THE DENTIST (1996) Review
Ever since he and Stuart Gordon burst onto the scene with the excellent 1985 Lovecraft adaptation Re-Animator, producer come director Brian Yuzna has been quietly making a name for himself as one of the most underrated voices in horror cinema. Whether he’s taking down the 1% through the lens of 80s daytime soap-operas and weird body horror ‘shunting’ in his mesmerizingly twisted and grotesque 1989 directorial debut, Society, or tackling pre-existing franchises by injecting them with bizarre, yet strangely effective, love stories in 1993’s horror/comedy Return of the Living Dead 3, one thing is clear; Yuzna has a style and a way of shooting that is undeniably his own. In a nutshell; there ain’t nothing quite like a Brian Yuzna joint. His films are somehow simultaneously darkly hilarious and uncomfortably unsettling, with the camera capturing a quality that’s as deeply off-putting and disorientating as it is oddly campy and kinda silly. What’s more, all of this feels undeniably deliberate on the filmmaker’s part, and each and every one of the movies that appear on his filmography all seem to be of a piece with each other. While the notion of ‘auterism’ may seem a little silly in the world of low-budget, B-Movie horror, if such a thing does exist, then there’s little doubt in my mind Yuzna is one of the most identifiable and interesting. All of which begs the question; what do we call this? Yuznian? Yuznaesque? Yuznarian?
Regardless of how you choose to label his style, his 1996 offering, the so-called ‘slasher’ movie, The Dentist, is a wonderfully sinister example of it. The Dentist follows our titular doctor, Alan Feinstone (L.A. Law’s Corbin Bernsen), who, upon discovering his wife is having an affair with the pool-boy, slowly begins to see his sanity slip, which — since this is a horror movie after all — means that eventually he winds up killing a bunch of people. Meanwhile, police detective Gibbs (Dawn of the Dead’s Ken Foree, in case Yuzna himself weren’t reason enough to check this flick out) is slowly closing in. So far, so generic, right? And, look, The Dentist isn’t winning any points for mad originality. In fact, an argument could be made that the film is born almost entirely out of a desire to capitalize on one single widespread fear, but, of course, this being a Brian Yuzna film, rather than simply playing it all out in generic beat after generic beat, we get a grim and icky focus on the body — most notably the mouth (obviously…) — shot with a sort of near-sleazy peculiarity, with the camera constantly tilted or pushing in too close or warping and wobbling all over the place. As such, the whole thing winds up being far better than its script deserves, at least in my opinion, with Yuzna’s obvious love of the genre and gleefully macabre sensibilities leading the charge.
One element I think is worth mentioning, beyond Yuzna’s obvious skill and talent, is the way the film focuses so heavily on its antagonist — our titular orthodontist — and his descent into madness. There’s an odd sort of line to be drawn, I think, between Bernsen’s murderous doc and the likes of Michael Douglas’ William Foster in Joel Schumacher’s brilliant 1993 action flick, Falling Down, or hell, even Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle in Scorsese’s seminal work, 1976’s psychological thriller, Taxi Driver. Of course, that’s not that I’m claiming Yuzna’s flick is on any level hitting the heights of those two movies, but there is most certainly an element of shared DNA here. Especially when we consider all the psychotic dental surgeon’s waffling on about ‘decay’ and ‘rot’, purposefully using tooth-centric expressions to comment on the societal darkness hidden beneath a seemingly clean and pearly white exterior. Still, one of Yuzna’s biggest strengths as a genre filmmaker has always been, at least as far as I’m concerned, his ability to take somewhat ‘high-brow’ themes, and filter them through a gooey, grisly, campy horror movie filter. His flicks are always horror first and foremost, and even when he is tackling some suggestively deeper thematic ideas, the director never seems to forget just what kinda movie he’s making.
In case it wasn’t clear from all of this ridiculously high-praise for a movie that is ostensibly utter trash, I quite like The Dentist. Mind you, I’m a fan of Yuzna’s overall style in general, and while I fully appreciate that there are those amongst us — especially the more squeamish — who simply won’t be able to overlook the rather in your face dental torture sequences. But if you can, you’re in for a treat; with the film expertly shifting between the ‘real’ world and Bernsen’s ever-increasingly psychotic warped vision of a reality in desperate need of being cleansed. Also, if you need yet another reason to check the flick out, Mark Ruffalo makes an early-career appearance as a somewhat sleazy talent scout whose client — American model and actress Christa Sauls — is the subject of one of the movie’s most uncomfortable sequences. It’s not perfect, mind. The movie doesn’t seem to know when to call it quits, and runs on about ten minutes longer than it needs (I mean, c’mon Yuzna! Clearly it shoulda ended with our murderous title character cleaning house in his office, right?), but ultimately this doesn’t hamper the film much. If Yuzna’s other work doesn’t do it for you, I’d suggest keeping away, this isn’t gonna change your perception. But, if you’re like me, and you consider him one of the great unsung horror masters, then The Dentist is pretty much just gonna confirm that. Twisted, grisly, and hilarious. Just what the Doctor ordered! 4/5.
