Brooklyn Horror Film Festival Review: ‘Night Teeth’ is a Formulaic, But Visually Stunning Vampire Thriller
Chloé Harper Gold
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Last Saturday, the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival hosted the world premiere of the new Netflix movie Night Teeth. That evening, a packed theater of fully-vaccinated horror fiends watched the star-studded cast face mayhem and danger while spitting out some witty one-liners.
Night Teeth takes place in Los Angeles and follows college student and aspiring musician Benny (played by Jorge Lendeborg, Jr.) as he takes on his older brother Jay’s (Raúl Castillo) chauffeur duties for a night to earn some quick cash. Benny’s gig involves driving the beautiful and glamorous Zoe (Lucy Fry) and Blaire (Debby Ryan) to various clubs and city hot spots with the rigid instruction that they arrive at the last stop before sunrise. The two women are wealthy, confident, bitchy… and, as it turns out, vampires, with very little empathy for human life.
After witnessing the two slaughter the owners of a private club, Benny’s night takes a U-turn for the insane. He finds himself thrust into the middle of a power grab among the vampiric elite and a generations-long struggle between the city’s humans and blood-suckers. Blaire and Zoe’s evening of mass murder was orchestrated by Victor (Alfie Allen), a “vampire boss” who’s bored of the treaty that keeps the peace between vamps and humans. Victor’s primary target after taking out his rivals? Benny’s brother Jay, who has been leading a human militia in this war.
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Written by Brent Dillon and directed by Adam Randall, Night Teeth is a fast-paced, action-packed horror-thriller with a nice balance of comedy and brutality. Lendeborg’s Benny is dorky, earnest, and likable, providing a contrast to Fry’s sociopathic and gleefully violent Zoe. Ryan’s character, Blaire, isn’t quite as maniacal as her partner in crime; she enjoys killing and feasting on the blood of humans, but there’s a spark of warmth in her undead heart. Namely for Benny, who, predictably, falls for her.
That’s the main downfall of Night Teeth: It’s predictable. The film’s central conflict, romantic subplot, and denouement fall into familiar patterns without offering any twists on the tried-and-true. The film seems to follow a paint-by-numbers plot: “Average Joe stumbles upon a supernatural underworld and becomes instrumental in saving humanity.” Similar to most movies of this ilk, the underworld and its players are more interesting than the protagonist’s story—but we’re only offered a peek into it.
Speaking of the underexplored and underutilized, Night Teeth’s most recognizable actor, Megan Fox, is only in the film for one scene—which is really a shame, because her character teased a lot of potential for great dialogue and a more interesting plot. Fox shares screen time with Sydney Sweeney, whose character was similarly intriguing in the 90 seconds we saw of it.
Despite its weaknesses, Night Teeth holds the viewer’s attention with well-choreographed action sequences and visually stunning settings and costumes. It’s not the best film in the vampire thriller genre, but it’s by no means the worst. It lacks depth, but so what? Sometimes we need to give our brains a break and watch some monsters bite the dust.
Night Teeth is now available to stream on Netflix.
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Night Teeth
Summary
Night Teeth falls into predictable plot patterns, but its likable characters, stunning visuals, and ace action choreography amount to a satisfying vampire thriller.
