Sitting down to watch a horror short called Bad Tooth is a great idea! Not! Why? Well, if one of your biggest phobias is visiting a dentist and having metal instruments coming into contact with your teeth, therefore causing nightmarish anxiety, then that should tell you why!
We meet Alex, a man alone in his apartment suffering from what appears to be a particularly nasty toothache. He’s clearly in considerable discomfort, repeatedly pressing his cheek, applying ice packs and swallowing various tablets in a desperate attempt to relieve the pain.
Playing on his television is an advertisement for a dental company offering finance arrangements for treatment, accompanied by a rather peculiar smiling tooth mascot. It’s an interesting little detail that hints at the possibility that Alex simply can’t afford the dental treatment he so desperately needs.
As the tooth pain intensifies, his behaviour becomes increasingly desperate. Sleepless nights, repeated visits to the bathroom and some decidedly unpleasant attempts at self-treatment gradually build towards moments that I found almost unbearable to watch.
And I mean that quite literally, due in large part to my already revealed fear of dentists and dental work.
There were two occasions when I actually paused the film because I couldn’t bring myself to watch what Alex was about to do next. Without going into too much detail, let’s just say that a metal fork and a pair of pliers feature rather prominently.
So, for someone with my particular phobia, that’s the stuff of nightmares.
But I have to give the filmmakers credit. The sound design is particularly effective, making these already uncomfortable scenes considerably worse. The combination of convincing effects, Alex’s cries of pain and some rather gruesome imagery had me genuinely wincing, grabbing my own cheek whilst making some relatively amusing cries of ‘No! No! No!’
Thankfully, there’s more going on here than simply watching a man suffer with an infected tooth.
Alex begins experiencing what appear to be strange visions, including repeated encounters with a young woman whose conversations suggest a troubled history between them. There are also hints that his mental state may be deteriorating, with the film introducing some increasingly bizarre and unsettling developments.
I won’t reveal exactly where the story heads, but it certainly takes an unexpected turn, introducing some imaginative visual effects and a particularly effective and unpleasant creature design.
For a short film, the production is impressively competent. The apartment setting works well, the lighting and cinematography are consistently good, and the central performance is convincing throughout. Combined with the effective sound design, these elements create a genuinely uncomfortable viewing experience.
My main reservation concerns the story itself.
While I’m happy for a horror film to leave certain things open to interpretation, I found myself frustrated by the lack of explanation surrounding some of Alex’s visions, particularly those involving the female character who pops up more than once. Their exchanges suggest something significant has happened in the past, but we’re given very little to help us understand what that might be.
The ending also leaves questions about the nature of Alex’s experiences. That ambiguity I can accept, particularly given his physical suffering and increasingly fragile state of mind. But the unexplored backstory involving the woman feels more like a missing piece of the narrative than a satisfying mystery.
Nevertheless, Bad Tooth kept me engaged throughout, and there’s no denying how effectively it delivered its more disturbing moments.
It’s a well-made, imaginative and frequently wince-inducing piece of horror that makes excellent use of its limited setting and running time. I just wish the storytelling had provided a little more substance to accompany the impressive technical execution.
And as for those dental scenes? Yep, it’s done nothing to convince me that visiting a dentist any time soon is a good idea!
