully ridiculous, but Teeth legitimizes its monster moments by recognizing the preposterousness of its premise.

It's a bit odd that the main character meets very few men who are not rapists, but not moreso than the main character having teeth in her vagina. And it wouldn't be a very interesting movie if only, like, one dick got bitten off.

Don't watch it with your parents, but definitely watch it.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Manio

Mar 25, 2013

A ladyfriend told me to watch Teeth so I did. Lesson learned. Avoid women with toothed vaginas.

Other then how corny this movie is, which I feel is what it aimed for, it's really unnerving. It made me really uncomfortable seeing her snatch bite off men's organs. It's kinda crazy, and theA ladyfriend told me to watch Teeth so I did. Lesson learned. Avoid women with toothed vaginas.

Other then how corny this movie is, which I feel is what it aimed for, it's really unnerving. It made me really uncomfortable seeing her snatch bite off men's organs. It's kinda crazy, and the whole "step-brother sex scene" at the end was really...odd. Didn't he love her, and got mad because she became his step-sister?

Oh well. Fun movie to sit through once, and could be fun to see the reaction of your friends. Specifically your guy friends.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

ChadS.

May 9, 2008

Concerning Dawn's killer vagina, the filmmaker had two choices. The vagina could either be in tune with Dawn's mind, or a rogue element in the girl's body that tunes her out. The filmmaker decided that a telepathic vagina, rather than an impervious vagina, better served his Concerning Dawn's killer vagina, the filmmaker had two choices. The vagina could either be in tune with Dawn's mind, or a rogue element in the girl's body that tunes her out. The filmmaker decided that a telepathic vagina, rather than an impervious vagina, better served his story. When Dawn(Jess Weixler) senses trouble, her "p****" throws a hissy fit and acts on the girl's behalf. The men get what they deserve. Their advances are either non-consensual(to be frank, it's rape), or duplicitous. But what if Dawn actually fell in love, and wanted to express her love physically? Now that's one vagina monologue I'd love to hear; a plea to her vagina that it grant passage to a benevolent, albeit "angry" penis. Ryan(Ashley Springer) looks like he's in love with Dawn, but inexplicably, the film turns him into a rapist. This awkward tonal shift clumsily introduces the truth about Dawn's vagina. If "Teeth" had a brain, and more importantly, a heart and soul, it actually had the makings of an "Edward Scissorshands" for girls.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful

juliankennedy23

Oct 25, 2014

Teeth: 5 out of 10: This is the second vagina dentata film I have seen; it is unfortunately the lesser effort. This despite tremendous guerilla marketing campaign that could make one think this is the first cinematic foray into such a taboo subject let alone the greatest horror film sinceTeeth: 5 out of 10: This is the second vagina dentata film I have seen; it is unfortunately the lesser effort. This despite tremendous guerilla marketing campaign that could make one think this is the first cinematic foray into such a taboo subject let alone the greatest horror film since “Sliced: The Baker of Bread”.

The film spends its first half an hour on a lightweight parody of the Teen Chastity movement complete with the wearing of red rings to show that they are pledged virgins. In a creepy post release twist, the chastity group is called Promise and uses something that resembles the Obama presidential red O as its symbol. I am not sure this is what the Obama campaign had in mind.

After a half an hour of jabs at the religious right and nuclear power, (Cooling towers are ominously and unscientifically billowing black smoke behind our protagonist’s house.) The film segues into the feminist revenge film we all paid good money for.

Needless to say, hormones being what they are, the dentata enabled virgin (Jess Weixler) finds herself getting hot and heavy with her born again virgin boyfriend (Hale Appleman). When he takes her no to mean yes and attempts to date rape her... well her teeth go to work and Appleman finds himself short one manhood.

Do remember that film when the guy loves the girl and she betrays him so he cuts her vagina with a broken beer bottle, killing her, and the audience cheers him on? No? I don’t either. Because they never made that film... and if they did, audiences would burn down the theater. Welcome to the double standard. And don’t get me wrong, I approve of this particular double standard in theory, but the misandry of this film is overwhelming. Add in some unsubtle homosexual subtext (and gratuitous male nudity both membered and dismembered) and one gets the idea that the film is against heterosexual intercourse in general. This ironically gives it the same moral compass as the Chastity Group it mocks. This is simply forced chastity from the other side.

The problem is poor direction by Mitchell Lichtenstein. His tone is all over the place and sloppy. If he wants his protagonist to seek out lovers then kill them for imagined slights (as she does later in the film) shouldn’t the film reflect this change from victim to predator? Director Lichtenstein also wastes a tremendous performance by John Hensley as Weixler’s older, evil brother. Hensley creates a character of true banal evil. A stupid selfish bad guy that feels like a very real person. His scenes are the best in the film, yet the climatic denouement is simply more of the same and honestly does not feel true to the character. (This would have been a perfect time for the film to put in a twist such as incestuous anal sex.) The films performances are overall quite good with Jess Weixler and Hensley as the standouts. The film is also extremely graphic with various male gentalia being sliced and gaping bloody wounds in the crotch area. (Not for nothing but would not a male member lose its erection if severed?) Unfortunately, Teeth, much like that recent killer baby flick Grace, ends where it should have begun. If you want to see a Vagina Dentata film done right, take a gander at Angst (Or Penetration Angst, as it is known overseas.). Fiona Horsey brings a certain je ne sais quoi to the art of dismembering men that an American virgin just cannot compete with.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

BrianG.

Jan 26, 2008

Complete and utter misandrist filth. I'd just love to see the reaction of those who praise TEETH if, instead, someone had introduced a film in which the male protagonist destroyed women's genitalia. Is our societal hatred of men actually reached the level that this is the next Complete and utter misandrist filth. I'd just love to see the reaction of those who praise TEETH if, instead, someone had introduced a film in which the male protagonist destroyed women's genitalia. Is our societal hatred of men actually reached the level that this is the next logical step?… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful

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