- Directed by Brian Yuzna
- Written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli and Charles Finch
- Starring
- Corbin Bernsen
- Linda Hoffman
- Ken Foree
- Earl Boen
- Produced by Pierre David
Plot: An ultra-perfectionist dentist (Corbin Bernsen) sees his wife with the poolboy (not just any poolboy, but un unshaven, greasy poolboy). Apparently, he was on the edge already, and this topples him into an obsessive-compulsive rage against uncleanness. Too bad for his patients.
Hard to believe that this was directed by the same Brian Yuzna who inflicted Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 on unsuspecting viewers; there’s real suspense and meaty conflict in this one, not a truckload of meandering subtext looking for a plot. I suppose one could attribute much of the success to the original script by Dennis Paoli and Stuart Gordon, who managed to write a classically low-budget script (one that takes place almost entirely in two locations – the office and his house) that delivers more excruciating chills per second than most megabudget “horror” hits.
You gotta wonder, though, why would someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder (which is my layman’s diagnosis for the good Dr. Feinstone) go into dentistry in the first place? A fastidious neat freak with an almost religious revulsion for uncleanness wouldn’t want to go around putting his fingers in other people’s mouths, I’d think.
I originally laughed when I saw the entry in the Internet Movie Database – it justified the R- rating for violence, sexuality, and “dental torture.” I stopped laughing quick. Screenwriter Bill Martell, in his book The Secrets of Action Screenwriting, makes the point that a laser blast may technically be more painful than a stubbed toe, but the audience will react better to the small pain they do know than the big pain they don’t know. Apparently Martell and Paoli & Gordon were thinking along the same lines – walking the line between a straight suspense thriller (the kind you’d see on Lifetime if anyone ever watched it) and 90 minutes of straight torture.
How did you like the scene where Feinstone sets out the tools of his trade in anticipation of his wife’s arrival? I tried identifying them, but gave up; they were just arcane tools of (there’s that word again) torture that you surrender yourself to every time you get your checkup.
Some other thoughts:
Do all Hollywood execs have this insecurity about their poolboys? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fat, sluglike, thoroughly unappealing poolboy in the movies.
Complaint #1: The severed tongue didn’t look real. I’m sorry, but a tongue that’s been draining in the pool for hours wouldn’t be pink and perky. You ever see a cow’s tongue in the butcher shop? That’s how it would look, all pasty white after the blood has drained out. But then, if they had shown us that, we wouldn’t have recognized it.
If I were trying to sneak away from a homicidal dentist, first thing I’d do is pull off the big floppy blue bib.
Complaint #2: Everyone knows that a movie of this genre needs to end on a real zinger. Problem was, they had too many zingers in a row – instead of giving you a last kick in the rear, it just makes you wonder when they’r going to end it. Observe: The final zinger was “Time for your six-month checkup.” (BTW, I thought the framing device was so unnecessary I’d be willing to bet it was added by some production exec after the fact.) But they could also have ended it just before, on stage with the opera singer. Or just before that, at “I said extract!!” Or just before that, at “Three times a day, and no candy.” Hell, they could have made a good ending at “Can you live with that? I don’t think you can.” It lessens the impact of each when you have a whole string of good places to roll credits.
A Notable Quotable:
“You don’t know what it’s like! The discipline -– the long hours –- the lack of support -– in a world that goes on ignoring dental hygiene!!”
- Dr. Feinstone
Some Notable Totables:
- body count: 3 (plus one dog)
- breasts: 2
- explosions: 0
- ominous thunderstorms: 0
- hallucinatory sequences: 7
- actors who’ve appeared on Star Trek: 3
- Corbin Bernsen (the good doctor) was another member of the Q continuum in the 3rd season TNG episode “Deja Q” (and, if memory serves, he was the first other Q we met aside from John DeLancie -– terrific casting, that)
- Molly Hagan (”Jessica”) appeared on a 2nd season DS9 episode
- and Earl Boen (”Marvin Goldblum”) was the voice of Nagilum on the 2nd season TNG episode “Where Silence Has Lease”)
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