The Tooth Fairy
Cavities can be the Root of all Evil!
The Tooth Fairy is a bit of an oddity. It’s a cross between a ghost story and a slasher flick and, while individual elements worked quite well, the overall feel was mixed with the two genres undermining each other.
A short interlude at the start of the film, set in 1949, sets things up quite nicely. A malevolent witch lures children to her house to steal their teeth, after which she murders them horribly and traps their souls on Earth.
We then jump forward to the present day where Peter Campbell (Lochlyn Munro) has bought the now abandoned house and is busy turning it into a guest house. His first tenant has turned up – early – as has his former girlfriend, Darcy Wagner (Chandra West) and her daughter Pamela (Nicole Muñoz).
Pamela, of course, is “nearly twelve” and has one more milk tooth to lose. So when the ghost of Emma Inge (Jianna Ballard) turns up we have everything we need for a reasonably solid ghost story.
But we also have a pair of redneck brothers who, along with their silent sister, appear to have wandered in from am Italian remake of Deliverance. There’s the Tooth Fairy herself – and there really isn’t any suspense here as to what’s going on – who, along with a bit of cannon fodder provide everything we need for a reasonably straightforward slasher film.
See the problem?
The inserts of (occasionally quite effective) gore and the comic interludes undermine any attempt to build a reasonable level of tension. On the other hand, the filmmakers never really let rip with the sort of splatter that would keep the gore hounds happy.
On the plus side the characters do (apart from one glaringly obvious scene) behave reasonably intelligently, and no-one felt the need to give the Tooth Fairy any “witty” one-liners.
My problem with the film is not that it’s actually bad – on a technical level it’s quite good. And writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell certainly deserves credit for trying something a little different within the genre.
It’s just a shame that it doesn’t quite come off.
The Tooth Fairy isn’t for everyone, but if you find yourself in the mood for a little lightweight splatter, or a none-too-deep ghost story, it’s worth checking out.
Tuesday 26 Sep 2006 | Paul Pritchard | Horror
