Plot
Doctor Feinstone lives a perfect life.
He has a beautiful wife, a huge house with an outdoor pool and a very successful job
as a dentist. However one day comes along where everything goes wrong for
him. He discovers his wife is having an affair with pool attendant and the I.R.S.
are closing in on him for tax problems. He snaps and begins to take out his
frustration on his patients, inflicting all manner of horrific dental
torture on them.
Review
Warning: The
Dentist is not a film for everyone. If you have a fear of the dentist then
this isn't the film for you. In fact, even if you don't have a fear of the
dentist, you might after having seen this. Admittedly The Dentist
does opt for the cheap shock treatment of utilising a lot of people's worst
fear to it's advantage but it's much more than just a tacky slasher. The
Dentist turns itself into an gripping and horrific thriller in which
every last dental cliché is going to be thrown at the audience in the hope
that something strikes a chord with them. We've all been sat in that chair.
We know what it feels like to be helpless with someone prodding dental
implements in your mouth. Well this plays upon that but not before we've
been given a master class in character build-up.
Corbin Bernsen is simply brilliant as the deranged Dr
Feinstone. He's not exactly 100% sane to start the film with his obsession
with cleanliness but when he snaps, you can almost sympathise with him. He
loves his wife dearly and takes pride in his job but when his marriage falls
apart and his job causes problems, there's nothing else for him and you can
only feel sorry for him. Feinstone's descent into total madness takes it's
time to come to fruition and it's good to see director Brian Yuzna spend so
much time in building the character up. It may be a little slow but it's
like that for a good reason. Bernsen may have slummed around in many cheap
B-movies but his performance here is the right mix of scene-chewing
silliness and scary seriousness. He knows when the push the right buttons
towards the audience especially during the torture scenes and displays a
perfect balance of humour and horror. Linda Hoffman has the supporting role
as his wife and looks fantastic, providing the more-than-ample nudity
factor. Both Ken Foree and Earl Boen are wasted in small roles.
So let's get down to the real notoriety of the film - the
scenes in the chair. These scenes of dental torture are brutal, there's no
two ways around it. There are plenty of close-ups so you get a good
first-hand look at all of the damage he causes. I've seen everything from
people being eaten alive, heads chopped off, intestines ripped out, limbs
severed and the like but I haven't grimaced as much as I did when the
dentist destroys a woman's tooth to dust with the drill. It's
stomach-churning material because it looks so real. It's for this reason
that the film has the high 18 rating in the UK. There's not much gore
elsewhere in the film but these dental torture scenes are pretty horrific
because they look so realistic. There's a reason this doesn't get the 5 star
treatment though and that's because of the finale. The film was going so
well up until the final third inside the dentist's surgery but it's here
where it reduces itself to a mess of generic clichés and the pay-off doesn't
pack the punch it should.
Verdict
The Dentist
is a totally underrated gem of a horror flick and one of the best of the 90s
low budget scene. If you have a fear of the
dentist, then DO NOT watch this film as it will reinforce your wildest
nightmares. If you don't fear the dentist, you'll still think again after
seeing it.
