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| Jess Weixler in Teeth |
Cast: Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Josh Pais, Hale Appleman, Lenny von Dohlen, Vivienne Benesch, Ashley Springer, Laila Liliana Garro. Screenplay: Mitchell Lichtenstein. Cinematography: Wolfgang Held. Production design: Paul Avery. Film editing: Joe Landauer. Music: Robert Miller.
Poised in the gap between exploitation and satire, Mitchell Lichtenstein's Teeth doesn't quite make the grade as either. The title refers to legend of the vagina dentata, a physiological anomaly somehow possessed by Dawn (Jess Weixler). a teenage advocate for the save-it-for-marriage movement. When she lets herself and her boyfriend, Tobey (Hale Appleman), give into their urges, he gets a little too aggressive in satisfying them and suffers the bloody consequences. Teeth never really overcomes its sensational premise, an obvious one for a body horror movie with feminist overtones. Lichtenstein, making his feature debut as writer and director, hasn't yet mastered some of the skills he needs to make it work. The pacing feels off and some of the exposition is muddled. When the film succeeds, it does so because of a sly performance by Weixler, who makes Dawn's confusion and eventual determination more plausible than the script does.
