Films Outside the Loop

If you are into horror movies...here is one that you can literally sink your teeth into! This is not about vampires but about your local dentist. If you cringed at the dental scenes in 'Marathon Man' and 'Little Shop of Horrors'...you ain't seen nothin' yet! I believe in the Stephen King philosophy. The normal things in life are often the most horrifying! Who is NOT afraid of going to the dentist? Trust me, after seeing this movie...you will be. The first time I saw this movie, the people watching it with me made guttural noises and left the room. It does take a strong stomach to watch it!

This film is directed by Brian Yuzna who produced 'Re-Animator' and directed and produced 'Re-Animator 2'. It is brilliantly done with a perfect sense of timing. It is also very tongue-in-cheek without taking anything away from the total horror of this film.

Corbin Bernsen plays the dentist and I think that he has found his niche! He says, "A world that goes on ignoring dental hygiene can make you nuts!" And, it very much does. He has designer dental rooms such as the 'heaven room', the 'rain forest room' and the 'operatory' (the word opera is the operative word). The dental hygienists wear matching smocks when they work in these rooms. Outside of the dental office and the decay that he sees everyday...he has surrounded himself with everything pristine and white (including a young, blonde wife).

Things start to go wrong when he is notified that he is being audited by the IRS and he sees his wife go down on the tattooed pool man! Hey...what is a dentist to do? Get out a lot of dental tools that no one wants to see, some nitrous oxide and plastic tie wraps! AND, give your wife a VERY special anniversary present.

You have a dead Rottweiler, a severed tongue, a slashed throat and two of L.A.'s stupidest police detectives (Gibbs and Sunshine...believe it or not). Into this mix, they throw an innocent teenage girl waiting in the dentist's office to have her braces removed!

Prepare to squirm...

Runtime: 1:29

This film is available on DVD, VHS, cable or satellite.

This column is dedicated to those films that most of the world missed!

Back to Jeanne Chappé's Films Outside the Loop

Copyright © 1998, 2007 J. Chappé, all rights reserved This material may not be republished, rebroadcast or redistributed in any manner