Teeth (film)
Encyclopedia
Teeth is a 2007 comedy horror 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 United States on May 6, 2007, by Dimension Extreme
.
) is a teenage spokesperson for a Christian abstinence group called The Promise. She attends groups with her two friends, Alisha (Julia Garro) and Phil (Adam Wagner). One evening after giving her speech talking about the purity 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. Dawn gets uncomfortable and tries to get them to go back. Tobey then attempts to force sex on Dawn, who panics and tries to push him off. Tobey becomes aggressive and shakes Dawn, resulting in her smacking her head on the ground. While she is recovering from disorientation, Tobey takes this as his chance to begin raping her. Dawn fights back and inadvertently bites off his penis with her vagina. 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 drops her purity ring off of a cliff and even goes back to the swimming hole, only causing her to scream in horror because a freshwater crab was crawling on Tobey's penis. She then researches "vagina dentata
" and realizes she may have it. Then, she visits a gynecologist, Dr. Godfrey (Josh Pais
) in an attempt to find out what is happening to her. Finding out that she has never visited a gynecologist before, he takes advantage of her and molests her under the pretense of performing a test. Crying out in pain, she panics and her vagina bites off four of the fingers on his right hand. On her way back, she sees a police officer driving Tobey's car, who demands that she pull over to the side of the road on her bike. After, she decides to go back to visit the pool to investigate. When she gets there she sees the police bringing up Tobey's body. At home, her ill mother, Kim O'Keefe (Vivienne Benesch) collapses, Dawn's stepbrother, Brad (John Hensley
) and his girlfriend Melanie (Nicole Swahn) ignore her and continue to have sex while she lies on the floor. Kim is taken to the hospital.
Dawn goes to Ryan seeking help 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, Brad sets his dog on Bill. 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 genital piercing
; Dawn leaves him to bleed to death.
Dawn cycles away from home, but her bike tire 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—and the old man—with a seductive smile.
.
It was also shown at the following film festivals:
It opened in limited release
in the United States on January 18, 2008. The film was released on DVD
on May 6, 2008.
reported that 82% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 61 reviews—with the consensus that the film is "smart, original, and horrifically funny." 46% of viewers liked the film according to the website. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 57 out of 100, based on 22 reviews.
was positive, with Cinematical critic Scott Weinberg saying, "Teeth is precisely the sort of genre movie that we need to see more of." Adrienne Shelly
Foundation artistic director Mystelle Brabbée declared it "one of the most talked-about films at the Sundance Film Festival this year".
Jess Weixler won the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Performance (and tied with Tamara Podemski from the film Four Sheets to the Wind).
In addition, 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".
Comedy horror
Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary and film genre, combining elements of comedy and horror fiction. The comedy horror genre almost always inevitably crosses over with the black comedy genre; and in some respects could be considered a subset of it.The short story "The Legend...
written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein
Mitchell Lichtenstein
Mitchell Wilson Lichtenstein is an openly gay American actor, writer, producer and director.Lichtenstein studied acting at Bennington College in Vermont....
, about a teenage girl who has teeth in her vagina
Vagina dentata
Vagina dentata is Latin for toothed vagina. Various cultures have folk tales about women with toothed vaginas, frequently told as cautionary tales warning of the dangers of sex with strange women and to discourage the act of rape....
. It premiered January 19, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
2007 Sundance Film Festival
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007 in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival...
in the independent drama category. It was released on DVD in the United States on May 6, 2007, by Dimension Extreme
Dimension Extreme
Dimension Extreme is a genre DVD label owned by The Weinstein Company. The majority of the films released are unrated horror films, although comedies and action films have been released occasionally as well.-Films:*13: Game of Death ...
.
Plot
Dawn O’Keefe (Jess WeixlerJess Weixler
Jessica "Jess" Weixler is an American actress, best known to date as the lead in the comedy-horror film Teeth and the comedy The Big Bad Swim...
) is a teenage spokesperson for a Christian abstinence group called The Promise. She attends groups with her two friends, Alisha (Julia Garro) and Phil (Adam Wagner). One evening after giving her speech talking about the purity ring
Purity ring
Purity rings are worn as a sign of chastity. The practice originated in the United States in the 1990s among Christian-affiliated sexual abstinence groups....
those in the group wear and what it means, she is introduced to Tobey (Hale Appleman
Hale Appleman
Hale Isaac Appleman is an American actor. Best known for playing Tobey Cobb in the 2007 film Teeth, Appleman made his film debut in Chad Lowe's feature, Beautiful Ohio, and portrayed cartoonist Judd Winick in Pedro, Nick Oceano's 2008 film dramatizing the life of AIDS educator Pedro Zamora...
) 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. Dawn gets uncomfortable and tries to get them to go back. Tobey then attempts to force sex on Dawn, who panics and tries to push him off. Tobey becomes aggressive and shakes Dawn, resulting in her smacking her head on the ground. While she is recovering from disorientation, Tobey takes this as his chance to begin raping her. Dawn fights back and inadvertently bites off his penis with her vagina. Horrified, he stumbles away and she flees the scene. After a Promise meeting, she meets her classmate Ryan (Ashley Springer
Ashley Springer
Ashley Springer is an American actor based in New York City whose screen credits include the 2007 horror-black comedy film, Teeth, written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein, and the 2009 drama Dare, directed by Adam Salky....
) at a dance; they talk, and he drops her off at her home.
Dawn drops her purity ring off of a cliff and even goes back to the swimming hole, only causing her to scream in horror because a freshwater crab was crawling on Tobey's penis. She then researches "vagina dentata
Vagina dentata
Vagina dentata is Latin for toothed vagina. Various cultures have folk tales about women with toothed vaginas, frequently told as cautionary tales warning of the dangers of sex with strange women and to discourage the act of rape....
" and realizes she may have it. Then, she visits a gynecologist, Dr. Godfrey (Josh Pais
Josh Pais
Josh Pais is an American actor of film and television.He has appeared in many Hollywood films, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Raphael, Music of the Heart, Scream 3, It Runs in the Family, Little Manhattan and Find Me Guilty. He played Assistant M.E...
) in an attempt to find out what is happening to her. Finding out that she has never visited a gynecologist before, he takes advantage of her and molests her under the pretense of performing a test. Crying out in pain, she panics and her vagina bites off four of the fingers on his right hand. On her way back, she sees a police officer driving Tobey's car, who demands that she pull over to the side of the road on her bike. After, she decides to go back to visit the pool to investigate. When she gets there she sees the police bringing up Tobey's body. At home, her ill mother, Kim O'Keefe (Vivienne Benesch) collapses, Dawn's stepbrother, Brad (John Hensley
John Hensley
John Carter Hensley II is an American actor. His film appearances have included Peoples, Fifty Pills, Teeth, and Shutter.-Filmography:-External links:*...
) and his girlfriend Melanie (Nicole Swahn) ignore her and continue to have sex while she lies on the floor. Kim is taken to the hospital.
Dawn goes to Ryan seeking help 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
Lenny Von Dohlen
Lenny Von Dohlen is an American film and stage actor, best known for his performance as the agoraphobic Harold Smith in Twin Peaks and the architect Miles Harding in the film Electric Dreams. Von Dohlen currently resides in New York and Los Angeles.-Early years:Lenny Von Dohlen was born in...
), attempts to throw Brad out, Brad sets his dog on Bill. 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
Glans penis
The glans penis is the sensitive bulbous structure at the distal end of the penis. The glans penis is anatomically homologous to the clitoral glans of the female...
and genital piercing
Genital piercing
Genital piercing is a form of body piercing and is considered a form of body modification. It involves piercing a part of the genitalia and subsequently inserting and keeping a foreign object in the opening until the wound heals. This forms a tunnel of skin around the foreign object, thus creating...
; Dawn leaves him to bleed to death.
Dawn cycles away from home, but her bike tire sustains a puncture, so she begins hitchhiking
Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...
. 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—and the old man—with a seductive smile.
Cast
- Jess WeixlerJess WeixlerJessica "Jess" Weixler is an American actress, best known to date as the lead in the comedy-horror film Teeth and the comedy The Big Bad Swim...
as Dawn O'Keefe - Hale ApplemanHale ApplemanHale Isaac Appleman is an American actor. Best known for playing Tobey Cobb in the 2007 film Teeth, Appleman made his film debut in Chad Lowe's feature, Beautiful Ohio, and portrayed cartoonist Judd Winick in Pedro, Nick Oceano's 2008 film dramatizing the life of AIDS educator Pedro Zamora...
as Tobey - John HensleyJohn HensleyJohn Carter Hensley II is an American actor. His film appearances have included Peoples, Fifty Pills, Teeth, and Shutter.-Filmography:-External links:*...
as Brad - Lenny von DohlenLenny Von DohlenLenny Von Dohlen is an American film and stage actor, best known for his performance as the agoraphobic Harold Smith in Twin Peaks and the architect Miles Harding in the film Electric Dreams. Von Dohlen currently resides in New York and Los Angeles.-Early years:Lenny Von Dohlen was born in...
as Bill - Josh PaisJosh PaisJosh Pais is an American actor of film and television.He has appeared in many Hollywood films, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Raphael, Music of the Heart, Scream 3, It Runs in the Family, Little Manhattan and Find Me Guilty. He played Assistant M.E...
as Dr. Godfrey
- Julia Garro as Alisha
- Adam Wagner as Phil
- Vivienne Benesch as Kim
- Ashley SpringerAshley SpringerAshley Springer is an American actor based in New York City whose screen credits include the 2007 horror-black comedy film, Teeth, written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein, and the 2009 drama Dare, directed by Adam Salky....
as Ryan - Trent Moore as Mr. Vincent
Release
The film premiered January 19, 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival2007 Sundance Film Festival
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007 in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival...
.
It was also shown at the following film festivals:
- Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
- Nantucket Film Festival
- SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
International Film Festival - Melbourne International Film FestivalMelbourne International Film FestivalThe Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
- London FrightFest Film FestivalLondon FrightFest Film FestivalFrightFest is an annual film festival held in central London over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The first event was held in the year 2000....
- DeauvilleDeauvilleDeauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and...
Festival of American Cinema - Hamptons International Film FestivalHamptons International Film FestivalHamptons International Film Festival was founded to provide a forum for independent filmmakers from around the world to express their vision. The Festival is traditionally held for five days in mid-October in theatre venues from Montauk to Southampton and attracts roughly 15,000 visitors annually...
- Auckland International Film Festival
It opened in limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in the United States on January 18, 2008. The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on May 6, 2008.
Critical reception
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics; review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 82% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 61 reviews—with the consensus that the film is "smart, original, and horrifically funny." 46% of viewers liked the film according to the website. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 57 out of 100, based on 22 reviews.
Sundance and awards
Reaction from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival2007 Sundance Film Festival
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007 in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the 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." Adrienne Shelly
Adrienne Shelly
Adrienne Shelly , was an American actress, director and screenwriter. Making her name in independent films such as 1989's The Unbelievable Truth and 1990's Trust, Shelly transitioned to a writing and directing career in subsequent years...
Foundation artistic director Mystelle Brabbée declared it "one of the most talked-about films at the Sundance Film Festival this year".
Jess Weixler won the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Performance (and tied with Tamara Podemski from the film Four Sheets to the Wind).
In addition, Weixler and Hensley were honored at Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
's 2008 Scream Awards
Scream Awards
The Scream Awards is an award show dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres of feature films. Originally only having Scream Queen and Heroic Performance awards for actors, the personnel awards have expanded to include actors and actresses of all three recognized genres. In addition,...
. The pair won the award for Most Memorable Mutilation for "Penis Bitten Off by Vagina with Teeth".