every rose has its thorns*
Over the weekend I managed to squeeze in a midnight show at The Music Box with my friend Jane. I’d been to her shop Barberella for a haircut and she told me about this movie called Teeth.
vagina dentata is the latin term for toothed vagina.
It’s a myth that has persisted across many global cultures and years of human history. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s origins are either men afraid of castration or powerful women.
Either way, Teeth is a movie about one such girl.
The film, a B-movie horror flick directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein, is rather genius. The plot devices are as obvious as can be, and the gory effects are there mostly to shock you, but what worked so well in the film was the style of the whole thing from start to finish.
I don’t want to give up too much of the movie because I can’t recommend seeing it enough. Cinematographer Wolfgang Held paired nicely with the director, and the look and feel of the film was so tight that even when you were looking at a sight gag (and there are many) it fit. Despite it’s B-movieness, this one is so on my wishlist when it drops on DVD I can’t wait.
I look forward to more work by Mitchell Lichtenstein.
* that’s the film’s tagline