Teeth is a horror-black comedy film written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein, about a teenage girl who has Teeth in her vagina. It premiered January 19, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in the independent drama category. It was released on DVD in the US on May 6, 2008, by Dimension Extreme.
Plot
Dawn O’Keefe (Jess Weixler) is a teenage spokesperson for a Christian Abstinence group called The Promise. She attends groups with her two friends, Gwen (Julia Garro) and Phil (Adam Wagner). One evening after giving her speech talking about the ring those in the group wear and what it means, she is introduced to Tobey (Hale Appleman) and finds him attractive.
The four begin going out as a group, and Dawn has fantasies of marrying Tobey, although after acknowledging the attraction they agree that they cannot spend time together. Soon after they give in and meet at a local swimming hole. After swimming together, they go in to a cave to get warm and begin kissing. Tobey then forces himself on Dawn; in the panic her vagina bites off his penis. Horrified, he stumbles away and she flees the scene. After a Promise meeting, she meets her classmate Ryan (Ashley Springer) at a dance; they talk, and he drops her off at her home.
Dawn researches Vagina dentata and realizes she may have it, then she visits a gynaecologist, Dr. Godfrey (Josh Pais), in an attempt to find out what is happening to her. Finding out that she is a virgin, he attempts to take advantage of her by saying he is performing a test, when what he is really doing is molesting her. She panics, and her vagina bites off the fingers on his right hand. He screams “vagina dentata†in his pain. On her way back, she sees someone driving in Tobey's car, and she goes back to visit the pool. When she gets there she sees the police bringing up Tobey's body. At home, her ill mother, Kim O'Keefe (Vivienne Benesch), collapses, while Dawn's stepbrother, Brad (John Hensley), and his girlfriend, Melanie (Nicole Swahn), continue to have sex while she lies on the floor. Kim is taken to the hospital.
She goes to Ryan, and the two successfully have sex. The following morning they have sex again, but mid-coitus Ryan’s friend calls, and Dawn learns that he had a wager on having sex with her. In her anger, her vagina bites off his penis, and she leaves him to call his mother for help.
Dawn learns her mother has died, and after her stepfather, Bill (Lenny Von Dohlen), attempts to throw Brad out, he sets his dog on him. Dawn meets her stepfather and Melanie at the hospital, and emboldened by her power, she goes back home to seek revenge. Dawn puts on make-up and goes to her stepbrother, and they engage in sex. In the middle of the act, Brad recalls when he was younger and his finger was bitten by Dawn, that it wasn’t her mouth that bit him. As he realizes this, Dawn’s vagina bites off his penis. She releases it on the ground, and Brad’s dog eats it, spitting out the Glans and Prince Albert piercing. Dawn leaves him to bleed to death.
Dawn cycles away from home, but her bike sustains a puncture, so she begins hitchhiking. She gets a lift from an old man (Doyle Carter), but when she reaches the next gas station and tries to get out, he locks the doors. He licks his lips as if to ask for a sexual favor to release her; Dawn hesitates, and then looks towards the camera with a seductive smile.
Cast
- Jess Weixler as Dawn O'Keefe
- John Hensley as Brad Swanson O'Keefe
- Josh Pais as Dr. Godfrey
- Hale Appleman as Tobey
- Lenny Von Dohlen as Bill O'Keefe
- Vivienne Benesch as Kim O'Keefe
- Ashley Springer as Ryan
- Julia Garro as Gwen
- Nicole Swahn as Melanie
- Adam Wagner as Phil
- Doyle Carter as the old man
Release
The film premiered January 19, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
It was also shown at the
- Berlin International Film Festival,
- Nantucket Film Festival,
- Sydney International Film Festival,
- Melbourne International Film Festival,
- London FrightFest Film Festival,
- Deauville Festival of American Cinema,
- Hamptons International Film Festival,
- Auckland International Film Festival.
It opened in limited release in the United States on January 18, 2008.[1] The film was released on DVD on May 6, 2008.
Critical reception
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 81% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 59 reviews — with the consensus that the film is "smart, original, and horrifically funny."[2] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 57 out of 100, based on 22 reviews.[3]
Sundance
Reaction from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival was positive, with Cinematical critic Scott Weinberg saying, "Teeth is precisely the sort of genre movie that we need to see more of."[4] Adrienne Shelly Foundation artistic director Mystelle Brabbée declared it "one of the most talked-about films at the Sundance Film Festival this year".[5]
Jess Weixler won the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Performance (and tied with Tamara Podemski from the film Four Sheets to the Wind).[6]
Additional awards
Weixler and Hensley were honored at Spike TV's 2008 Scream Awards. The pair won the award for "Most Memorable Mutilation" for "Penis Bitten Off By Vagina With Teeth"
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