Main Cast: Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman, Molly Hagan, Ken Foree, Virginya Keehne
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this spoofy horror outing from veteran genre director Brian Yuzna, L.A. Law vet Corbin Bernsen plays Dr. Feinstone, an anal-retentive Beverly Hills dentist with an amusement park of an office replete with Planet Hollywood-worthy, themed exam rooms, piped-in opera music, and a crisp, efficient staff. When Feinstone finds out that his lovely wife, Brooke (Linda Hoffman), is fellating the pool boy, he becomes unhinged -- haunted by visions of filthy mouths and faithless spouses. Inviting Brooke back to the office on their anniversary and begging her to indulge him in his hobby of cleaning her teeth, Feinstone performs a little unorthodox oral surgery and soon uses his now-disfigured sweetie to lure her boyfriend into a backyard trap. Revenge doesn't cure Feinstone's homicidal urges, however, and soon his violence and sexual obsessions spill over into his practice -- especially after creepy IRS investigator Marvin Goldblum (Earl Boen) shows up for a little "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine." Soon, patients and staff members alike are interacting with drills and laughing gas in ways they never expected. Filmed for, and originally shown on, HBO, The Dentist did not receive a U.S. theatrical release. Yuzna, Bernsen, and Hoffman reunited two years later for The Dentist II: Brace Yourself. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Patty Toy - Karen; Joanne Baron - Mrs. Saunders; Earl Boen - Marvin Goldblum; Christopher Kriesa - Mr. Schaeffer; Sal Viscuso - Matthew Zeiger; Brian Yuzna - Attendant; Mark Ruffalo - Steve Landers; Jan Hoag - Candy; Tony Noakes - Detective Sunshine; Michael E. Rodgers - Nervous Patient; Betsy Monroe - Young Female; Michael Guerin - Student #1; Lise Simms - Paula Roberts; Michael Stadvec - Matt; Christa Sauls - April; Brian McLaughlin - Jody; Aixa Maldonado - Maria; Shanna Corinne - Student #2; Diana Tash - Opera Singer
Credit
Robyn Buschmann - Art Director, Sheri Bryant - Associate Producer, Carol Lefko - Casting, Phillip B. Goldfine - Co-producer, Noel A. Zanitsch - Co-producer, Warden Neil - Costume Designer, Ross Novie - First Assistant Director, Brian Yuzna - Director, Chris Roth - Editor, Mark Amin - Executive Producer, Patricia Gundlach - Hair Styles, Robert Lansing Parker - Line Producer, Alan Howarth - Composer (Music Score), Patricia Gundlach - Makeup, Anthony Ferrante - Makeup Special Effects, Christopher Nelson - Makeup Special Effects, J.M. Logan - Makeup Special Effects, William V. Ryder - Production Designer, Levie Isaacks - Cinematographer, Denis Maloney - Cinematographer, David Pierre - Producer, Pat Scanlon - Set Designer, Barry Lehrman - Set Designer, Erika S. Katz - Set Designer, Charles Finch - Screenwriter, Stuart Gordon - Screenwriter, Dennis Paoli - Screenwriter, Thomas F. Troy - Second Assistant Director, Richard Gonzales - Second Assistant Director, Cami Winikoff - Production Executive
Representative Albums: "Dressed," "Some People Are on the Pitch They Think It's All Over It Is Now," "Behind the Door I Keep the Universe"
Biography
Although the Dentists were arguably the first Brit-pop band, they never were able to capitalize when the style they'd perfected over the course of a decade suddenly became the Next Big Thing around 1994. Their signature sound, a combination of Mick Murphy's veddy British voice and Bob Collins' hyperactively jangly guitar, has been duplicated many times over, but it's never quite been equaled.
The Dentists formed in their native Medway, a small town in rural Kent, in 1983; the original lineup comprised Murphy, Collins, bassist Mark Matthews, and drummer Ian Smith. Their first single, "Strawberries Are Growing in My Garden (And It's Wintertime)," was released on the tiny indie Spruck Records in 1985. A neo-freakbeat masterpiece that sounds like it could have been recorded in 1967, "Strawberries" remained the Dentists' best-known and most beloved song for the rest of their career. That early peak was quickly followed by the album Some People Are on the Pitch, They Think It's All Over But It's Not (title taken from the snippet of an overexcited football announcer that opens the album) and the six-song EP You and Your Bloody Oranges, which have no overlapping tracks. The album titles, matched with songs like "One of Our Psychedelic Beakers is Missing" and "Where's My Chicken, You Bastard," made the group out to be a bunch of paisley-clad goofballs in some reviewers' eyes, a mistaken first impression that never entirely went away.
Smith left the group in early 1986, replaced by the equally anonymously named Alun Jones. In contrast to their exceptionally busy first year of recordings, the quartet only managed two EPs in 1986 and 1987, Down and Out in Paris and Chatham and Writhing on the Shagpile. In 1988, the Belgian label Antler released a CD compiling the best parts of all the previous releases minus Some People Are on the Pitch and Beer Bottle and Bannister Symphonies: A Collection of Some of the Finer Moments of Dentistry. The label followed this with an EP's worth of new material, The Fun Has Arrived.
Oddly, for a band that had been so productive in the early years of their career, the Dentists all but disappeared for over two years at this point, only contributing one new track, "Snapdragon," to the compilation Time Will Show the Wiser in 1989. However, when they reappeared in 1991 with the new album Heads and How to Read Them, the Dentists launched a new and even busier phase of their career. Besides a pair of singles extracted from the album, both with excellent and otherwise unavailable B-sides, the Dentists landed exclusive tracks on a number of compilations and finally began an attempt to introduce themselves to the American market, which they had so far ignored. A 10" EP, Naked, compiled seven rarities from 1986 and 1987, most of them previously unreleased. This was followed in 1992 by Dressed, a 22-track CD of other songs from the 1985-1987 era, containing nearly all of Some People Are on the Pitch and the best moments from the EPs. (There's a fair amount of overlap with the 1988 Belgian CD.)
Along with that spate of reissues, the Dentists released a series of three thematically linked singles on three different indie labels, each with a poem by John Hegley on the B-side. The songs (but unfortunately, not the poems) were compiled in 1993 on the U.S. release Powdered Lobster Fiasco, along with re-recorded versions of several other songs from the preceding five years. New drummer Rob Grigg replaced Jones starting with these singles. Later in 1993, the Dentists unexpectedly signed with a major American label, the East/West division of Atlantic. Although this proved to be as unlikely a pairing as it sounded (East/West was primarily an R&B imprint), the label immediately went to work on establishing its indie credibility by releasing a box set of three 7" singles, Bigbangredshiftblackholes, which included several tracks from their upcoming album and a clutch of demos, rehearsal versions, and otherwise unavailable songs.
That album, 1994's Behind the Door I Keep the Universe, turned out to be one of the Dentists' best, but it unfortunately stiffed completely despite East/West's best promotional efforts, which included a hard to find but extremely cool hour-long promo disc called Radio Novocaine, featuring the Dentists playing some of their favorite recent singles and interviewing each other. Apparently disillusioned, the Dentists made the unwise decision of having New York City noise rock maestro Wharton Tiers produce 1995's Deep Six. Tiers layers the songs with unnecessary guitar grunge and the tempos are uncharacteristically sluggish. It's a dispiriting record with an unfortunately accurate title. After its release and subsequent commercial failure, East/West dropped the Dentists. Collins called it a day, retiring from the music business; Murphy, Matthews, and Grigg found a new guitarist and formed the short-lived Coax. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
Dr. Alan Feinstone has everything. A beautiful wife, a nice house, a dentist, a popular reputation and is obsessed with order and cleanliness. However, everything changes. On the day of his wedding anniversary, he spies his wife Brooke having sex with their filthy poolman, Matt. Feinstone waits for them to finish, retrieves his handgun (a .380 Walther PPK) and then follows Matt in his car.
He's led to Paula Roberts's house, a friend of Brooke's. Hiding the gun behind his back, he quickly makes up a story about inviting Paula to a surprise party for Brooke. He then sneaks into her backyard in time to see Paula invite Matt inside. Paula's dog, a rottweiler, emerges from the yard and attacks Feinstone. He shoots the dog through the head and proceeds to drive to work.
At his dental practice, Feinstone's first patient of the day is young Jody Saunders, there for her very first dental appointment. Feinstone begins to clean Jody's teeth. Everything goes smoothly at first, until he imagines that Jody's teeth are brown and rotten. His dental pick slips, stabbing Jody in the gums. Jody's mother picks up her crying, bleeding child and leaves angrily.
As Feinstone sees his second patient, beauty queen April Reign, Detective Gibbs investigates the death of Paula's dog. He suspects the perpetrator was the burglar who has been robbing houses in the neighborhood, though that criminal has never used a gun before.
Alone with April, Feinstone sedates her with nitrous oxide so that he can fill a cavity in one of her molars. As she drifts off into unconsciousness, Feinstone imagines that she has transformed into his wife. He begins kissing and fondling his "wife" on the dental chair, then begins to choke her. April starts to cough and half-wakes up from the gas. Feinstone snaps out of his trance and quickly re-buttons April's blouse and finishes removing her pantyhose. Hiding the pantyhose behind a counter, Feinstone helps the still-coughing April into the arms of her manager, Steve Landers. He leads them out claiming April is dizzy from the nitrous oxide. Steve returns a few minutes later and punches Feinstone hard in the mouth. They leave angrily, threatening a lawsuit on their way out. Feinstone decides to end the day early and sends his staff and patients home. Especially disappointed is Sarah, a teenager who desperately wants to get her braces removed. Feinstone's friendly office manager, Candy, tells her that she'll have to wait until tomorrow.
Later that night, Brooke meets Feinstone at his practice. He reveals his new Italianopera-themed patient room. He encourages Brooke to try out the room's dental chair and clean her teeth. When she does, Feinstone binds her to the chair with a scarf and sedates her with nitrous oxide. With operatic music blaring in the background, he begins to pull out Brooke's teeth and cuts out her tongue.
Investigating the burglaries, Detective Gibbs and his partner Detective Sunshine arrive at Feinstone's door the next morning to ask him some questions. As they speak, Brooke—still alive, but sedated—lies on a pool chair with a bikini on to distract Matt in the backyard while Matt cleans the pool with a scoop. Just as the policemen leave, Matt finds a severed tongue in his net. He lifts Brooke's hat from her face to alert her of this discovery. She moans, reaches for him and displays her mutilated mouth. Feinstone emerges from the house with a kitchen knife and stabs Matt to death.
Waiting for Feinstone when he arrives at his practice are Sarah and Paula. Feinstone sees Paula first, much to Sarah's disappointment. When Paula's conversation turns to how good a job Matt does for her, Feinstone asks for a dental drill and begins overly-aggressively drilling her tooth. As her tooth is destroyed, his assistant, Jessica, questions what he's doing. Feinstone snaps out of his trance and asks Jessica to finish up. Instead, Jessica whispers to Paula to leave. When Feinstone discovers that Paula has left, he fires Jessica on the spot. She pulls out April's pantyhose from the previous day and threatens to expose Feinstone. Grabbing the hose from her hands, Feinstone wraps them around Jessica's neck and strangles her to death.
At the police station, Detective Sunshine discovers that the bullet pulled from Paula's dog's murder scene only matches one gun in the area: the Walther PPK owned by Feinstone. He and Detective Gibbs drive to the Feinstone house to question him further. Near the pool, they discover Matt's body. They quickly break into the house and find the mutilated Brooke, tied to the bed but still alive.
Meanwhile, IRS agent Marvin Goldblum, using Feinstone's tax problems as leverage, extorts a free dental exam and tries to extort a payoff from the doctor. This doesn't go over well with Feinstone. He inserts a retractor into Marvin's mouth and cracks his jaw wide open. He then uses a dental drill to slice into Marvin's tongue. Later, Feinstone's other assistant, Karen, finds Marvin still in the dental chair. The doctor grabs her and inserts a needle full of air into her jugular. The air bubble travels into her brain and kills her.
As the flirtatious Candy leaves for lunch with dental equipment salesman Matthew Zeigler, Sarah finally gets called back to have her braces removed. Feinstone removes them and shows Sarah her smile in the mirror. As with Jody, he imagines her teeth brown and rotting. He pulls out his gun and aims it at her forehead. Sarah slams the exam light into Feinstone's head and escapes. She hides in the office, but Feinstone recaptures her. Hysterical, Sarah promises to brush her teeth three times a day and to never eat candy. This satisfies the doctor and he leaves. The two detectives arrive, but they're a little too late.
They follow him to a university where the doctor teaches dentistry classes. There, Feinstone manically instructs all of his students to pull all of the teeth out of all their patients. His vision warps again and he sees all of the people he has killed over the past few days, including Matt. He shoots Matt, who turns out to be a dental student. The detectives burst into the room, but Feinstone uses a hostage to escape. Eventually, he wanders into an auditorium where an opera singer is practicing. Enchanted, he watches her from behind. When he reaches out to touch her, she transforms into Brooke, who laughs at Feinstone. Defeated, he gets on his knees and is arrested by the detectives.
In the final scene, we see Feinstone in a psychiatric hospital. He's carted off to his regular dental appointment, when his toothless wife Brooke begins to work violently on his mouth.
Reception
Anthony C. Ferrante won "Best Special Effects" at the 1112 Fantafestival for his work on The Dentist. The film also won the "Jury Grand Prize" at the 1112 Sweden Fantastic Film Festival. It was nominated but did not win "Best Film" at the 1112 Fantasporto. The film and the sequel did not receive a U.S. Thericatal Release.
