TOOTH FAIRY ** UK 2019 Dir: Louisa Warren 86 mins
A family is plagued by a curse which sees them being hunted by the Tooth Fairy. Not quite the happy jolly sprite that replaces your lost teeth with a shiny coin, no this one will take on a different form to trick you and then proceed to rip out your teeth in a rather unceremonious barbaric fashion usually killing you in the process.
Young friends Jen, Matt and Layla witness Jen’s mother sacrifice herself to the Tooth Fairy to save them, trapping the fairy on the family farm. Fast forward 30 odd years and we are back with Jen who is visited by her estranged daughter Carla who brings along her nephew Corey to get his birth certificate from her. Countless awful things have happened to make Carla hate her mother and she is almost convinced Jen is completely bonkers but she is also very concerned about her mother’s constant babbling about the Tooth Fairy and the many eviction notices she has ignored to do with the farm. Carla and Corey’s appearance has started up the curse again and the Tooth Fairy manages to escape and now she is after revenge on Jen and her friends by targeting their families.
This is written with tongue placed firmly in cheek to create a horror/fantasy story around the particular fable of the Tooth Fairy. Shot in a kind of comic style especially with regards to the fairy herself, Jen, her family and circle of friends. The script and acting leaves a lot to be desired, I struggled to like or relate to them or anything that was going on. An awkward kitchen fumble seemed very unnecessary succeeding only in stretching out a flimsy backstory. With the addition of a plot discovery in the form of a long video message that is plagued by bad sound quality which will leave you straining to follow.
The farm location doesn’t come across visually as the dump the family are saying that it is. To me it looks pretty smart and functional but I’m guessing it’s the film makers sense of humour slipping in again which may have gone completely over my head. There some positives in the form of the Tooth Fairy, she is suitably grotesque in appearance although kind of comical too there is a bit of blood and the the other SFX are ok. I just don’t think I got the inside joke on this one and was rather nonplused by it. Not one I will be watching again.
Review by Sarah Budd