Corbin Bernsen already had played a periodontic psychopath in 1994’s Appointment for a Killing when he took on the title role of The Dentist. Whereas the earlier film was a thriller made for TV, this slasher pic was built for the playground of VHS and cable, so Bernsen really gets to go for the gusto. And the guts.
A clean freak and control freak in equal measure, Dr. Alan Feinstone loses his goddamn mind after glimpsing his trophy wife (Linda Hoffman, Face/Off) going down on the greasy pool repairman (Michael Stadvec, The Chosen One: Legend of the Raven). At his dental practice with its pink-pastel walls, Dr. F takes his rage out on his patients, from accidentally slicing open a child’s gumline to purposely sexually assaulting a starlet (Christa Sauls, Ghost Rock) while she’s zonked on a nitrous oxide overdose. Her agent is a sweater-over-the-shoulder yuppie played by Mark Ruffalo, who most certainly leaves this off his CV.
The Dentist exists to see Dr. Feinstone exact much tooth and tongue trauma, and each successive checkup gets grislier. By the time he gets an overly zealous IRS agent (Earl Boen, The Terminator) into the chair, the movie finally feels comfortable with becoming the Re-Animator reunion it is for creatives Brian Yuzna, Dennis Paoli and Stuart Gordon. Yet that’s also when it concludes — too little, too soon. They’re capable of better.
At least Bernsen (The Yeti) is fiercely committed to his role, unafraid to do the worst while looking his best. The Dentist 2 followed. Alas, a crossover film with Dr. Giggles did not. —Rod Lott