Night Teeth
Director: Adam Randall
Writer: Brent Dillon
Cast: Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Debby Ryan, Lucy Fry, Raúl Castillo, Alfie Allen, Marlene Forte, Ash Santos, Nandy Martin, Jaren Mitchell, Megan Fox, Alexander Ludwig
Seen on: 20.11.2021

Plot:
Benny (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) is in college where he isn’t exactly popular. At home, too, he kind of falls behind his older brother Jay (Raúl Castillo) who runs a limousine service. What Benny doesn’t know is that Jay also doubles as a vampire hunter, although there has been a truce with the vampires for a while. When Benny gets the opportunity to help Jay out and be a driver for a night, he thinks at first that he won the lottery when Zoe (Lucy Fry) and Blaire (Debby Ryan) get in the car. But he soon finds himself deeply entangled in their vampire business for the night. And who knows if he will get out of it alive.

Night Teeth is okay. It’s pretty much your standard fare of vampire politics with a dash of male wish fulfillment. It profits from Lendeborg Jr.’s and Ryan’s charm, but ultimately it doesn’t surpass fine.

Night Teeth is basically the story of a loser dude getting swept up in the lives of two hot, but dangerous women. Of course, one of them will fall for him. Of course, he will be able to prove himself a hero. Of course, he will come out of this experience a changed man, suddenly popular and the one being admired by the people he admired before (and who bullied him). It feels pretty obvious to me that this story was written by a man (just like the lingering shots of Blaire and Zoe make it a male gaze fest).

From a gender perspective, it’s also egregious that Zoe and Blaire work at the behest of a dude, Victor (Alfie Allen) who is the actual leader, which undermines their agency and authority. Plus, in the end [SPOILER, I guess] Blaire decides against Zoe and for Benny, and any film that makes a woman choose romance with a guy over her best (female) friend is absolutely suspicious to me. [/SPOILER]

Ultimately, this male perspective and the film are a little boring, I’m afraid, and not just because I’m not a man. The fact is that we have seen so many films that tell a similar story, just as we have seen so many films with similar takes on vampires. It’s just a little stale. It only feels fresh at times through Lendeborg Jr. and Ryan who bring their considerable charisma to their roles. And I enjoyed how matter-of-factly Benny’s latino family was included in the film.

It’s overall watchable, it does have some nice scenes and moments, so if you have some time to kill, by all means, watch it. But if you don’t get around to it, you’re not missing much.

Summarizing: well, okay.