The Cutting Room Floor: Tooth and Nail

2007 was a year filled with blockbuster films, Spider-Man returned for a 3rd (and final?) installment that introduced the world to Venom and brought joy to the lips of comic book fanboys worldwide. Johnny Depp took on the mantle of Captain Jack Sparrow and sailed around the world. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez took us into an absurd world of violence and flesh with their homage to the 70’s exploitation films with Grindhouse.

In the world of horror films it was more of a down year. Films like The Pulse, The Reaping and Captivity netted lukewarm box office at best. That does not mean that there weren’t any good horror movies out there in 2007, just that no one went to see them.

My favorite weekend of the year recently passed by, a new annual tradition called Horrorfest. Lionsgate and After Dark Studios releases 8 new horror films for one week in a limited release. The fun of Horrorfest is watching all 8 movies over one weekend. 3 on Friday, 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. By the last film Sunday night you’re sated on a virtual feast of death, mayhem and fantastic situations.

With this being my first column I’ve decided to begin the discussion of the best horror movies you probably haven’t seen from the year 2007 with one of the ‘8 Movies to Die For’ from Horrorfest called Tooth and Nail:

From Executive Producer Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill) comes the tale of a post apocalyptic world where the oil has run out and civilization has fallen. The big cities to the north have been abandoned by all but a few because survival in the dead of winter and an overall lack of food makes for a severely limited chance of survival. The film focuses on a small group of people living in an abandoned hospital. Even with supplies in short demand they struggle to survive and even one day to thrive.

While a small group are out attempting to forage for food or anything useful they come across a young woman being attacked and come to her rescue. They take the girl in only to discover that she was being followed by a group of sadistic cannibals known as ‘Rovers.’ The group discovers they’re outnumbered and out armed by the Rovers and they’re next on the menu.

While the movie seems formulamatic (people trapped in a building struggling to survive the big bad monster seeking entry), there are plot twists and surprises throughout the movie. The scene stealers are the ones featuring Jackal (Michael Madsen) and Mongrel (Vinnie Jones). The other Rovers are pretty much cookie cutter bad guys but Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones seem to revel in their role of the big bad wolves. The downside is their screen time is minimal with the story focusing more on the inner turmoil and survival of the group in the hospital, but as with any good big bad monster movie less is actually more so when they do appear it’s all the more memorable.

Overall Tooth and nail is an enjoyable end of the world movie and was one of the better movies at Horrorfest 07. Look for it sometime in the Spring on DVD.

Richard Carroll is an avid movie viewer and all around fanboy. You can probably find him at his computer playing Guild Wars when not watching,writing, reading or roleplaying something (Oh and then there’s the real world and work). Check out some of his written works at www.ficofthedead.com. A website in need of a webmaster to ensure it gets updated. (Any takers? Anyone? *grins*)