The Tooth Fairy (DVD)

Why is the tooth fairy always some gnarly old crone in horror movies? The tooth fairy most kids grow up imagining is always a pretty, petite, ethereal creature clad in gossamer pastels and wielding a glittery wand, not a bloody, rusty old ax. I think the contrast of this mythical beauty on the outside harboring a cruel, tooth-snatching murderer on the inside would be much more effective than the hooded, heavily made up gross-out hag in this tooth fairy movie.

The monster is not the only unimaginative thing in The Tooth Fairy, new to DVD from Anchor Bay, but there's nothing bad enough here to make you grit your teeth. It's a decent, if not outstanding, direct-to-disk flick produced by Stephen J. Cannell (TV guru) and directed by Chuck Bowman (TV workhorse). I guess it's no wonder that The Tooth Fairy often looks and feels like a television movie, but I was hoping for a bit more horror action and less angst and exposition.

The story opens in 1949, where we see a little boy being murdered by an old witch known as the Tooth Fairy (stuntman Peng Zhang Li), then fast-forwards to present day, where the crone's old home has been recently renovated and turned into a charming B&B by the enterprising Peter Campbell (Lochlyn Munro, of Scary Movie). Torch-carrying Peter is soon joined by his ex-girlfriend, Darcy Wagner (Chandra West, of White Noise), who arrives at the inn with her preteen daughter Pamela (Nicole Munoz, who's guest-starred on The Dead Zone TV series) and a Hyundai full of baggage.

Along for the ride are a troupe of assorted oddball characters including a stripper-turned-student played by Carrie Fleming (from the Masters of Horror Jenifer episode), a hunky handy man (Jesse Hutch from Freddy Vs. Jason), a leeching wannabe rock star (Steve Bacic from the Blade TV series) and his spaced out, mystic groupie/roadie/gofer (Sonya Salomaa from House of the Dead), plus the weird neighbor who knows everything about the tooth fairy (P.J. Soles from The Devil's Rejects) and is there on cue to explain things as needed. Add to the mix a couple of local hicks and their creepy, disfigured sister, and you've got yourself a cast of quirky stock characters.

The Tooth Fairy is a mixed bag. It's structured too much like a drama to work as a horror movie, yet the drama is undermined by characters who are too eccentric and over the top to be taken seriously.

The lore of the tooth fairy is interesting, but it's never satisfactorily explained why she kills with an ax (why not some old, torturous dental implements?) or why fire is the preferred method of dispatchment (why not holy fluoride?). And if she's been around since at the least the 1940s and the local yokels know how to kill her, why haven't they already done so? What do the police think about all these killings?

But if you're not feeling too nitpicky, The Tooth Fairy is definitely more fun than a trip to the dentist. All things considered, it's a reasonably engaging story with competent acting and some good murder scenes. Rent it for sure; purchase with caution.

The DVD has a reasonable amount of goodies, including your typical fawning 'making-of' featurette, and a trivial but entertaining commentary featuring Cannel, Bowman, and Hutch. Hutch has a relatively small role so it would have made more sense to include one of the leading actors, but the 20-something jokester adds some lightness and fun to the proceedings. There is also a short, cute featurette in which the actors and filmmakers talk about their memories of losing their baby teeth, and how they perceive the tooth fairy fable.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson