by Sarah Huth

Created on: May 08, 2008

Throughout the film, "Teeth", the main character Dawn (Jess Weixler) is seen wearing various t-shirts bearing slogans about abstinence, one of which reading, "Warning! Sex changes everything!" However, in this dark comedy directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein (son of painter Roy Lichtenstein), that phrase takes on an entirely different meaning.

"Teeth" follows the story of Dawn, a somewhat backwards young girl from a troubled family that is trying to deal with puberty and the sexual changes that come with it. She speaks about abstinence for a local chastity group (similar to "The Silver Ring Thing"), and is often ridiculed at school for her strict religious views. At home, she and her parents are at the mercy of her crazy older brother Brad (John Hensley), who blasts loud music, is covered in tattoos and piercings, and is constantly having sex with his girlfriend. Dawn feels as if she is never going to find anyone her age that understands her beliefs, until she meets Tobey (Hale Appleman) at one of the chastity group events. However, though they try to "resist temptation" one thing eventually leads to another, and Dawn finds herself in a situation that compromises her values. When she tries to get away, Tobey proves to be more concerned with having sex than he is with "staying strong for God", and eventually forces himself onto her and attempts to rape her.

This is where things get interesting.

When placed in such a threatening situation, Dawn's vagina produces teeth, and well, you can imagine the rest I'm sure. Tobey runs off in terror (leaving his genitals behind in the chaos), and Dawn sits on the ground in a state of shock, unable to believe what just happened. Confused about her body, Dawn doesn't understand the changes she is going through, and throughout the rest of the movie, the audience follows her on her journey to get a grasp on what exactly is happening to her. She eventually discovers the myth of "vagina dentata", which describes tales of women in various cultures that had teeth inside of their vagina. She also learns that the teeth only come out when she feels threatened, enabling her to have sex normally if she chose to.

While upon first glance "Teeth" may seem to be nothing more than a gory, splatter film that is meant to glorify women and terrify men, it is really much more than that. While there is plenty of blood and gore, including many severed penises and a couple chopped off fingers, the film places it in the context of a very witty, original

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