Plot
When twelve year-old Pamela goes on vacation with her family
to a bed and breakfast, the girl who lives next door tells her the true story
of the Tooth Fairy. Many years earlier, the evil Tooth Fairy slaughtered a
countless number of children after they lost the last of their baby teeth.
Unfortunately for Pamela, she has just lost her last baby teeth and the
Tooth Fairy returns to continue her slaughter.
Review
What could be more spooky to a young
child growing up than the thought of some total stranger coming into your
bedroom one night and taking the tooth out from under your pillow that you
put there the night before? I'm not sure about you but the story of the
Tooth Fairy was always one that puzzled me. Why would a fairy want to take
away your old teeth and why would she only wait until you were asleep before
sneaking into your room? It's a story that has been begging to be twisted
around into a horror film like so many other mythical characters have been
subjected to in the past (killer Santa anyone?). I was looking forward to
Darkness Falls when it came out a few years ago but we all know what a
pile of poop that turned out to be! Why would anyone want a second crack a
the whip? Well someone did and here we have The Tooth Fairy, a
slightly different take on the subject matter.
Darkness Falls did manage to get one thing right and that was the
story of the Tooth Fairy and turning her into an evil spirit/demon. Here the
film isn't sure what it wants her to be: an evil witch who has lived for
centuries, some crazy old woman or just a demented slasher in a hood. I mean
if she was a witch, why does she have to feed people into wood chipping
machines or chop their hands off with axes? Can't she just use witchcraft or
something on them? I'm sounding a bit stupid now but the film makes me that
way. It's almost as if they didn't have a clue what to do with her after the
opening scene and thought she should go around killing people - and not even
to take their teeth! Most of the people she butchers are totally innocent.
Isn't she only supposed to kill children for their teeth? At least she has a
bit of fun in killing some of the characters, including a great scene
involving a wood chipper. It's little moments like this that make my day
when watching low budget horror films. Something that surprises me and has a
bit of zing and zest about it. You know then that the director and writer
have aimed the film at a more mature audience instead of opting for the
quick buck with the teenage market. The make-up effects are nice and
realistic too so when someone does meet their unfortunate end in the wood
chipper, there's as much blood and gore as you would expect.
Acting isn't too bad either but I must say that I
wasn't expecting Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino to show up and my expectations
were very low to begin with. You'll have seen the two leads before but might
not be sure from where. Chandra West has been in a few Full Moon horror
flicks and Lochlyn Munro has been in stuff like Scary Movie and
Freddy Vs Jason. They're not new to the genre and perform ably. It's
good to see a solid cast for a change but the script lets everyone down so
easily. It could have been a solid chiller but it turns out into a rather
dull slasher flick. The story is predictable, the pace is slow and plodding
at first and there's only one thing you keep watching the film for and
that's to see how someone else dies.
Verdict
It's not a rip-off of Darkness
Falls (why anyone would want to rip that off for anyway would beat me)
but a lot of people will make that assumption with the main focus of the
film being that fabled character who takes your teeth. The Tooth Fairy
is an average slasher film but lower your expectations before you watch and
you may enjoy it.
