Rating of
2/4
60%
CJP - wrote on 10/16/08
Action: 2/3 + Comedy: 1/2 + Good vs Evil: 1/1 + Love/Sex: 1/1 + Special Effects: 0/1 + Plot: 0.5/1 +Music: 0.5/1 = 6/10 or 60%.
Teeth summons uncomfortability simply by explaining the plot. The cleverness of the product comes in the initial subtleties, the background of smoke stacks imply mutation and the initial speeches such as the biology teacher explaining why rattle snakes have rattles. There is a reason this is straight to DVD however and that is the overall direction.
Any seasoned director would realize immediaitely that Teeth is a one joke product, similar to Liar, Liar. One joke in different situations. That's it. So why it reveals the fabled punch line in the first minute of viewing is a head scratcher. There are 89 minutes left to tell the same joke. Thus, the taboo topics of promise rings, abstinance, and purity (that deserve horror motifs!) falter a little. The potential here is enormous, but as it is the director's first film some things fall by the way side.
